Claude Duet wants to run your to-do list. First, join the waitlist

Anthropic has introduced Claude Duet, an AI assistant that messages you first, checks what needs doing, and keeps working after you close your laptop. It can prepare a morning briefing, chase down unpaid invoices, or build a dashboard while you’re somewhere else.

The research preview opened on October 21. Duet runs on Claude Opus 5.5, with a separate app for iPhone and Android and web access at claude.ai. Anthropic is pitching it to professionals and small business owners. People whose to-do lists have started developing their own to-do lists, basically.

Only Pro and Max subscribers, and only in the US

You need a US Claude account, a Pro or Max subscription, and an invitation from the waitlist. Paying gets you eligibility. Then you wait for the email. Free, Team, and Enterprise users aren’t included in this preview.

Invitations are going out in waves, with no guaranteed date. If you’re in India, even a Max subscription won’t get you into the current preview. I’d hold off on upgrading just for Duet until Anthropic expands access.

There’s no extra Duet charge during the preview, but it shares your existing Claude usage limits. Its morning briefs and background checks count too. So yes, the assistant can use up some of your allowance before you’ve even opened a chat. Bigger jobs, such as financial models or slide decks, use more of it.

It can deal with the inbox or even with coding works

Duet sends a morning brief based on your connected accounts, then checks them every few hours for things that need your attention. You can tell it what deserves an interruption and how often you want updates. An assistant that announces every email has merely invented another inbox.

You can hand it work by typing or speaking. It has its own cloud computer and browser, so your devices don’t need to stay on. When a task is finished or needs your decision, it sends a notification. Your existing Claude memory, skills, and connected apps come with you, saving another round of explaining your job to a chatbot.

Anthropic says Duet can use more than 6,000 Marketplace connectors and plugins. Its examples include finding missed Gmail and Slack messages, drafting invoice reminders from QuickBooks, and preparing payroll in Gusto. It can also put together forecasts, presentations, dashboards, and web apps.

That’s a lot of responsibility for something you message from your phone. I’d start with the invoice reminder and see whether it understood the invoice.

It still needs your permission to send, spend, sign, or delete

Duet can read information and prepare work on its own. Before sending a message, making a payment, signing a document, or deleting anything, it’s designed to show you the action and wait for approval. Securities trading and moving money between accounts remain off-limits even if you say yes.

Purchases can go through Stripe’s Link wallet or Shopify’s Shop Pay. With Link, you approve the spend and it pays using a virtual card, keeping your real card number out of the transaction. Support for signing into sites through 1Password is coming later.

Anthropic also says Duet never directly sees passwords or sign-in tokens. A new safety check is designed to block sharing information such as card numbers and government IDs; sharing health or personal-finance details requires explicit instructions. That approval screen still deserves a read. An AI-written email can be wrong in impressively fluent English.

Grok Bot, OpenAI Dots, Meta Muse. Everybody wants the job

Grok Bot already offers teams of agents that work across apps on a shared cloud computer. Its current beta covers eligible Grok and Cursor subscriptions, with a separate Bot usage allowance. That’s a different arrangement from Duet dipping into your regular Claude limits.

OpenAI Dots take on ongoing responsibilities inside ChatGPT, can reach you through Slack or Teams, and delegate work to ChatGPT Work or Codex. They’re rolling out to eligible Pro, Business Premium, and Enterprise accounts, with plan and regional restrictions. If your work already lives there, that continuity is a reason to look at Dots before adding another assistant.

Meta’s Muse leans further into personal errands, including shopping and booking travel, with access through its app or WhatsApp. Meta’s announced rollout starts in the US, with free access for much of its functionality and subscriptions for heavier use. Anthropic admits Duet’s personal errands, including ticket booking, are less developed. I’d take that admission seriously before handing it a holiday.

Duet’s appeal is strongest if Claude already knows your work. Switching assistants means reconnecting accounts and explaining yourself again. I need a better reason than a new app icon.

You can’t watch its browser yet. I’d like that fixed

Duet currently won’t let you watch or take over its browser. It can’t access local computer files, Microsoft 365 isn’t available yet, and some connectors have restrictions. The enormous connector count deserves that footnote.

Anthropic acknowledges that Duet can misread conversations or get urgency wrong. Something important can also arrive between its periodic checks. I’ll happily take help drafting a reminder, but I’d keep checking time-sensitive messages myself until the preview has earned more trust.