Claude Duet: an agent that reaches out before you ask.

What is Claude Duet?

According to Anthropic, Claude Duet is a new app in which Claude works as a proactive agent: Duet comes to you with what needs your attention, completes tasks you hand it, keeps working when you close the app and checks with you before acting on your behalf. Anthropic explicitly names professionals and small business owners with more on their plates than they can track as the target group.

The preview started on 21 October 2026. Duet is available as a standalone app for iOS and Android and on the web at claude.ai. For now, Duet is separate from the regular Claude app; Anthropic says what it learns from early users will shape how the two work together.

What can Duet do day to day?

Each morning, Duet sends a short brief on the most important items across connected apps, according to the Help Center mainly email and calendar, and can start first steps such as draft replies for review. During the day, Duet checks connected accounts every few hours and messages you only when something needs you. Anthropic says the intervals exist because checking nonstop would use up plan limits much faster.

You describe larger jobs in one message, typed or spoken. Duet decides which apps it needs and returns results as files, for example research briefs, financial models, slide decks or dashboards. To do this, Duet uses a virtual machine with its own browser in the cloud, so your laptop or phone does not need to stay on. Memory, skills and connectors from the existing Claude account are available from the first message.

• Usable according to Anthropic: more than 6,000 connectors and plugins in the Claude Marketplace, such as Gmail, Slack, QuickBooks, Stripe, Gusto, HubSpot or Docusign.
• Purchases after approval via Link by Stripe or Shop Pay by Shopify, each with a one-time card per purchase.

Which approvals and safeguards does Anthropic describe?

Duet reads, drafts and prepares work on its own. Before it sends a message, makes a payment, signs a document or deletes anything, it shows the planned step and waits for your approval. Some actions are off-limits even with approval: trading securities, moving money between accounts and accessing someone else's account. Connected apps can be disconnected at any time; according to the Help Center, memory of information seen earlier is kept.

Anthropic is also releasing a dedicated classifier with a safety system prompt that checks every message: Duet rejects requests to share credit card numbers or government identification; health or financial details are shared only on explicit instruction. According to Anthropic, Duet never directly sees passwords. There are defences against hidden instructions in emails or web pages (prompt injection), but the Help Center stresses that no defence is perfect. Duet was tested by red teams and an external firm.

Who gets access and what does Duet cost?

Access requires a Pro or Max plan, a Claude account in the US and an invitation from the waitlist. Invitations go out in waves and no date is guaranteed. Team and Enterprise plans are not included yet; Anthropic plans to add them later. During the preview, Duet is included in Pro and Max at no extra cost.

Duet uses the normal plan limits, including the five-hour session and weekly limits, at the same rate as chats. Background work such as the morning brief and check-ins also counts, and larger tasks need more model turns. Users admitted to the preview get one full limit reset, available until 30 November 2026. You cannot choose a model: Duet runs on Claude Opus 5.5.

What are the preview's limits?

Anthropic states the limits itself: Duet may misread a thread or misjudge urgency, and something urgent can arrive between two checks. Personal errands such as booking tickets work less well because the core functionality is built around work. You cannot watch or take over Duet's browser.

• No access to files on your computer and not to all projects; Duet can read work in Claude but cannot change it.
• No phone calls and no text messages to others; emails only after approval from connected accounts.
• Slack works with limits, Microsoft 365 is not available yet.

How does Duet fit into the market?

TechCrunch and CNBC frame Duet as a response to personal and work agents such as Meta Muse and OpenAI Dots. According to TechCrunch, Anthropic deliberately distinguishes Duet from errand assistants and focuses on briefings, dashboards and suggestions based on the user's data. For businesses, the pattern matters more than the name: an agent working in the background with its own access needs clear rules on which accounts it may see and who grants approvals.

What should SMEs do now?

Duet cannot currently be used in production outside the US, because the preview requires a US Claude account and Team and Enterprise plans are missing. Preparation still makes sense: clarify which connectors are active in Claude today, which data an agent would be allowed to see and which steps always need human approval. These rules belong in your internal AI policy before a proactive agent becomes available.

Can Duet be used outside the US? According to Anthropic, not during the preview. Does Duet cost extra? No, during the preview it is included in Pro and Max but uses their limits. Can Duet pay without asking? No, payments, sending, signing and deleting need your approval. The free AI System Check helps narrow down prerequisites and a first agent use case. These notes are suggestions, not customer results.