Claude Duet is Anthropic's proactive agent, released as a research preview on 21 October 2026. It checks your connected apps every few hours, sends a morning brief, finishes tasks on its own cloud computer, and asks before it sends, pays, signs or deletes anything. Today it is open only by waitlist to Pro and Max subscribers in the US. Claude Cowork, which you can use now on any paid plan in the EU, works on tasks you give it rather than coming to you first.
This guide is written for business owners and operations leads, mostly in Europe, who want to know what Duet changes and what to do while it stays US-only. Every product fact below comes from Anthropic's own pages, checked on 22 October 2026. We have not used Duet ourselves: as a Sofia- and Lisbon-based team we can't join the preview yet. Our view of the approval model comes from running scheduled Claude Code routines in our own operations every day.
What is Claude Duet?
Claude Duet is a separate Claude app in which the agent reaches out to you, where ordinary Claude chat waits for you to open a conversation. Anthropic's launch article describes three habits:
- A short morning brief on the most important items across your connected apps.
- Check-ins on those apps through the day, with a message only when something needs your attention.
- Larger jobs handed off by message, such as preparing a contract or a deck, with a notification when the work is done or needs review.
It runs on a virtual machine with its own browser, so your laptop or phone does not need to stay on. It uses the memory, skills and connected apps from your Claude account, and it runs on Claude Opus 5.5. You can't pick a different model. Duet decides how much effort each job needs.
Anthropic aims it at professionals and small business owners. The examples on the product page are business chores: finding unpaid invoices and drafting reminders, preparing payroll for review, getting contracts ready to send, and flagging inbox and calendar items.
Who can use Claude Duet right now?
Only US subscribers on the Pro or Max plan who have received a waitlist invitation. The help center article says it is "available in the US only during the research preview", that invitations go out in waves, and that Team and Enterprise plans are not included yet.
| Question | Answer on 22 October 2026 |
|---|---|
| Countries | US only |
| Plans | Pro and Max. Team and Enterprise "later" |
| How to get in | Waitlist on the product page; invitations in waves |
| Apps | iOS, Android, and claude.ai on a computer |
| Price | No extra charge during the preview |
| Usage | Shares your plan's five-hour and weekly limits; background check-ins count too |
| Model | Claude Opus 5.5, not selectable |
One practical detail: access is tied to the email address you put on the waitlist. If it differs from the address on your Claude, Google or Apple account, the help article warns that sign-in can fail. Admitted users also get one full reset of their usage limits, available until 30 November 2026.
Can I use Claude Duet in Europe?
No. On 22 October 2026 Claude Duet is available in the US only, and Anthropic has not published a date for other regions. Claude itself is sold in all 27 EU countries, according to Anthropic's supported regions policy, so European teams can use Cowork, chat and Claude Code today on a paid plan.
If you run a European business, plan with what you can buy now. Most of what Duet does for a small business can be set up in Cowork with scheduled tasks. The difference is that you write the schedule and the instructions yourself, where Duet decides when something deserves your attention.
What is the difference between Claude Duet and Cowork?
Duet starts the conversation and Cowork waits for a task. Duet watches your apps and messages you when something matters. Cowork takes a goal you give it, works through your files and tools, and runs on the schedule you set. We compared Cowork with chat and Claude Code in our guide to Claude Cowork vs Claude Code vs chat.
| Claude Duet | Claude Cowork | |
|---|---|---|
| Who starts the work | Duet, through briefs and check-ins, or you by message | You, with a task or a schedule you write |
| Where it runs | Its own cloud computer and browser | Desktop app with access to folders you choose, plus web, mobile and cloud sessions |
| Local files | Can't see your projects or files on your computer | Works in local folders you grant |
| Approvals | Asks before sending a message, making a payment, signing a document or deleting anything | Asks before deleting; with permissions settings on, shows its plan and waits before significant actions |
| Never allowed | Trading securities, moving money between accounts, using someone else's account | Set by you and, on Team and Enterprise, by your admin |
| Purchases | Through Stripe's Link or Shop Pay, one single-use card per purchase, each approved | No built-in wallet |
| Plans | Pro and Max, US, waitlist | Pro, Max, Team and Enterprise |
| Status | Research preview | Available now; some features still rolling out |
What can Claude Duet do for a small business?
