Claude Duet: Anthropic’s Agent for Professionals and Small Businesses

What Claude Duet Is and Who It Serves

Anthropic has launched Claude Duet, a new AI agent designed for professionals and small businesses that need help automating and managing tasks. The app joins a crowded field of personal and productivity assistants, including Meta Muse, OpenAI Dots, Hark, Instinct, Grok Bot, and Fo. Unlike personal agents such as Instinct, Duet is not intended for errands or ticket booking, and it does not display live browser activity to users.

Key Functions and Workflow

Duet can compile daily briefings, build dashboards, and suggest actions based on a user’s data. It monitors ongoing tasks and proactively delivers recommendations. Like other agents, it can run background operations on its own virtual machine, allowing users to focus on other work while Duet completes tasks and returns only when approval is needed.

Market Shift and Competitive Landscape

The launch reflects a broader industry move from simple AI assistants to agents that act on users’ behalf. Many rivals are now targeting business use cases. Meta’s Muse, while primarily a personal assistant, also offers a small‑business version with app integrations. OpenAI’s Dots is similarly oriented toward professional tools and workflows.

Technical Foundations and Marketplace Connectivity

Built on the Claude Opus 5.5 model, Duet can connect to more than 6,000 connectors and plug‑ins available in the Claude Marketplace. This ecosystem lets the agent interact with a wide range of services and data sources, supporting its role in automating business processes.

Payment Capabilities and Security Controls

Duet can make online purchases on a user’s behalf through Stripe’s Link digital wallet or Shopify’s Shop Pay. However, any payment action requires explicit user approval, and the agent will not trade securities or move money between accounts. To protect sensitive information, Anthropic introduced a new classifier that reviews every message and, by default, refuses requests for credit card numbers or government identification.

Availability and Access

Claude Duet is available as a native app on iOS and Android, and on the web through Claude.ai for Pro and Max customers in a research preview. Interested users must join a waitlist to gain access.