- Who can get in, and why you might be waiting
- Joining the Claude Duet waitlist, step by step
- What a day with Duet looks like
- What Duet can't do during the preview
- Approvals, payments and one-time cards
- Passwords, sensitive details and the cloud browser
- Shared usage limits and disconnecting apps
- My verdict on Claude Duet
- Frequently asked questions
Claude Duet is a research preview of Claude that you message the way you'd message a person: it works in the apps you've connected, tells you when something needs you, and is designed to ask before it sends a message, makes a payment, signs a document or deletes anything. As of October 2026 it's open only to Pro and Max users with a US Claude account, through a waitlist.
Anthropic's release notes date the Pro and Max research preview to 21 October 2026. It's a standalone app for iOS and Android, and on a computer you can open it on the web at claude.ai. It runs on Claude Opus 5.5, and you can't pick a different model.
Who can get in, and why you might be waiting
| Requirement | As of October 2026 |
|---|---|
| Plans | Pro and Max, not Team or Enterprise yet |
| Country | A US Claude account, and a US payment method for Link or Shop Pay |
| Access | Waitlist, with invitations in waves, tied to your email address |
| Where it runs | The iOS and Android app, or the web at claude.ai on a computer |
| Model | Claude Opus 5.5, not selectable |
| Payments | Link or Shop Pay, with a one-time card for each purchase you approve |
If you've joined and heard nothing, Anthropic lists the usual reasons. Invitations come in waves. The preview is US only. Team and Enterprise plans are excluded. Or the email you used on the waitlist doesn't match your Claude account or the Apple or Google account on your phone. That last one is the easiest to get wrong, so check it before you sign up.
Joining the Claude Duet waitlist, step by step
- Open the Claude Duet product page and choose Join the waitlist.
- Enter your name and the email on your Claude account, choose your plan and your phone type, iPhone or Android, and optionally say what you'd hand off first.
- Wait for the invitation email and open it on your phone.
- Install through the iPhone or Android steps, signing in with the Apple or Google account tied to that email.
- Sign in with your Claude account and connect the apps you want it to use. You start every connection yourself.
- Approve or decline each action card it sends.
What a day with Duet looks like
Because it runs on your Claude account, your memory, skills and connectors are there from the first message. If you haven't set up memory yet, my guide to how Claude memory works is the place to start. Duet works on its own computer in the cloud and keeps going after you close the app.
Each morning it looks across your email and calendar, picks what most needs your attention, and can start first steps, like drafting replies for you to review. Through the day it sends updates and follows up on threads that have gone quiet. Bigger jobs come back as files you can review and edit, such as a research brief, financial model, slide deck or dashboard, and finished work lands in the Make tab. The Tasks tab shows what it's working on and which tasks need your input, and only you can mark a task completed.
It works with connectors you've already set up in Claude, for example Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Drive, Slack, QuickBooks, HubSpot, Docusign and Calendly. It supports plugins, such as the small business plugin, and uses its own cloud browser for sites without a connector. Anthropic's example requests include clearing out anything in your inbox you don't need to read, checking Stripe for unpaid invoices and drafting reminder emails for you to approve, and pulling together a brief on a company before a 2 pm meeting. If you already hand work to Cowork, my guide on how to use Claude Cowork is worth reading alongside this one.
What Duet can't do during the preview
- You can't watch or take over its browser.
- It checks your accounts at set intervals, so something urgent can arrive between checks.
- It can read your work in Claude but can't change it.
- It doesn't make phone calls or text other people.
- Microsoft 365 isn't available yet, and Slack works with limits.
- Some actions are off-limits even with your approval, such as trading securities, moving funds between accounts or getting into someone else's account.
Anthropic also warns that it can misread a thread or misjudge what's urgent, so review its drafts and approval requests rather than waving them through.
Approvals, payments and one-time cards
Before it sends a potentially sensitive message, pays or deletes anything, Duet shows you the action, the destination and the content, including every recipient, and waits for your approval. A separate automated check, built on the classifier behind Claude Code's auto mode, runs outside the working model, so instructions hidden in a web page can't affect the outcome. Paying or sending funds, deleting an order and creating an account are never covered by a don't-ask-again rule.
Payments run through Link, Stripe's digital wallet, or Shop Pay, Shopify's wallet. For now both work only inside Claude Duet, with a US payment method. They're connected in Duet itself, not in the connectors directory, and they're separate from the Stripe connector. Each purchase asks for your approval and uses a one-time card that only works for that merchant and amount. Link may place a temporary authorisation on your payment method, and the final charge only completes if the merchant completes the purchase. Duet can see your card type, last four digits, nickname, expiry and shipping addresses, but never the full card or bank account number.
Passwords, sensitive details and the cloud browser
Duet never sees your passwords, browser cookies, sign-in tokens or other credentials. When a site needs a password, you type it into a form inside the Claude app that encrypts it with a single-use key. The encrypted value goes unopened to the cloud browser, which types it in. That sign-in form only appears inside the app, during a sign-in you asked for. It never arrives as a link, text, email or another website, which is a simple rule to share with anyone who might be phished. Anthropic says signing in with 1Password is coming.
Sensitive information has two tiers. Some things are never shared, even if you ask: sign-in credentials, full card and bank account numbers and government ID numbers. Others need consent, such as health or financial details, and your own request counts as that consent. Anthropic also uses a new classifier on the messages Duet drafts, to handle information with discretion.
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The cloud browser runs in its own virtual machine. Its requests carry a distinct User-Agent header, and Anthropic publishes the IP addresses, so sites can recognise and block it. Before launch, Anthropic contacted several large websites, and some chose to stop Duet visiting. Duet is in scope of Anthropic's bug bounty on HackerOne, and Anthropic tested it with evaluations, red teams and an external penetration-testing firm.
Shared usage limits and disconnecting apps
During the preview, Duet shares your plan's usage limits with the rest of Claude and uses them differently from a normal conversation. Background checks count toward your limits, and bigger tasks, like a financial model or a deck, need more model turns. So a busy Duet can leave you with less allowance for chat.
Disconnecting an app stops Duet reaching it from that point on, but what it remembers from earlier conversations stays until you reset its memory in the app's settings. Switching an app off in one place switches it off in both Claude and Duet.
My verdict on Claude Duet
If you're a US Pro or Max user who lives in email and calendar, I'd join the waitlist, making sure the email matches your Claude account and your phone. Once you're in, I'd connect one or two apps first, not everything, and watch how much of your allowance the background checks use. I'd keep approvals on for anything that sends or pays, and I wouldn't treat a morning brief as a full read of your inbox, since Anthropic itself says it can misjudge what's urgent.
Frequently asked questions
Who can use Claude Duet?
As of October 2026, Claude Duet is a research preview for Pro and Max plan users with a US Claude account, through a waitlist. It isn't available on Team or Enterprise plans yet.
Why haven't I got access to Claude Duet?
Invitations go out in waves, the preview is US only, Team and Enterprise are excluded, and the waitlist email has to match your Claude account and the Apple or Google account on your phone.
Can Claude Duet see my card number?
No. Duet can see your card type, last four digits, nickname, expiry and shipping addresses, but never the full card or bank account number.
Does Claude Duet use my normal Claude usage limits?
Yes. During the preview it shares your plan's usage limits with the rest of Claude, and background checks count toward them.
