Claude Duet: Anthropic’s Agent That Starts Working Before You Ask
In short
- Anthropic opened a research preview of Claude Duet – a proactive agent that comes to you with what needs attention.
- It prepares work across 6,000+ connectors, but asks your approval before it sends a message, pays, signs or deletes anything.
- Included in Claude Pro ($20/month) and Max, US only, via waitlist. No extra fee – it uses your normal plan limits.
Every assistant you’ve used waits for you. Claude Duet doesn’t. Anthropic’s new app checks your inbox, invoices and calendar on its own, prepares the work, and pings you only when something actually needs a decision. That’s the difference between a tool and an assistant.
What happened
This week Anthropic opened a research preview of Claude Duet. It’s a standalone app on iOS and Android, plus claude.ai. It’s built around Claude Opus 5.5 and aimed squarely at professionals and small business owners.
How does it work? Every morning it sends a short brief with the most important items across your connected apps. Then it checks those accounts every few hours and messages you only when something needs you. It runs on its own virtual machine with its own browser, so your laptop and phone can be off while it works.
The safety line is clear. Duet reads, drafts and prepares 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. Some things are off-limits even with your approval: trading securities and moving money between accounts. It never directly sees your passwords.
Who gets it? Pro and Max subscribers in the US, through a waitlist. Same usage limits as the rest of Claude – and those background checks count toward them.
How to automate this
- Join the waitlist from the Claude Duet page with your Pro or Max account.
- Connect the apps your money runs through. Gmail, Slack, QuickBooks or Stripe, HubSpot, Shopify. Duet carries over your memory, skills and connectors from Claude.
- Tell it what to watch. “Tell me about unpaid invoices over 14 days and any customer complaint. Nothing else.”
- Give it a first real job. “Check Stripe for unpaid invoices and draft reminders.” You approve each send.
- Add the weekly tasks. Payroll prep in Gusto, follow-ups from HubSpot, a launch campaign in Canva.
Do the math: a part-time assistant for 20 hours a month at €15/hour is €300 a month – €3,600 a year. Claude Pro is $20 a month ($17 with annual billing), so roughly $240 a year. Duet won’t replace a good human fully. But it covers the triage and the drafting – the part you’d pay for first.
What it means
The race has moved from chatbots to agents that act first. Meta has Muse, OpenAI has dots, and now Anthropic has Duet. Anthropic is honest about the weak spots: it can still misread a thread or misjudge what’s urgent, personal errands are weaker, and you can’t see its browser yet. And Europe? Not on the list for now.
Ivan’s Take
This is exactly the kind of assistant I want: it works before I ask, but my money and my name don’t move without my OK. The approval line is drawn in the right place. US-only is the big minus – I’ll be on the waitlist the day it reaches Europe.
Source: Anthropic
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