Claude Duet is a new Anthropic app in which Claude works as a proactive agent. Instead of waiting for a prompt, it tells you what needs your attention, does tasks in your connected apps, and asks before sending, paying, signing or deleting anything. Anthropic opened a research preview on October 21, 2026. To sign up, you join a waitlist, and only Pro and Max subscribers in the US can get in for now. It costs nothing extra, but it draws on the same usage limits as the rest of Claude, including when it works in the background.

What Claude Duet is

Anthropic says it built Duet for professionals and small business owners. It comes as a standalone app on iOS and Android and on claude.ai, and it runs on Claude Opus 5.5. Each morning it sends a brief on the most important items across your email, calendar and other connected apps. During the day, it checks those apps every few hours and messages you only when something needs you. You can also give it larger jobs, such as scheduling meetings, building dashboards, making financial forecasts or building web apps. Finished files appear in the Make tab, and ongoing work appears in the Tasks tab.

How it differs from regular Claude

  • It comes to you first. Regular Claude answers when you ask. Duet starts the conversation when it thinks something matters.
  • It keeps working when you're away. Duet has its own cloud virtual machine and browser, so your phone or laptop doesn't need to stay on.
  • It uses what you've already set up. Your memory, skills and connectors from your Claude account carry over. You talk to it by text or voice in one ongoing thread, and you can open separate channels for different topics.
  • It's a separate app. For now Duet is separate from the main Claude app, and Anthropic says early feedback will shape how the two work together.
  • It can buy things. Purchases go through Stripe's Link or Shopify's Shop Pay. Each purchase uses a one-time card and needs your approval.

Who can sign up for the Claude Duet waitlist

According to the Help Center, you need three things:

  • A Pro or Max plan
  • A Claude account in the US
  • An invitation from the waitlist

You sign up for the waitlist on the Claude Duet product page with your name, email, company and phone type. Invitations go out in waves, and Anthropic doesn't promise a date. Access is tied to the email you give, so it should match your Claude account and the Google or Apple account on your phone. Team and Enterprise plans can't use Duet yet. Anthropic says it plans to add them later.

Pricing and how usage is counted

During the research preview, Duet is included with Pro and Max at no extra cost. It uses your plan's usage limits, including the five-hour session limit and the weekly limit, at the same rate as chats in Claude. Background work, such as the morning brief and check-ins, also counts, so you may reach your limits sooner than with chat alone. Anthropic says Duet checks your accounts at set intervals partly so that background work doesn't use up your limits. Larger jobs, like a financial model or a slide deck, take more model turns. Once you're admitted, you get one full limit reset, covering both the five-hour and the weekly limit, which you can use until November 30, 2026. For more on how these limits work, see our guide to Claude usage limits.

Current limitations

  • You can't choose a model. Duet runs on Opus 5.5 and decides how much effort a job needs.
  • You can't watch or take over its browser.
  • Because it checks accounts at set intervals, something urgent can arrive between checks.
  • It can't see all your projects or files on your computer, and it can read your work in Claude but can't change it.
  • It doesn't make phone calls or send texts. With your approval, it can send email from accounts you've connected.
  • Some actions are off-limits even with approval, such as trading securities, moving money between accounts or using someone else's account.
  • Some connectors, such as Slack, have limits in Duet. Microsoft 365 isn't available yet.
  • Anthropic says Duet may misread a thread or misjudge what's urgent, and that it handles personal errands such as booking tickets less well than work tasks.
  • Content Duet reads, like emails and web pages, can contain prompt injection, which is one reason consequential actions need your approval.

How it compares

The Verge framed the launch as Anthropic taking "on Muse with Claude Duet," a reference to Meta's Muse.