Yesterday, Anthropic opened the research preview of Claude Duet, a new app where Claude works as a proactive agent. The app is built for professionals and small business owners with more on their plates than they can track.
We’re opening a research preview of Claude Duet, a new app where Claude works as a proactive agent.
It comes to you with what needs your attention, completes tasks you ask of it, keeps working when you step away, and checks with you before it acts on your behalf. pic.twitter.com/kt8gAbWuX8
— Claude (@claudeai) October 21, 2026
Claude Duet
Claude Duet is designed around Claude Opus 5.5 and built to be resourceful and to decide what needs you, what can wait, and when to check with you first. Each morning, it sends you a short brief on the most important items across your connected apps. Throughout the day, it keeps tabs on those apps and messages you only when something needs your attention.
You can also hand it tasks of all shapes- from simple administrative tasks of scheduling meetings to more complex ones, such as building dashboards with a dozen tools, creating financial or sales forecasts, prototyping, and building web apps.
Safety and discretion are built into this app:
- Claude Duet draws on Anthropic’s framework for trustworthy agents(opens in new tab), which also guides agents like Claude Code and Claude in Chrome.
- Claude Duet’s handling of credentials follows the design the company uses for Claude Managed Agents(opens in new tab), so it never directly sees your passwords or sign-in tokens.
- Actions are approved by Anthropic’s auto mode classifier(opens in new tab), the same safeguard that protects Claude and Claude Code from taking steps you didn’t ask for.
- Claude Duet’s defences against hidden instructions and prompt injection come from the company’s browser-use research(opens in new tab), and its models and safeguards also cover this more broadly.
- Anthropic runs adversarial tests for Claude Duet’s security infrastructure. Red teams and an external firm penetration-tested Claude Duet, and it’s covered by the company’s public bug bounty program(opens in new tab).
The app is released with a new dedicated classifier and safety system prompt that checks each message and guards against leaks of sensitive information. This new classifier and prompt are designed to reject requests to share the strictest tier of information, including credit card numbers and government identification.
Other sensitive information, such as health or personal finances, is let through only when you’ve explicitly instructed Claude Duet to send it.
Anthropic’s team is already using Claude Duet, and the company gave small business owners and entrepreneurs early access to the app; some have been using it to help run their businesses.
How does Claude Duet work?
Claude Duet carries over your memory, skills, and connected apps from your Claude account, so setting it up requires minimal work. Claude Duet has a virtual machine with its own browser, so it doesn’t require your laptop or phone to be on. Describe a task in a short message, and it works out which apps to use and what steps to take in the background. You’ll receive a notification when the task is complete or needs your review.
Claude Duet checks your connected accounts every few hours because checking nonstop would use up your plan’s limits much faster. You will receive a message when something needs you. The company is continuing to test its judgment about when to message you.
Claude Duet reads, drafts, and prepares work on its own. But before it sends a message, makes a payment, signs a document, or deletes anything, it shows you exactly what it’s about to do and waits for your approval. A few things are off-limits even with your approval, like trading securities or moving money between accounts. You’re also able to disconnect any app Claude Duet has access to.
The app can connect with the tools your business runs on. Claude Duet can use the over 6,000 connectors and plugins in the Claude Marketplace to:
- Find the Gmail and Slack messages you’ve missed and help you reply.
- Check Intuit QuickBooks or Stripe for unpaid invoices and draft reminders.
- Prepare and run payroll in Gusto, with hours, bonuses, and reimbursements filled in.
- Draft a job posting and, once you edit and approve, post it to LinkedIn.
- Help prepare agreements and send them for review and signature through DocuSign.
- Draft follow-up emails using the contact and deal history in HubSpot.
- Turn your product launch into a social campaign in Canva.
- Set up, design, and manage your Shopify store. Coming soon, a richer visual editor will let you design your storefront and preview it before anything goes live.
You can also use Claude Duet to purchase things for your business using Link, Stripe’s digital wallet. Claude Duet confirms the item with you, and Link asks you to approve the spend. It then pays with a virtual card, so your real card number isn’t shared. It can also use Shopify’s Shop Pay to check out at online stores. Coming soon, with your permission, it will be able to sign in to sites with logins you’ve saved in 1Password.
The company has warned that because this is an early version, it might still misread a thread or misjudge what’s urgent. During the research preview, Claude Duet shares your plan’s usage limits with the rest of Claude, and it uses them differently than a typical conversation does. Its background checks count toward those limits, and larger tasks, like building a financial model or a deck, require more model turns and background work.
Availability
Claude Duet is available as a standalone app on iOS and Android, and on claude.ai. For the research preview, Claude Duet is included in Pro and Max plans (in the US) and uses the same usage limits as the rest of Claude. Interested users can join the waitlist.
