Anthropic opened a research preview of Claude Duet on Oct. 21, a new app in which Claude acts as a proactive agent that brings users what needs their attention and keeps working on tasks after they step away.
The preview is available by waitlist, starting with U.S. subscribers on the Pro, Max and Ultra plans, according to Anthropic.
Duet runs as a standalone app on iOS and Android and on claude.ai. It uses the same usage limits as the rest of Claude, with no extra charge during the preview. Anthropic’s help center says Team and Enterprise accounts aren’t eligible and that invitations go out in waves with no promised date.
Anthropic says it built Duet for “professionals and small business owners with more on their plates than they can track.” The app is designed around Claude Opus 5.5, the company’s top model.
How it works
Each morning, Duet sends a short brief on the most important items across a user’s connected apps. During the day, it checks those accounts every few hours and sends a message only when something needs attention, Anthropic says. The company explained the interval directly: “checking nonstop would use up your plan’s limits much faster.”
Duet has its own virtual machine with a browser, so it doesn’t need the user’s laptop or phone to be on. A user describes a task in a short message, and Duet works out which apps to use. Anthropic says tasks can range from scheduling meetings to building dashboards, creating sales forecasts and building web apps.
It carries over the memory, skills and connected apps from a person’s Claude account. Duet can also use the more than 6,000 connectors and plugins in the Claude Marketplace, according to Anthropic. Examples include drafting invoice reminders from QuickBooks or Stripe, preparing payroll in Gusto and sending agreements for signature through Docusign.
What it won’t do alone
Before Duet sends a message, makes a payment, signs a document or deletes anything, it shows the user exactly what it’s about to do and waits for approval, Anthropic says. Some actions are off-limits even with approval, including trading securities and moving money between accounts.
Purchases go through Link, Stripe’s digital wallet, which asks the user to approve the spend and pays with a virtual card so the real card number isn’t shared, according to the announcement. Duet can also check out with Shopify’s Shop Pay.
Anthropic says Duet never directly sees passwords or sign-in tokens, following the design it uses for Claude Managed Agents.
A classifier checks proposed actions, and a new dedicated classifier blocks requests to share the most sensitive information, such as credit card numbers and government ID. Other sensitive details, like health or personal finances, go out only when a user has explicitly told Duet to send them. Red teams and an outside firm ran penetration tests, the company says.
Anthropic quoted early testers. Amin Ebrahimi, owner of Shahs of Kabob in South Florida, which has about 110 employees, said he’s used it for accounting, customer support and marketing. “I don’t need to open up 100 tabs,” he said.
Jess Provencher, a real estate broker, said Duet flagged a property showing that was on her calendar for the wrong day. “[This is] exactly the kind of thing I want caught without having to ask,” she said.
Anthropic says it’s still tuning how Duet decides when to message people, based on what testers tell it, and plans to share more about the app’s safety design.
Source: Anthropic (via CNBC coverage), Anthropic, “Introducing Claude Duet”
Additional sources: Claude Help Center, Anthropic, “Get started with Claude Duet”
