Anthropic opened a research preview of Claude Duet on October 21. It is a new product separate from the main Claude app, available on iOS, Android and the claude.ai web app. It starts with Pro and Max subscribers in the US, and access is rolled out in batches through a waitlist.
Anthropic positions Duet as a "proactive agent." Each morning it pushes a briefing that pulls together the most pressing items from your connected apps. During the day it watches those apps and sends a notification only when something needs your attention. Tasks you hand off keep running in the background even after you close the phone. The target audience is stated plainly: busy professionals and small business owners.
It comes with its own virtual machine
Duet has its own virtual machine and browser, so your computer and phone can both be switched off while a task runs. All communication lives in a single continuous thread, and you can use text or voice. Memories, skills and connected apps already set up on your account carry over without being configured again.
External services come from the Claude Marketplace, which Anthropic says holds more than 6,000 connectors and plugins. The examples it gives include Gmail, Slack, QuickBooks, Stripe, Gusto, HubSpot, Docusign, Canva and Shopify. Tasks range from scheduling and building dashboards to financial and sales forecasts, drawing up prototypes and writing web apps.
For shopping, Duet pays with a virtual card through Stripe's Link wallet, so the real card number never passes through it, and it can also check out via Shopify's Shop Pay. As Anthropic describes the flow, Duet first confirms the item with you, then Link pops up a payment approval. Two features are still on the way: Shopify's visual store editor, and the ability to use login details stored in 1Password once you authorize it.
What it will not touch
Before sending a message, making a payment, signing a document or deleting anything, Duet must lay out the specific action and wait for the user to approve it. In Anthropic's own words:
"it shows you exactly what it's about to do and waits for your approval"
Two kinds of action are off the table even if the user clicks approve: trading securities and moving money between accounts. Duet cannot see passwords or login tokens. Dedicated classifiers and system prompts also block the most sensitive data, such as credit card and ID numbers, from being sent out, and health and personal financial information goes out only when the user explicitly asks. The approval step is guarded by an auto-mode classifier. Before launch the product went through red-team testing and external penetration testing, and it is also covered by Anthropic's public bug bounty program.
Anthropic itself lists several known weaknesses: Duet may read the wrong conversation thread or misjudge how urgent something is, it does not yet handle personal errands such as booking tickets well, and it cannot yet show users what is on screen in its browser.
How it compares with similar products
Combining a daily morning briefing with an agent that gets things done in the background is something OpenAI has also tried. In September 2025 ChatGPT launched Pulse, which sends Pro users personalized updates each morning, and the earlier ChatGPT agent likewise asks for permission before taking consequential actions. The two companies split things differently: OpenAI keeps these capabilities inside the main ChatGPT app, while Anthropic has built Duet as a separate app this time.
A standalone app makes the permission boundary clearer, since users know which entry point can touch their inbox and wallet. The cost is one more app to install and one more round of authorization. Duet checks accounts only every few hours, and Anthropic says the reason is to conserve usage, which also shows that the cost of background monitoring ultimately lands on the subscription quota. Anthropic warns that big jobs such as financial models and slide decks take more model turns and use more of that quota.
During the research preview Duet carries no separate charge and is included in the Pro and Max plans. Because the quota is shared, an account that uses Claude for coding during the day while Duet runs checks in the background will see the two compete for the same allowance. Anthropic has not given figures for how it is split.
Sources: Anthropic's official product announcement, CocoLoop, OpenAI product announcements; checked for availability by region, subscription tier, connector count and the list of prohibited actions.