Anthropic Launches Proactive Agent Product Claude Duet

Claude launches proactive Agent Duet, still all about work | Letter List Download the app for exclusive early access October 22, 2026 13:03:56 From Beijing

Anthropic is also making a Personal Agent, and the product is called Claude Duet. Officially positioned as "a proactive Agent," it is currently open as a research preview; if you want to test the product, you first need to submit an application through Claude.

Anthropic says Duet doesn't wait for you to ask a question—it comes to you proactively with the things that need your attention.

Claude's past usage has always been "you ask, I answer": open the dialog box, enter your request, wait for a reply. Duet essentially reverses that order.

Duet is a separate new product with its own standalone app, aimed at professionals and company management who are "too busy to keep up with everything."

What can Duet do?

The official announcement gives some use cases.

For example, every morning, Duet compiles the most important items from the various apps you've connected into a brief briefing and sends it to you.

It doesn't sit idle during the day either—it keeps an eye on those apps and only messages you when something really needs your attention.

Beyond keeping watch, you can also hand tasks directly to it.

For example, scheduling meetings, or using dozens of tools to build a data dashboard, make financial or sales forecasts, build prototypes, build web apps, and so on.

At present, the biggest difference between Duet and Meta's Muse is that one leans "business" and the other "life."

Muse clearly leans toward personal life—shopping, booking tickets, filling out forms; it's like a life concierge. Duet's core features revolve around work.

In addition, the two also differ in their working rhythm.

Muse works (heartbeats) roughly every 30 minutes, proactively checking emails and documents; Duet's frequency is to work only once every few hours.

Anthropic's reasoning is that nonstop checking would drain plan quotas much faster.

On safety, both chose "ask you first."

Muse's approach is the Sentinel guard Agent, a credentials vault, and a "forget" command; Duet uses a dedicated classifier plus safety prompts—health and financial information must have your explicit authorization before it can be transmitted through cloud servers, while credit card numbers and ID documents are directly denied access.

Anthropic says the most valuable thing about Duet is judgment: which things need you, which things can wait, and when it must ask you first. Duet is designed based on Claude Opus 5.5, with the goal of being "a partner you can trust."

In how it works, Duet also differs from Claude's model products.

First, Duet can directly inherit context.

Duet carries over the memory, skills, and connected apps in your Claude account, with no need to reconfigure. You can type or use voice, and all communication happens in the same conversation thread—whether it's a simple greeting or a project lasting a week, it all starts from the same entry point.

Second, Duet can run unsupervised.

Duet has a virtual machine with its own browser, and you don't need to keep your phone or computer on. You just describe the task in one message, and it will decide which apps to use and which steps to take on its own, then notify you when it's done or needs your confirmation.

Third, Duet leaves the key decisions to you.

For work that doesn't require permission, such as reading, drafting, and preparing, Duet can complete it on its own. But before sending messages, making payments, signing documents, or deleting content, it will show you exactly what it's about to do in full and wait for your approval.

There are also a few things it won't do even if you agree, such as buying or selling securities or transferring money between accounts. You can disconnect any connected app at any time.

Fourth, Duet has plenty of tools—it can use more than 6,000 connectors and plugins in the Claude Marketplace.

According to Anthropic's description, Duet can place orders for you automatically. By integrating with Stripe's digital wallet Link, Duet first confirms the item with you, then Link asks you to approve the spending, and then payment is made with a virtual card—the real card number is never shared.

Duet can also check out at online stores using Shopify's Shop Pay.

Anthropic also previewed that, with your permission, it will be able to use login information you've saved in 1Password to log in to websites.

On the security side, Anthropic has also launched a dedicated classifier and safety system prompts that check messages one by one to prevent sensitive information leaks.

The rules are tiered. The strictest tier is the sensitive information mentioned above, including credit card numbers and ID documents—Duet will refuse outright, with no possibility of bypassing the safety block.

Information such as health and personal finances is only allowed through when you explicitly instruct it to send.

Officials also said these protections are still being refined, and more details about Duet's security design will be announced in the coming days.

Some people are already using Duet

Anthropic says people internally are already using Duet.

Boris Cherny, head of the Claude Code team, said he tells Duet the to-dos on his mind while taking a walk, rather than saving them until he gets back to his desk.

Chelsea Larsson, head of the model and product behavior design team, said she handed her to-do list to Duet before going out with her kids, and it ended up saved as an evening report for her to look at that night.

Karan Ahuja, head of Duet, said he uses Duet to schedule user interviews, build prototypes together, and even submit code.

However, Anthropic notes that Duet is still an early version and may misread an email thread or misjudge how urgent a matter is. Its core capabilities are built around work, and it isn't as strong at personal chores.

At this stage, Duet will share plan quotas with Claude.

Periodic background checks count toward the quota, and large tasks like building financial models or making presentations require more model turns and background work, so they consume more.

Duet offers three entry points—iOS, Android, and claude.ai—and is included in the Pro and Max plans. The first batch is only available to Pro and Max users in the United States.

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