Anthropic has launched Claude Duet, a proactive AI agent that works in the background and alerts users only when something needs their attention. The company released Claude Duet as a research preview on Android, iOS, and the web. Access is limited to the US through a waitlist and requires a Claude Pro or Max subscription.

Claude Duet is powered by Claude Opus 5.5, Anthropic's model, and the company is positioning it for professionals and small business owners who juggle multiple projects at once.

Claude Duet does not wait for a user to type the next prompt. Each morning, the agent delivers a rundown of the important items from the apps the user has connected to it. Throughout the day it checks those sources again for changes and sends an alert when something requires action.

Users can also hand Claude Duet specific jobs. Anthropic lists tasks such as:

• scheduling meetings
• building dashboards
• preparing financial and sales forecasts
• prototyping and developing web apps

The agent runs inside its own virtual machine, so it keeps working when the user is away and no chat window is open. According to Anthropic, Duet also tries to judge which events deserve attention and when it should ask for permission before acting.

Privacy is the obvious concern for an agent with access to work messages and other sensitive information. Anthropic says Claude Duet does not directly access passwords or sign-in tokens, and that safeguards are in place to prevent the unauthorized sharing of highly sensitive data such as credit card numbers and government IDs. The company says it also tested the system for security.

Interested users in the US need a paid plan before they can join the preview:

1. Subscribe to Claude Pro or Claude Max, since Claude Duet is not offered on free accounts.
2. Sign up for the Claude Duet waitlist, which is currently open only in the US.
3. After access is granted, connect the apps Duet should monitor for the morning rundown and daytime alerts.
4. Keep an eye on usage, because background work counts toward the same limits as the rest of Claude.

The last point matters for heavy users. Claude Duet shares the existing Claude usage limits, so tasks the agent runs while the user is offline draw from the same allowance as regular chats.

Anthropic is also open about the rough edges of the first version. The company admits Duet can be overly enthusiastic, and it says personal tasks such as booking tickets are not the best fit for the agent. Claude Duet cannot yet show users its browser, which makes it hard to see what the agent does behind the scenes.

The launch puts Anthropic alongside Meta Muse and OpenAI Dots, which also pursue assistants that act instead of only answering questions. Anthropic has not announced when Claude Duet will leave research preview or expand beyond the US waitlist.