ai-toolstutorialshow-toai

Claude Duet: How to Use Anthropic's Proactive Agent

Step-by-step guide to join the waitlist and use Claude Duet, Anthropic's proactive agent app for professionals and small businesses.

October 28, 2026 Yum News

Anthropic opened a research preview of Claude Duet on October 21, 2026. It is a standalone app where Claude acts as a proactive agent. Instead of waiting for you to open a chat, it comes to you with priorities, completes tasks you describe, and keeps working on its own cloud computer after you put your phone down.

The preview is included in existing Claude Pro and Max plans for US subscribers and uses the same usage limits. Access is by waitlist. The app is available on iOS, Android, and claude.ai.

Professional working at a modern desk with computer

Who Claude Duet is for

Anthropic built Claude Duet for professionals and small business owners who manage more decisions than they can track. It is not optimized for personal errands such as booking tickets. The core design focuses on work: email, calendar, invoices, contracts, dashboards, and follow-ups.

It carries over memory, skills, and connected apps from your Claude account. Setup is minimal once you have access.

How to join the waitlist

Confirm you have a Claude Pro or Max plan and a US account.
Go to the Claude Duet product page or the announcement article and join the waitlist.
Wait for the email invitation. Access opens in waves.
Install the standalone app on iOS or Android, or open it on claude.ai.
Sign in with your existing Claude account.

Team and Enterprise plans are not included in the initial preview. Features can change while it remains a research preview.

What Claude Duet does each day

Each morning it sends a short brief of the most important items across your connected apps. Throughout the day it checks those apps every few hours and messages you only when something needs attention. You can tell it what you want to hear about and how often.

You message it by typing or voice in one ongoing thread. Separate channels are available for different topics; they share the same memory. Larger jobs return as files you can review and edit: research briefs, financial models, slide decks, or dashboards.

Claude Duet has a virtual machine with its own browser. It does not need your laptop or phone to stay on. Describe a task in a short message and it works out the apps and steps in the background. You receive a notification when the task finishes or needs review.

Person using a laptop in a focused workspace

Connecting tools and handling sensitive actions

Claude Duet can use more than 6,000 connectors and plugins from the Claude Marketplace. Examples include:

Gmail and Slack for missed messages and draft replies
QuickBooks or Stripe for unpaid invoices and reminder drafts
Gusto for payroll preparation
HubSpot for follow-up emails based on deal history
Docusign for agreement preparation
Canva for social campaigns
Shopify for store setup and management

It can also purchase items for your business via Stripe’s Link digital wallet or Shopify’s Shop Pay. Link asks you to approve the spend and pays with a virtual card so your real card number is not shared.

Before Claude Duet sends a message, makes a payment, signs a document, or deletes anything, it shows you exactly what it is about to do and waits for approval. A few actions remain off-limits even with approval, such as trading securities or moving money between accounts. You can disconnect any app at any time.

A dedicated classifier and safety system prompt check messages and guard against leaking the strictest tier of information, including credit card numbers and government identification. Other sensitive data (health or personal finances) is allowed only when you have explicitly instructed it to send that information.

Safety design

Claude Duet builds on Anthropic’s existing agent safety work:

Trustworthy agents framework used by Claude Code and Claude in Chrome
Credential handling that matches Claude Managed Agents (it never directly sees passwords or sign-in tokens)
Auto mode classifier that protects against unrequested steps
Prompt-injection defenses from browser-use research
Adversarial testing, external penetration testing, and the public bug bounty program

During the preview you cannot watch or take over its browser. Personal errands are weaker than work tasks. It may misread a thread or misjudge urgency while the team tunes judgment from early feedback.

Practical tips for early use

Start with one or two connected apps (Gmail and Google Calendar are common). Give clear standing instructions about what counts as urgent and what can wait. Review the morning brief and adjust the frequency of check-ins if the volume feels high or low.

Hand off larger projects by voice note when you are away from the desk. Check the results when you return. Because background checks and complex tasks consume plan limits faster than a normal conversation, monitor usage in the first week.

If you already use agent surfaces in other tools, the workflow differences are useful to note. For example, the guide on using GPT-6.1 Terra in ChatGPT Work and the API covers a different computer-use approach. Claude Duet keeps the approval step explicit and runs on its own cloud VM rather than requiring your local machine.

Watch the official introduction

Current limits and what comes next

Claude Duet is an early research preview. It lives in its own app, separate from the main Claude app. Microsoft 365 connectors are not available yet. Browser visibility and takeover are not offered during the preview. Usage draws from the same Pro or Max limits as the rest of Claude.

Anthropic plans to expand based on feedback from early users. Features, availability outside the US, and Team/Enterprise support may change as the product moves out of research preview.