Anthropic opened a research preview of Claude Duet on October 21, 2026, and it's free with US Pro and Max plans by waitlist, but it spends your usage limits and has real gaps.
Another AI agent launch can feel like a lot to sort out, and this one asks for access to your inbox, your calendar and maybe your payments. Here's a plain guide to what Claude Duet is, who can try it, what it needs your approval to do, and what to know before you sign up.
What Claude Duet is and who can try it
Claude Duet is a new app from Anthropic where Claude works as a proactive agent. That means it comes to you with what needs your attention instead of waiting for you to type first. Anthropic announced it on October 21, 2026, as a research preview, which is an early version it's still testing and tuning.
Right now it's for Pro and Max subscribers in the United States, and access comes through a waitlist. Anthropic says it will email you as soon as Duet is ready for you. Joining the list doesn't promise a date, since the invitations go out in waves.
You can use it as a standalone app on iOS and Android. During the preview it's included in Pro and Max at no extra cost. Pro costs US$20 a month when billed monthly, and Max starts at US$100.
"Included" doesn't mean "unmetered." Duet uses the same usage limits as the rest of Claude, including the five-hour session limit and the weekly limit. Its background work, like the morning brief and check-ins, counts too, so you may hit your limits sooner than with chat alone. Anthropic also gives you one full limit reset when you're admitted, available until November 30, 2026.
What it can do, and what needs your approval
Anthropic designed Duet for professionals and small business owners who have more to keep track of than they can manage. Each morning it sends a short brief on the most important items across your connected apps. During the day it watches those apps and messages you only when something needs you.
You can also hand it tasks, from scheduling meetings to building dashboards, financial or sales forecasts, and web apps. It runs on its own virtual machine with its own browser, so it keeps working when your laptop or phone is off, and it notifies you when a task is done or needs review. Its examples include finding missed Gmail and Slack messages and drafting replies, checking QuickBooks or Stripe for unpaid invoices and drafting reminders, and preparing payroll in Gusto.
The approval step is the safeguard that matters most. Duet reads, drafts and prepares work on its own. Sending a message, making a payment, signing a document or deleting anything is different: it first shows you exactly what it's about to do and waits for your approval. If you can't approve right away, it finishes the rest of the task and brings the approval back to you later.
A few things are off-limits even if you say yes, such as trading securities or moving money between accounts. You can disconnect any app at any time. Disconnecting stops future access, but Duet keeps memory of what it learned in earlier conversations.
For purchases, Duet confirms the item with you, and Stripe's Link wallet asks you to approve the spend. Payment then goes through a virtual card, a stand-in number, so your real card number stays private. Anthropic also says a new classifier checks each message and rejects requests to share the strictest tier of information, including credit card numbers and government ID. Health or personal finance details go out only if you've explicitly told it to send them.
Important limits before you join the waitlist
Anthropic is upfront that this is an early version. It might misread a thread or miscalibrate what's urgent, so its help guide tells you to review drafts and approval requests before you confirm them. It was built around work, so personal errands such as booking tickets aren't quite as strong. It also can't yet show you its browser, and for now it lives in its own app, separate from the main Claude app.
Don't expect instant alerts. Duet looks at your connected accounts every few hours, since constant checking would drain your plan's limits much faster. An urgent message can arrive between checks, so keep anything time-critical on a conventional reminder. Larger jobs, like building a financial model or a deck, take more model turns and background work, so they eat more of the shared limits.
Some listed features aren't live yet. A richer visual editor for Shopify storefronts is coming soon, and so is signing in to sites with logins saved in 1Password. Microsoft 365 isn't available yet either, and Slack works with limits, so check your own tools before you wait in line.
If your work lives in Gmail, Calendar, Stripe or QuickBooks and you're on a US Pro or Max plan, the waitlist costs you nothing extra. Just remember the price is paid in usage, and the approval step is yours to take seriously.
