Anthropic opened a research preview of Claude Duet on October 21. It sends a morning brief, checks your connected apps every few hours and asks before it sends, pays, signs or deletes anything. Waitlist only, for US Pro and Max plans.
Anthropic opened a research preview of Claude Duet on October 21. It is a new app where Claude works as an agent that starts the conversation. It sends a brief each morning, watches your connected apps during the day and messages you when something needs a decision.
Access is by waitlist. The preview starts with Pro and Max subscribers in the US, according to Anthropic’s announcement. It runs on claude.ai and in standalone iOS and Android apps. MacRumors, Engadget and 9to5Google all cover it as Anthropic’s answer to Meta’s Muse and OpenAI’s Dots, two agents sold on the same pitch.
What it does
- Morning brief. A short summary of the most important items across the apps you connect.
- Check-ins every few hours. Anthropic says Duet checks connected accounts every few hours because checking nonstop would use up plan limits much faster. You can tell it what you want to hear about and how often.
- Background tasks. Duet has its own virtual machine with a browser, so a task keeps running when your laptop and phone are off. Anthropic’s examples run from scheduling meetings to sales forecasts, dashboards and small web apps.
- One thread. You talk to it by text or voice in a single ongoing conversation. It carries over the memory, skills and connected apps from your Claude account.
- Connectors. It can use the more than 6,000 connectors and plugins in the Claude Marketplace, including Gmail and Slack.
Anthropic says Duet is built on Claude Opus 5.5.
What it won’t do on its own
Duet reads, drafts and prepares work by itself. Before it sends a message, makes a payment, signs a document or deletes anything, it shows you the action and waits for your approval. Some actions stay blocked even with approval, including trading securities and moving money between accounts.
Anthropic says Duet never sees your passwords or sign-in tokens. A new classifier checks each outgoing message. It refuses to share credit card numbers and government ID numbers, and it lets health or personal finance details through only when you told Duet to send them. Anthropic says red teams and an outside firm penetration-tested the app, and that it is covered by the company’s bug bounty program.
What it costs
There is no separate price during the preview. Duet is included in Pro ($20 a month, or $17 a month billed annually) and Max (from $100 a month), per Anthropic’s pricing page. It draws on the same usage limits as the rest of Claude, so its background check-ins count against your plan.
What it means if you run a small team
It’s built for the person with too many inboxes. Anthropic names its target user directly: professionals and small business owners. The testers quoted in its post are a real estate broker, the owner of a 110-employee restaurant group and a brand strategist. If your day is split across Gmail, Slack and a calendar, the morning brief is the part to try first.
It’s a personal plan, so treat it like one. The preview covers Pro and Max only. Team and Enterprise plans are not included. Connecting a company Gmail or Slack to a personal subscription puts work data outside your admin controls. Get a yes from whoever owns IT before you connect work accounts.
Count the agents you already pay for. Meta, OpenAI and now Anthropic each sell an agent that watches your apps. Google added a background Task mode to the Gemini app this month (our report). Pick one to own your inbox and calendar. Two agents drafting replies to the same client thread is a mess you’ll find out about in front of the client.
The approval screen is the feature that matters. An agent that can email as you is only as safe as its confirmation step. Duet asks before every send, payment, signature and deletion. Keep it that way while you learn how it decides what needs you.