Claude Duet, in plain English

Updated 26 October 2026

The short answer

Claude Duet is a new Anthropic app in which Claude comes to you instead of waiting for a chat. It sends a short brief each morning from your connected apps, takes on jobs you hand it by message, and keeps working on its own computer in the cloud while your phone and laptop are off. Anthropic says it is designed to show you exactly what it will do, and wait for your yes, before it sends a message, makes a payment, signs a document or deletes anything. For now it is a research preview, by waitlist, for Claude Pro and Max users in the US only. No UK date has been announced.

Why it is worth fixing

Most AI tools wait for you to type. Duet, like OpenAI’s dots and xAI’s Grok Bot, is built to notice what needs you and act on it, with you approving the steps that matter. It is worth knowing how it works and where its limits are, even before you can sign up from the UK.

Step by step

  1. Start the day with the brief

    Each morning Duet looks across your email and calendar, picks out what most needs you and sends a short brief. It can start first steps, such as drafting replies for you to review, then messages you only when something needs you. It checks your accounts every few hours, not constantly, so something urgent can arrive between checks.

  2. Hand it a job by message

    Type or record a voice message in one ongoing thread, and Duet works out which apps and steps the job needs. Anthropic’s own examples include finding money customers still owe you in QuickBooks or Stripe and drafting reminders, and drafting a job advert, then posting it to LinkedIn once you have edited and approved it. Where an app has no connector, it uses its own browser.

  3. Follow the work in the Tasks and Make tabs

    The Tasks tab shows what Duet is working on and highlights anything that needs your input; only you can mark a task complete. Bigger results, such as a research brief, a slide deck or a dashboard, arrive in the Make tab as files you can review and edit.

  4. Know what it asks before it acts

    Before it sends a message, pays, signs or deletes, Duet is designed to show you the action, the destination and the content, including every recipient, then wait. Anthropic’s safety page words the message rule more narrowly, as potentially sensitive messages, and says some steps can never be set to ‘don’t ask me again’: paying or sending money, deleting an order and creating an account.

  5. Know what stays off-limits

    Some actions are blocked even if you say yes: trading investments, moving money between accounts and getting into someone else’s account. Anthropic says Duet never sees your passwords and is instructed never to share full card numbers or government ID numbers, even if you ask.

  6. Know what it can’t do yet

    Duet makes no phone calls and sends no texts to other people, though it can send email from accounts you connect, with your approval. Anthropic’s help page says Microsoft’s business suite, which includes Outlook, isn’t available in Duet yet: that matters if your agency runs on it. You cannot choose the model or watch its browser, and it may misread a thread or misjudge what is urgent.

  7. Check who can get it

    Duet is for Claude Pro and Max subscribers with a US Claude account, by invitation from a waitlist, sent in waves. It is not on Team or Enterprise plans yet. There is no extra charge during the preview, but it uses your plan’s usage limits, and background work such as the morning brief counts. On the date at the top of this guide, Anthropic had named no other country and no UK date.

  8. Read what early reviewers found

    Dan Shipper at Every called it ‘the first personal agent I’d call a pro tool’, but found its email drafts ‘worse than Dot’s’, meaning OpenAI’s assistant. Claire Vo in Lenny’s Newsletter found it beautiful but not proactive enough. Paul Baier, an analyst at GAI Insights, told TechTarget business customers won’t roll it out for months, maybe years, maybe never.

Checklist

When it is worth getting help

You don’t need help to join a waitlist. It is worth getting help when the jobs you want to hand over run through systems these assistants cannot reach, such as a recruitment CRM or a client’s portal, or when you want approval rules tested before anything reaches a candidate or client.

Rec Int. builds browser automation for UK recruitment agencies around the systems they already run, so anything that does not match stops for a person.

Questions people ask

Can I use Claude Duet in the UK?

Not yet. Anthropic’s help page says the preview is for Pro and Max users with a US Claude account, by waitlist, and no UK date has been announced.

Does Claude Duet cost extra?

Not during the research preview. It does use your plan’s usage limits, and its background checks count towards them.

Will it send emails without asking me?

It is designed to show you the message and wait for your approval. Some steps can be set to ‘don’t ask me again’, but not paying or sending money, deleting an order or creating an account. Anthropic says its safeguards will occasionally miss something, so read every approval.

Sources

If you would like to talk through which jobs in your agency an assistant like this could take on, book a discovery call.