Claude Duet is Anthropic's new proactive AI agent, opened as a research preview on October 21, 2026. Instead of waiting for you to start a chat, it checks your connected apps, sends you a morning brief, works on tasks in the background on its own cloud computer, and asks for your approval before it sends a message, pays for something, signs a document or deletes anything. Right now it is only for Claude Pro and Max subscribers in the US who get in through a waitlist, and it costs nothing extra on those plans during the preview. It runs on Claude Opus 5.5.
Facts here come from Anthropic's launch post, the Claude Duet product page and the Claude Help Center setup article, checked on October 22, 2026, with launch coverage from The Verge as a cross check.
What is Claude Duet?
Claude Duet is a separate app where Claude acts as an agent that comes to you first. Anthropic built it for professionals and small business owners. The regular Claude app waits for you to open a chat; Claude Duet reaches out when something needs a decision. Three ideas sit under the design:
- It is proactive. Each morning it sends a short brief on the most important items across your connected apps. During the day it checks those apps every few hours and messages you only when something needs you.
- It keeps working when you leave. Claude Duet has a virtual machine with its own browser, so it does not need your laptop or phone to stay on. You get a notification when a task is finished or needs review.
- It asks before big steps. Before it sends a message, makes a payment, signs a document or deletes anything, it shows you exactly what it is about to do and waits for your OK.
During the preview you cannot pick a model other than Opus 5.5; Duet decides how much effort a job needs. For how Opus 5.5 fits into Anthropic's lineup, see our guide to Claude Fable vs Opus vs Mythos.
Claude Duet at a glance
| Question | Answer (October 22, 2026) |
|---|---|
| Launched | October 21, 2026, as a research preview |
| Model | Claude Opus 5.5 (no model picker) |
| Who can use it | Claude Pro and Max subscribers in the US, by waitlist invite |
| Team and Enterprise | Not yet; Anthropic plans to add them later |
| Extra cost | None during the preview; uses your plan's usage limits |
| Where | Standalone iOS and Android app, plus claude.ai on a computer |
| Connectors | Over 6,000 connectors and plugins in the Claude Marketplace |
| Approval needed for | Sending messages, payments, signing documents, deleting |
| Never allowed | Trading securities, moving money between accounts, accessing someone else's account |
How Claude Duet works
You message Claude Duet like a colleague, typed or by voice, in one ongoing thread (separate topic channels share the same memory). A Tasks tab shows what it is working on, and finished files land in a Make tab. Your Claude memory, skills and connected apps carry over, and it can search your past Claude chats unless you turn off Search and reference chats under Settings, Memory.
Anthropic's connector examples include drafting replies to missed Gmail and Slack messages, chasing unpaid invoices in QuickBooks or Stripe, preparing Gusto payroll for review and readying Docusign agreements. Bigger jobs come back as a brief, financial model, deck or dashboard. Where a site has no connector, it uses its cloud browser.
It can also buy things for a business through Link (Stripe's wallet) or Shop Pay. You approve each purchase, and it uses a one time card, so your real card number is not shared.
How to join the Claude Duet waitlist
Per the Help Center:
- On the Claude Duet product page, choose Join the waitlist.
- Enter your name and the email on your Claude account, then pick your plan and phone type.
- Wait for an invite email. Invites go out in waves, with no promised date.
- Open the invite on your phone, using the Apple or Google account tied to that same email, and sign in with your Claude account.
Access is tied to the waitlist email, so a mismatch is a common reason it doesn't show up.
What Claude Duet costs and how usage works
During the research preview, Claude Duet is included with Pro and Max at no extra cost. On Claude's pricing page, Pro is $20 a month billed monthly, or $17 a month on an annual plan ($200 up front), and Max starts at $100 a month with a choice of 5x or 20x Pro's usage. Anthropic has not said what Duet will cost after the preview.
The catch is usage. Claude Duet draws from the same five hour session and weekly limits as your chats, and its background work (the brief and check ins) counts too. That is why it checks your accounts at set intervals rather than nonstop. When you are admitted to the preview you get one full limit reset, which resets both the session and weekly limits and is available until November 30, 2026.
If you are deciding between Pro and Max in general, our ChatGPT Plus vs Claude Pro vs Google AI Pro guide compares the consumer plans.
Safety and privacy design
An agent that reads your email and can pay bills needs more trust than a chatbot. Anthropic's main points:
- Credentials. Duet's handling of credentials follows the design Anthropic uses for Claude Managed Agents, so it never directly sees your passwords or sign in tokens. When a site asks for a password, you type it into a separate form on your device.
- Action checks. Actions are approved by the same auto mode classifier that guards Claude and Claude Code against steps you did not ask for.
