Claude Duet: Anthropic's AI agent app, price and access

Anthropic has launched Claude Duet, a new app in which Claude works as a proactive AI agent. Instead of waiting for you to type a prompt, Duet sends you a morning brief, keeps an eye on the apps you connect, works on tasks in the background and messages you when something needs a decision. Anthropic announced it on Wednesday, October 21, 2026, as a research preview.

It is not open to everyone yet. For now Claude Duet is limited to Claude Pro and Max subscribers in the US, through a waitlist, and it costs nothing extra during the preview. Here is what it does, what it costs, how to get in and what it still can't do.

What is Claude Duet?

Claude Duet is a standalone app for iPhone and Android, and it can also be used on the web at claude.ai. Anthropic says it built Duet "for professionals and small business owners with more on their plates than they can track." It runs on Claude Opus 5.5, and you can't switch it to a different model.

The big change from the regular Claude app is who starts the conversation. According to Anthropic, Duet "comes to you with what needs your attention, completes tasks you ask of it, keeps working even when you step away, and checks with you before it acts on your behalf." You talk to it by typing or sending voice messages in one ongoing thread, and you can open separate channels for different topics that share the same memory.

The Verge, Engadget, 9to5Mac and MacRumors all framed Duet as Anthropic's answer to Meta's Muse agent and OpenAI's Dots, which already offer always-on agents that work across your apps.

What Claude Duet can do

Each morning, Duet looks across your email and calendar and sends a short brief on what matters most. Anthropic's help center says it can also start the first steps, like drafting replies for you to review. Through the day it checks your connected apps and messages you only when something needs you.

You can also hand it bigger jobs. Anthropic lists examples such as scheduling meetings, building dashboards, creating financial or sales forecasts, prototyping and building web apps. Larger results come back as files you can review and edit, such as a research brief, a financial model, a slide deck or a dashboard, and finished work appears in a Make tab. A Tasks tab shows what Duet is working on and flags anything that needs your input.

Duet has its own virtual machine with its own browser in the cloud, so it keeps working after you close the app and doesn't need your phone or laptop to stay on. For websites without a dedicated connector, it uses that cloud browser.

Anthropic gave early access to some small business owners. In its announcement, broker Jess Provencher said Duet flagged a property showing that was on her calendar for the wrong day, calling it "exactly the kind of thing I want caught without having to ask."

Which apps Claude Duet works with

Duet carries over the memory, skills and connected apps from your Claude account, so there is little setup. Anthropic says it can use the more than 6,000 connectors and plugins in the Claude Marketplace. Its examples include finding missed Gmail and Slack messages, checking QuickBooks or Stripe for unpaid invoices and drafting reminders, preparing payroll in Gusto, drafting LinkedIn job posts, sending agreements through Docusign, drafting follow-ups from HubSpot, building social campaigns in Canva and managing a Shopify store.

It can also buy things for you. Duet supports Link, Stripe's digital wallet, and Shop Pay from Shopify. Anthropic says Duet confirms the item with you, the wallet asks you to approve the spend, and each purchase uses a one-time virtual card so your real card number isn't shared. Anthropic says sign-in with logins saved in 1Password is coming soon.

There are gaps. The help center says some connectors, such as Slack, work with limits in Duet, and Microsoft 365 isn't available yet.

Claude Duet price and usage limits

During the research preview, Claude Duet is included in the Pro and Max plans at no extra cost. Anthropic's pricing page lists Claude Pro at $20 a month billed monthly, or $17 a month with annual billing ($200 up front). Max starts at $100 a month. Prices were checked on claude.com on October 22, 2026.

The catch is usage. Duet shares your plan's usage limits with the rest of Claude, including the five-hour session and weekly limits, and its background work, like the morning brief and check-ins, counts too. Anthropic warns you may hit your limits sooner than with chat alone, and that bigger jobs, like a financial model or a deck, use more. That is also why Duet checks your accounts every few hours rather than nonstop.

To soften that, Anthropic's help center says people admitted to the preview get one full limit reset, covering both the five-hour and weekly limits, which can be used until November 30, 2026.

How to get Claude Duet

You need three things: a Claude Pro or Max plan, a Claude account in the US, and an invitation from the waitlist. Team and Enterprise plans aren't included yet, though Anthropic says it plans to add them later.

To sign up, go to the Claude Duet product page on claude.com and select Join the waitlist. Enter the same email address as your Claude account, choose your plan and phone type, and submit. Anthropic says invitations go out in waves with no set date. When yours arrives, open the email on your phone, install the app with the Apple or Google account tied to that email, and sign in with your Claude account.

Engadget reports that Anthropic says subscribers on the $20-a-month Pro plan will get access once Duet reaches general availability. Anthropic has not given a date for a wider launch or for countries outside the US.

Safety: what Claude Duet asks before doing

Duet reads, drafts and prepares work on its own, but Anthropic says it shows you exactly what it is about to do and waits for approval before it sends a message, makes a payment, signs a document or deletes anything. Some actions are blocked even if you approve them, including trading securities, moving money between accounts and accessing someone else's account. It also doesn't make phone calls or send text messages to other people.

Anthropic says Duet never directly sees your passwords or sign-in tokens. It also launched with a new classifier and safety system prompt that check each message for leaks of sensitive information. These are designed to refuse sharing the most sensitive data, such as credit card numbers and government ID, and to pass on health or personal finance details only when you have explicitly told Duet to. Anthropic says red teams and an outside firm penetration tested the app, and it is covered by Anthropic's bug bounty program.

What Claude Duet can't do yet

Anthropic is upfront that this is an early version. It says Duet "still might misread a thread or miscalibrate what's urgent," and because it checks accounts at intervals, something urgent can arrive between checks. It was built around work, so personal errands like booking tickets are weaker.

You also can't watch Duet work in its browser or take over, and it can't see the files on your computer or all of your Claude projects. It can read your work in Claude but not change it. For now it lives in its own app, separate from the main Claude app, and TechCrunch notes Anthropic is setting it apart from personal agents by saying Duet isn't good at errands or booking tickets.

Not everyone is convinced businesses will rush in. Paul Baier, CEO and analyst at GAI Insights, told TechTarget that "B2B customers aren't going to be rolling out Duet for months, maybe years, maybe never rolling it out."

Claude Duet vs Meta Muse and OpenAI Dots

Duet enters a crowded field. TechCrunch lists Meta Muse, OpenAI Dots and several smaller agents as rivals, and MacRumors notes that, like Muse and Dots, Duet has a virtual machine with its own browser to complete tasks. Anthropic's pitch is judgment and caution: an agent that decides what can wait, checks in before anything important, and stays focused on work.

The bigger question is how often you will want an agent messaging you first, and how much of your plan's usage you are willing to spend on it. We will update this story when Anthropic opens Duet more widely.