Claude Duet works in the background for you. Here's how to set it up before your invite lands

Anthropic released Claude Duet on October 21. It's an agent you message, and it starts work without a prompt. Every few hours it checks the apps you've connected, sends you a brief each morning, and works on tasks in the background on its own cloud computer. It drafts the reply, chases the invoice or builds the deck, then waits for your OK before anything goes out.

There's no extra fee. Duet is included in Claude Pro and Max, but it runs on the same usage limits as the rest of your Claude account, and its background checks count against them. It's also a waitlisted research preview, starting with US Pro and Max subscribers. Most of the setup work happens before you get access, and getting it right decides how much Duet helps and how much of your usage it spends.

What Duet does

Duet lives in its own app on iOS and Android, and on the web at claude.ai. It runs on Claude Opus 5.5, and you talk to it in one ongoing thread, by typing or by voice. Anthropic lists the jobs it's built for on the product page: flagging what matters in your inbox and calendar, drafting replies and next steps, finding unpaid invoices, preparing payroll for review, getting contracts ready, and building briefs, decks and dashboards.

Two details matter for a small team:

• It runs without your laptop. Duet "has a virtual machine with its own browser," so your laptop or phone doesn't need to be on. You get a notification when a task is done or needs a decision.
• It inherits your setup. Duet carries over the memory, skills and connected apps already on your Claude account. Whatever you've taught Claude so far, Duet starts with.

What it costs

Duet has no separate price. It comes with Claude Pro ($20 a month, or $17 a month billed annually) and Max (from $100 a month). Team and Enterprise plans aren't included yet, and Anthropic hasn't said when they will be.

Usage is where Duet costs you. Anthropic says Duet "uses the same usage limits as the rest of Claude." Claude limits reset on a rolling five-hour window, and paid plans also have weekly limits. Web, desktop, mobile and Claude Code all draw from one pool. Duet's background checks come out of that pool, and big jobs like a financial model or a deck "require more model turns and background work."

That's why Duet checks your accounts every few hours instead of constantly. If you already hit your Pro limits in Claude Code or long chats, Duet will compete for the same budget. Plan for Max, or plan to give Duet a narrow job.

What it will and won't do without you

Before Duet sends a message, makes a payment, signs a document or deletes anything, it "shows you exactly what it's about to do and waits for your approval." Some actions are blocked even with approval, including trading securities and moving money between accounts.

Other guardrails worth knowing:

• Duet never directly sees your passwords or sign-in tokens.
• A classifier rejects requests to share the most sensitive details, such as credit card numbers and government IDs. Health and personal finance information is shared only when you explicitly tell it to.
• It can buy things through Link, Stripe's wallet. You confirm the item, Link asks you to approve the spend, and Duet pays with a virtual card so your real card number isn't shared. It can also check out with Shop Pay on Shopify stores.
• You can disconnect any app Duet has access to.

Treat every approval as a real review, especially in the first few weeks.

Which apps to connect

Duet works with "more than 6,000 connectors and plugins" from the Claude marketplace. The examples Anthropic shows lean heavily toward running a business: Gmail, Google Calendar, Slack, Google Drive, Notion, Stripe, Shopify, QuickBooks, DocuSign, HubSpot, Gusto, Microsoft 365, Canva and Ramp. Coming soon: signing in to sites with your saved 1Password logins, with your permission, and a visual editor for Shopify storefronts.

Start with fewer apps than you plan to use. Every app you add is another place Duet checks every few hours, which costs usage and adds noise to your morning brief. A sensible starting set for a founder or agency owner is email, calendar, and one money tool (Stripe or QuickBooks). Add your CRM or Notion once you trust what it flags.

Where it falls short

Anthropic lists these limits in the announcement and on the product page:

• It "might misread a thread or miscalibrate what's urgent."
• It "can miss something that arrives between checking in with you." Because it checks every few hours, it's not a real-time alert system. Keep your normal notifications for anything urgent.
• It "can't yet show you its browser," so you can't watch it work on a website.
• It's built for work. Personal errands like booking tickets are weaker.
• It lives in its own app, separate from the main Claude app.
• It's US-only for now, and Anthropic hasn't said when other countries will get it.

What to do this week

1. Join the waitlist on the Claude Duet page if you're on Pro or Max in the US. Anthropic will email you when it's ready.
2. Clean up your Claude memory and skills. Duet starts with whatever is there. Remove old project notes and add the basics it needs: your business, your key clients, how you like replies written.
3. Pick two or three apps to start with, not ten. Connect them in Claude now so they're ready on day one.
4. Check your usage. If you hit Pro limits most weeks, decide now whether Duet is worth moving to Max, or keep its job small.
5. Choose one boring, repeat task to hand over first, like a weekly list of unpaid invoices or a Monday brief on the week's calls. Judge Duet on that before you give it anything that touches clients.

If you're outside the US, or on a Team plan, there's nothing to switch on yet. The memory and skills work is still worth doing, since it improves regular Claude today.