Anthropic's new Claude Duet works on your email without being asked

Anthropic has launched Claude Duet, an assistant that does not wait for you to type a question. It checks your connected apps every few hours, drafts work in the background and messages you when it needs a decision. It opened as a research preview on October 21, 2026, for US Pro and Max subscribers.

What Duet is

Duet is a separate app for iOS, Android and the web. You talk to it in one long thread, by text or voice. It carries over the memory, skills and connections you already have on your Claude account. It runs on Claude Opus 5.5 and costs nothing extra on Pro or Max, but it uses the same usage limits as the rest of Claude. Access is through a waitlist. Team and Enterprise plans are not included yet.

How it works

Duet does not run on your phone or laptop. Anthropic gives each user a cloud computer with its own browser, so the agent keeps working when your devices are off. It reaches your apps through connectors. Anthropic names Gmail, Slack, Stripe, QuickBooks, Gusto, HubSpot, Docusign, Canva and Shopify, among more than 6,000 options.

Each morning it sends a short brief of what matters. Finished work comes back as a document, a spreadsheet or a slide deck.

What it can do alone

Anthropic splits actions into three levels.

• Reading, drafting and preparing: Duet does these on its own.
• Sending, paying, signing or deleting: it shows you the exact action and waits for a yes.
• Trading securities or moving money between accounts: blocked, even if you approve.

Purchases go through Stripe's Link wallet with a virtual card, so Duet never handles your real card number. It also never directly sees your passwords or sign-in tokens. A separate check rejects credit card numbers and government IDs. Anthropic says outside testers probed the app.

Where it falls short

Anthropic admits Duet can misread a thread or misjudge what is urgent. Because it checks only every few hours, it can miss something that arrives in between. You cannot watch its browser yet. Commenters on Hacker News, where the launch drew 470 points, raised more concerns.

• Background checks use the same quota as your other Claude work.
• Your memory and habits become tied to one company.
• You cannot inspect the cloud computer or the rules it learned.
• It is US only, and many sites block automated agents.

One early tester called the suggestions after setup mediocre.

What to do

If you pay for Pro or Max, join the waitlist if the idea appeals. Start by connecting only the apps you are comfortable with. Read each approval request closely before you say yes, since that step is what stands between a draft and a sent email or a payment.