Claude Duet arrives: who can use it, usage limits and a useful first test

What Anthropic announced on October 21

Anthropic opened Claude Duet as a research preview on October 21, 2026. Built around Opus 5.5, it offers morning briefings and work across connected apps. It uses a cloud computer, allowing tasks to continue after the user closes the app. Anthropic says existing Claude memory, skills and app connections carry over.

The launch describes work ranging from scheduling to forecasts and dashboards. Accounts are checked every few hours rather than continuously. That makes the briefing a periodic view of work, not a guarantee that every urgent event will be noticed immediately.

Public record: Anthropic — Introducing Claude Duet, October 21, 2026

Who can actually try it?

The product page lists a waitlist for US Claude Pro and Max subscribers. Team and Enterprise are excluded during the preview. Duet is offered on iOS, Android and the web. For readers in India, this announcement does not establish local availability.

Anthropic says background checks and larger tasks draw on the same usage allowance as the rest of Claude. Treat the preview as a different way to spend an existing allowance; inclusion in a subscription does not mean unlimited autonomous work.

Public record: Claude Duet — product, availability and usage FAQ

Read the support limits before connecting a workflow

The help centre says the preview adds no separate charge to Pro or Max. Invitations arrive in waves, with no guaranteed access date. It also lists restrictions: users cannot choose another model or take over Duet’s browser; Microsoft 365 is not available yet. Duet cannot make phone calls or send other people text messages.

The support guide says Duet is designed to request approval before sending messages, making payments, signing documents or deleting items. Review remains necessary: it can misread conversations and urgency, and its prompt-injection defences are not perfect.

Public record: Claude Help Center — Get started with Claude Duet

A first test: prepare a client meeting without sending anything

Promptwire’s suggested pilot is one meeting with a clear brief. Ask for the agreed objective, open questions, promised deliverables and the source of each detail. Compare the result with the original correspondence yourself. Use records you are authorised to connect.

Before the test, write down what a successful brief must contain. Include a changed meeting time and a superseded request, so the test rewards recognising the latest decision rather than merely collecting mentions. Record unsupported statements, missed commitments and the minutes spent correcting them.

Keep the first assignment limited to preparation. A plausible summary can still attribute a promise to the wrong person. Let the person responsible for the account decide what gets sent and when.

After several comparable meetings, assess total preparation time, correction effort and the usefulness of notifications. Also check how the pilot affects the rest of your Claude work. If reviewing the output takes longer than preparing the brief yourself, narrow the assignment before expanding it.

The launch changes the evaluation question

An agent that initiates work needs to earn a place in your day. A useful pilot should reveal whether it finds a missed commitment, preserves the correct context and leaves the final decision understandable. Those observations are more actionable than a polished demonstration. Promptwire has not tested Duet; this is a proposed evaluation method.