Guides / What is Claude Duet · Updated 23 October 2026
What is Claude Duet?
Claude Duet is a new app from Anthropic in which Claude works as a proactive agent: it watches your connected apps, tells you what needs attention, does tasks in the background on its own virtual machine and asks before it acts on your behalf. Anthropic announced it as a research preview on 21 October 2026. Here is what it does, what it costs and where its limits are, as of 23 October 2026.
Short answer
- What it is: a separate Claude app (iOS, Android and claude.ai) built around Claude Opus 5.5, for professionals and small business owners.
- What it does: a morning brief from your connected apps, checks on those apps every few hours, and background tasks such as scheduling meetings, dashboards, sales or financial forecasts, prototypes and web apps.
- Price: no separate price. It is included in Claude Pro ($20 a month) and Max, and uses the same usage limits as the rest of Claude.
- Who can get it: US Pro and Max subscribers, through a waitlist. Not on Team or Enterprise plans yet.
- Approvals: it reads, drafts and prepares on its own, but shows you the exact action and waits before it sends a message, pays, signs a document or deletes anything.
What Claude Duet does
Morning brief
Each morning Duet sends a short summary of the most important items across the apps you connected: mail, chat, accounting, CRM and the like.
Monitoring
During the day it checks your connected accounts every few hours and messages you only when something needs your attention. You choose what you want to hear about and how often.
Tasks in the background
Duet runs on a virtual machine with its own browser, so your laptop or phone does not have to stay on. You give it a task, it works on it, and you get a notification when it is done or needs review. Anthropic’s examples are scheduling meetings, building dashboards, financial and sales forecasts, prototypes and web apps, and setting up a Shopify store.
One thread
There is no list of chats. You talk to Duet in one ongoing conversation, by typing or by voice.
It starts from your Claude account
Your memory, skills and connected apps carry over from your Claude account, so there is little to set up. That includes custom connectors: any remote MCP server you added to Claude becomes a tool Duet can use. We cover that in Claude Duet connectors and MCP.
Price and plans
Duet has no price of its own. It comes with Claude Pro and Max and draws on the same usage limits. Anthropic warns that background checks and larger tasks (a financial model, a deck) take more model turns, so they use more of your limit than a chat would. If Duet watches many apps every few hours, Max gives it more room.
What Duet asks before doing
| Action | What Duet does |
|---|---|
| Reading, summarizing, drafting, preparing work | On its own |
| Sending a message | Shows the exact message, waits for approval |
| Making a payment or purchase | Waits for approval; pays through Link (Stripe) virtual cards or Shop Pay |
| Signing a document | Waits for approval |
| Deleting anything | Waits for approval |
| Trading securities, moving money between accounts | Not allowed, even with approval |
Anthropic says Duet never sees your passwords or sign-in tokens directly (it handles credentials the way Claude Managed Agents do), rejects credit card numbers and government IDs by default, and shares health or personal finance details only when you explicitly tell it to. You can disconnect any app at any time.
How Duet differs from the Claude app and Claude Code
| Claude app | Claude Code | Claude Duet | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Who starts the work | You, in a chat | You, in a terminal or IDE | You, or Duet when something in your apps needs attention |
| Where it runs | While the chat is open | On your machine, in your repository | On its own virtual machine, also when you are away |
| Made for | Questions, writing, analysis | Software and hardware projects in a code base | Running the day-to-day of a job or a small business |
| Tools | Connectors | MCP servers, shell, files | Connectors from your Claude account, its own browser |
For a hardware project the two fit together: Claude Code works on the KiCad files and the firmware, Duet keeps an eye on the parts, suppliers and orders. See Claude Duet for hardware teams.
Known limits
- It is an early version: Anthropic says it may misread a thread or misjudge how urgent something is.
- Personal errands, such as booking tickets, work less well than work tasks.
- You cannot watch its browser yet.
- US only, Pro and Max only, waitlist only.
How to get Claude Duet
- Join the waitlist on Anthropic’s Claude Duet page (you need a US Pro or Max subscription).
- Wait for the email that says access is open for your account.
- Install the iOS or Android app, or open Duet on claude.ai.
- Connect your apps. Memory, skills and connectors from your Claude account are already there.
How it compares to Meta Muse, OpenAI dots and Grok Bot: Claude Duet vs Muse vs dots.
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Sources
- Anthropic: Introducing Claude Duet (21 October 2026)
- TechCrunch: Claude Duet app is Anthropic’s bet on agents
- CNBC: Anthropic announces preview of Claude Duet
About this guide
We build Next Everything, an MCP server that lets AI assistants and agents check a BOM against the JLCPCB/LCSC catalog and live Mouser and DigiKey prices, and order the parts you approve. Features, prices and availability here are as announced by each company and reported in the press on the date above. These products are in beta or preview and change often.
Next Everything is not affiliated with Anthropic, Meta, OpenAI, xAI, Hark or the other companies named here. Product names belong to their owners.