Anthropic launches Claude Duet, a proactive AI agent, in research preview

What Anthropic announced

On October 21, 2026, Anthropic introduced Claude Duet, which it describes as a proactive agent. Most chat assistants wait for a question. Duet is built to work in the background, check the apps you connect, and message you when something needs attention.

According to Anthropic, Duet sends a morning brief covering important items across your connected accounts, checks those accounts every few hours, and follows up on quiet threads. It can also take on larger jobs, from scheduling meetings to building dashboards, forecasts and web apps, and returns finished work as editable files such as reports, models or slide decks.

Duet runs on a cloud virtual machine with its own browser, so it keeps working when your laptop or phone is off. It uses Claude Opus 5.5, and users cannot choose a different model.

Who can use it, and when

Duet is a research preview, not a general release. Anthropic says it is available to Pro and Max plan users with a US Claude account, through a waitlist. Invitations go out in waves, and no date is guaranteed. It is not available on Team or Enterprise plans yet.

Anthropic lists standalone iOS and Android apps plus claude.ai, kept separate from the main Claude app during the preview. Some press coverage mentions only iOS and the web, so check the current waitlist page before you plan around a platform.

Duet is included in Pro and Max at no extra cost during the preview. Background work, such as the morning brief, counts against your plan's usage limits, so heavy use may reach those limits sooner.

What it connects to and how approvals work

Anthropic's help article says Duet works with connectors you have already set up in Claude, with examples such as Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Drive, Slack, QuickBooks, HubSpot, Docusign and Calendly. You start each connection yourself and can disconnect any app at any time. Microsoft 365 is not supported yet.

The approval step is the main design choice. Duet reads, drafts and prepares work on its own. Before it sends a message, makes a payment, signs a document or deletes anything, it shows what it will do and waits for your approval. Trading securities and moving money between accounts are off limits even with approval.

Anthropic also says Duet never sees your passwords, browser cookies or sign-in tokens, and that a classifier is meant to block sharing the most sensitive data, such as card numbers and government ID.

Limits and open questions

Anthropic lists several limits. Duet can misread a thread or misjudge urgency, and because it checks accounts at intervals, urgent items may arrive late. You cannot yet watch or take over its browser, and it will not make phone calls or send texts. Personal errands, like booking tickets, are weaker than work tasks.

Open questions remain. Anthropic has not given a general release date, pricing after the preview, or availability outside the US. Teams that need shared access are not covered yet, since Team and Enterprise plans are excluded.

What this means for your business

Duet is aimed at individual professionals and owner-operators, and it is easiest to picture in a business where one person tracks many threads: a contractor watching quotes and invoices, a clinic manager following up on scheduling conflicts, or a retailer checking orders and customer emails. The morning brief and follow-up reminders are the practical pieces.

The wider point is that agents are moving from answering questions to monitoring systems and preparing actions, with a person approving the important steps. That pattern is worth copying in any automation you run: let software gather and draft, and keep a human sign-off on payments, contracts and customer-facing messages.

A personal agent on one subscription is not the same as automation built around your own customer data and team. Trnkey AI builds, connects and runs AI and automation for businesses. If you want an agent tied to your own booking, CRM or billing tools, with shared access and reporting, that is a custom build. Duet is a preview worth watching, not yet something to rely on.

• Join the waitlist only if you have a US Pro or Max account and can test with low-risk tasks.
• Start with read-only connections and review every approval request.
• Keep payments, contracts and customer-facing messages behind a person's sign-off.