- Prompt injection. Email and web pages can hide instructions meant to mislead an agent. Anthropic says Duet treats what it reads as information, while admitting no defense is perfect, which is one reason consequential actions need your approval.
- Sensitive data. A new dedicated classifier and safety system prompt check each message. They are designed to refuse sharing the strictest tier of information, such as credit card numbers and government ID, and to pass health or personal finance details only when you have explicitly told Duet to send them.
- Testing. Red teams and an outside firm penetration tested Duet, and it is in Anthropic's bug bounty program.
You can disconnect any app at any time, but memory of information from earlier conversations is kept. For background on why labs treat agents this cautiously, see what is AI safety.
Claude Duet vs Muse vs dots
Claude Duet follows Meta's Muse agent (US launch September 8, 2026) and OpenAI's dots, always on agents in ChatGPT introduced September 29. Here is how they compare on what each company has published.
| Item | Claude Duet | Meta Muse | OpenAI dots |
|---|---|---|---|
| Launched | Oct 21, 2026 (research preview) | Sep 8, 2026 | Sep 29, 2026 (gradual rollout) |
| Model | Claude Opus 5.5 | Muse Spark | GPT-6 Astra |
| Who can get it | US Pro and Max, waitlist | US, free with limits | Pro (18+, not EEA, UK or Switzerland), Business Premium; Enterprise beta |
| Paid plans | Included in Claude Pro ($20) and Max (from $100) | Power $20, Maximum $100 a month | First dot included in Pro or Business Premium |
| Where | iOS, Android app; claude.ai | iOS, Android, muse.ai, WhatsApp | ChatGPT apps and web, Slack, Teams |
| Apps | 6,000+ connectors and plugins | Connected apps, Link payments | 4,000+ apps via plugins |
| Own computer | Cloud VM with browser | Muse Secure VM with browser | Own cloud computer |
Sources: Meta's Muse announcement and Muse subscriptions help page; OpenAI's dots announcement and dots help article.
The practical differences:
- Muse is the only one with a free tier. Meta says it is free for most of what people need, with Power and Maximum plans for more usage. Meta also says its newer Muse Wonder model is coming to Muse, paying subscribers first. One caution: on October 20, Ars Technica and The Verge reported that researchers found shared Muse conversations discoverable through public DNS records, and Meta paused the sharing feature while it reviews the issue.
- Dots reach you in more places. OpenAI lets you message your dot in Slack and Teams as well as ChatGPT, and says conversations with your dot do not count toward ChatGPT usage limits, though tasks it starts in Codex or ChatGPT Work do.
- Duet is the most work focused and the most limited. It is a waitlisted US preview that shares your Claude limits.
The free Meta AI assistant inside Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp is a different product from Muse.
Pros and cons of Claude Duet
Pros
- Proactive morning brief and check ins, and it keeps working with your devices off
- Approval step before messages, payments, signatures and deletions, plus hard limits on financial actions
- Reuses your Claude memory, skills and connectors
- No extra charge during the preview
Cons
- US only, Pro and Max only, waitlisted; no Team or Enterprise yet
- Background work eats into the same limits as your chats
- Anthropic says it may misread a thread or misjudge urgency, and you cannot watch its browser
- No Microsoft 365 yet, no calls or texts to other people, and pricing after the preview is unknown
Who should try Claude Duet?
If you already pay for Claude Pro or Max in the US and your work runs on Gmail, Slack and tools like QuickBooks, Stripe or HubSpot, join the waitlist: it costs nothing extra, and the limit reset softens the usage hit. On Team or Enterprise, outside the US, or in Microsoft 365, wait. For an agent without a paid plan, Muse's free tier is the only option of the three. For small business plan choices more broadly, see our best AI chatbot for small business guide.
FAQ
Is Claude Duet free?
Not on its own. During the research preview it is included with Claude Pro and Max at no extra cost, but it uses your plan's usage limits, including the background brief and check ins. It is not available on the free Claude plan.
How do I get Claude Duet?
Join the waitlist on the product page with your Claude account email and wait for an invite. You need a Pro or Max plan and a US Claude account.
What model does Claude Duet use?
Claude Opus 5.5. During the preview you cannot choose another model, and Duet decides how much effort each job needs.
Is Claude Duet available outside the US?
Not yet. Anthropic says the research preview is US only. It has not announced dates for other countries.
Claude Duet vs Muse: which is better?
They suit different people. Muse is free to start, works in WhatsApp and runs on Meta's Muse Spark model. Claude Duet requires a US Claude Pro or Max plan, runs on Opus 5.5 and is built around work tasks with approval steps and hard limits on financial actions.
