Anthropic has opened a research preview of Claude Duet, an app in which Claude acts as a proactive agent: it doesn't wait for questions, but monitors connected apps, flags what needs attention and keeps working even when you step away. The company pitches it at professionals and small business owners who have more on their plates than they can track.
Every morning Duet sends a short brief on the most important items across connected apps. Throughout the day it checks those apps every few hours and only messages you when something needs your attention. It can handle simple tasks, like scheduling meetings, and complex ones, like building dashboards, preparing financial or sales forecasts, prototyping and building web apps.
GitHub - EliranG/claude-duet: Two devs, one Claude. Share a Claude Code ...
Background work runs on a virtual machine with its own browser, so your laptop or phone doesn't need to stay on. Describe a task in a short message and you get a notification when it's complete or needs review. The app is available as a standalone app for iOS and Android and on claude.ai, and it carries over memory, skills and connected apps from your existing Claude account.
Duet can use more than 6,000 connectors and plugins, including Gmail, Slack, Google Calendar, QuickBooks, Stripe, HubSpot, Shopify and Canva. Where a service has no connector, it can fall back on a cloud browser.
Limits and controls
Anthropic says Duet won't act alone on important matters. Before it sends a message, makes a payment, signs a document or deletes anything, it shows exactly what it is about to do and waits for approval. Some actions stay off-limits even with approval, such as trading securities or moving money between accounts. The agent never sees passwords or sign-in tokens, and a dedicated classifier blocks requests that could leak sensitive data such as credit card or government ID numbers.
Access is for now limited, through a waitlist, to Pro and Max subscribers in the United States; Team and Enterprise plans are not yet included, though Anthropic plans to expand access. Background work draws on the plan's usage limits, so a Duet left monitoring your inbox can exhaust your allowance faster than chat alone.
The launch comes as Meta and OpenAI push similar agents. Anthropic positions Duet as its answer to Meta's Muse and OpenAI's Dots, built on the same idea of an agent that reaches out before you ask.
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