What Is Claude Duet?
Claude Duet is Anthropic's proactive AI agent for professionals and small business owners who want work to continue between conversations. It prepares a morning brief, checks connected apps, and handles tasks on a cloud computer while the user is away. Anthropic announced the research preview on October 21, 2026; access starts with a waitlist for US Claude Pro and Max subscribers.
Duet is a distinct app built around Claude Opus 5.5. It uses an existing Claude account's memory, skills, and connected apps, with text and voice messages in one ongoing thread. Its main appeal is the combination of proactive updates and delegated execution: the user can hand off work and return when a result or decision is ready.
Access, Cost & Shared Usage
| Decision | Current research-preview terms |
|---|---|
| Who can join? | The waitlist starts with Pro and Max subscribers in the United States. A subscription alone does not guarantee immediate admission. |
| Is Duet a separate subscription? | Preview access is included in eligible US Pro and Max subscriptions, subject to waitlist admission and shared plan limits. No separate Duet fee is published. |
| Does it have its own allowance? | Duet shares the plan's usage limits with the rest of Claude. Background checks count toward those limits. |
| Where does it run? | Anthropic describes a standalone iOS and Android app and access on claude.ai. Its cloud virtual machine can keep working without the user's phone or laptop remaining on. |
Large assignments, such as building a financial model or a presentation, require more model turns and background work than a typical chat. Preview access should therefore be evaluated alongside the Claude usage needed for other work; included access does not mean unlimited background execution. Official access and usage terms.
Capabilities That Change the Workflow
- Proactive briefs and selective updates. Duet prepares a morning summary from connected apps, then reaches out when it judges that attention is needed. Anthropic says it checks connected accounts every few hours, rather than continuously.
- Work on its own cloud computer. Delegated tasks can continue after the user leaves. Anthropic lists meeting scheduling, dashboards, forecasts, prototypes, and web apps as examples; these are documented capabilities, not independently measured performance results.
- Existing Claude context in one thread. Memory, skills, and connected apps carry over from the Claude account. Users can type or speak to continue short requests and longer projects in the same conversation.
- Business tasks across connected apps. The launch describes finding unpaid invoices in QuickBooks or Stripe, preparing follow-ups from HubSpot context, and drafting campaigns in Canva. Anthropic says Duet can use more than 6,000 marketplace connectors and plugins; that ecosystem count does not mean every service is already connected to a user's account.
What Requires Approval?
Anthropic says Duet can read, draft, and prepare work independently, but must show the proposed action and wait before sending a message, making a payment, signing a document, or deleting anything. Users can also disconnect connected apps.
Some actions remain unavailable even with approval: the launch explicitly excludes trading securities and moving money between accounts. Approval is therefore an action boundary, not a way to unlock every financial operation. These are Anthropic's documented safeguards; their effectiveness has not been independently tested for this page.
Best For & Preview Limitations
Duet is worth considering for eligible Claude subscribers whose work spans inboxes, calendars, and business apps, especially when morning prioritization and tasks that continue in the background are more useful than another synchronous chat window.
Duet centers its interaction model on proactive morning briefs, selective alerts, and delegated work between messages. It remains separate from the main Claude app during the preview, while carrying over account context.
Anthropic acknowledges that Duet can misread a thread or misjudge urgency. Periodic account checks also leave gaps between updates. It cannot yet show the user its browser, and personal errands such as booking tickets are less developed than work tasks. The richer Shopify storefront editor and sign-in using saved 1Password logins are described as coming soon, so they should not determine a decision to join today.
Avoid If
- Immediate access or availability outside the initial US Pro and Max cohort is essential.
- The job needs continuous, real-time monitoring rather than checks every few hours.
- Watching the agent's browser is necessary before trusting delegated work.
- Unlimited background work or a separate, predictable Duet usage allowance is a requirement.
- Ticket booking or other personal errands are the main reason for adopting an agent.
Sources & Verification
- Last verified: October 22, 2026.
- Evaluation scope: Product identity, preview access, shared usage, documented workflows, approval boundaries, and launch limitations.
- Method: Source-based research from the official product materials below. No hands-on testing was performed for this update.
- Official sources: Claude Duet product page and Introducing Claude Duet.
- Media: Official Claude Duet introduction, embedded by the launch article. The video illustrates the announcement; it is not an independent test.