It handles the recurring admin around email, calendar, invoicing, payroll and contracts, provided those systems are connected. Anthropic says Duet can reach more than 6,000 connectors and plugins in the Claude Marketplace and names Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Drive, Slack, QuickBooks, HubSpot, Docusign, Calendly, Stripe, Gusto and Shopify among them. Sites without a connector are reached through Duet's own browser.
Its limits matter as much as its reach, and Anthropic lists them openly:
- Microsoft 365 is not available yet, and some connectors such as Slack have limits.
- It does not make phone calls or send texts. With approval it can send email from a connected account.
- You can't watch or take over its browser.
- It may misread a thread, misjudge what is urgent, or miss something that arrives between check-ins.
For a firm that runs on Microsoft 365, the first point decides the question for now.
Is Claude Duet safe to connect to business accounts?
Anthropic built it to ask first and to keep credentials away from the model. It never sees passwords or sign-in tokens directly: you type a password into a separate form on your device, which passes it to the browser. A separate classifier checks each outgoing message for leaks of sensitive information, and requests to share card numbers or government IDs are designed to be refused.
Approval gates protect you only if someone answers them. We run a daily Claude Code routine that writes and publishes for this site, and over three weeks in August 9 of its roughly 21 runs stopped at a permission or credential check. None of those stops was the agent doing something wrong. Each one waited until a person came back to it. Duet handles this better than most setups: if you can't approve right away, it finishes the rest of the task and brings the approval back later. Before you connect a business account, decide who on your team answers those requests, and how fast.
Two more points for a business owner. Disconnecting an app stops future access, but Duet keeps its memory of what it already read. And Anthropic notes that content from others, such as emails and web pages, can still carry prompt-injection attempts, which is why the approval step exists.
Should you wait for Claude Duet or use Cowork now?
If you are in Europe, or your team is on a Team or Enterprise plan, use Cowork now. Duet is not available to you, Anthropic has given no date, and the work it automates can be scheduled in Cowork today. Choose Duet when it reaches you if the main gap is that nobody notices what needs attention in the first place.
A sensible way to start:
- Pick one recurring chore with a clear output, such as a Monday summary of overdue invoices or a daily list of unanswered client emails.
- Set it up as a scheduled Cowork task with read-only access first, and check the output for two weeks.
- Allow it to draft replies or reminders only after the summaries are reliably right. Keep sending, paying and signing with a person.
- When Duet reaches your region and plan, compare it against the routine you already trust.
If you are rolling Claude out across a team, the plan and admin decisions come first. Our Claude Enterprise rollout guide covers seats, admin controls and data settings, and our Claude for business page explains how we help teams set this up.
Frequently asked questions
When was Claude Duet released?
Anthropic opened Claude Duet as a research preview on 21 October 2026, by waitlist, for Pro and Max subscribers in the US.
How much does Claude Duet cost?
Nothing extra during the research preview. It is included with Pro and Max, and it uses your plan's five-hour and weekly limits. Its background check-ins also count toward those limits.
Is Claude Duet on Team or Enterprise plans?
Not yet. Anthropic says Team and Enterprise plans will come later and has not given a date.
Does Claude Duet need my laptop to stay on?
No. It runs on its own cloud computer with its own browser and keeps working after you close the app.
Can Claude Duet make payments?
Yes, with your approval for each purchase. Purchases go through Stripe's Link or Shopify's Shop Pay with a single-use card. Trading securities and moving money between accounts are off-limits even with approval.
What is the difference between Claude Duet and Claude Cowork?
Duet comes to you: it checks your apps and messages you when something needs attention. Cowork works on the tasks and schedules you give it, including files in local folders you grant, and it is available today on paid plans in the EU.