6,000 connectors: Anthropic's new Duet app targets the pro class

The artificial intelligence sector is currently saturated with a steady stream of new personal and productivity assistants, with competitors launching new iterations every single week. In the midst of this crowded landscape, Anthropic has officially entered the fray with the release of Claude Duet. The new application is designed to compete directly with a heavy-hitting field that includes Meta Muse, OpenAI Dots, Hark, Instinct, Grok Bot, and Fo.

Anthropic is positioning Duet not as a general-purpose companion, but as a specialized tool for professionals and small businesses. The company has drawn a clear line between its new product and personal agents like Instinct. Specifically, Duet is not intended to handle casual errands, such as booking tickets, and it does not offer a live visual feed of its browser usage while it works.

Instead, the agent focuses on structured professional tasks. Duet is capable of generating daily briefings, constructing custom dashboards, and suggesting specific actions based on a user’s existing data. Similar to other autonomous agents on the market, Duet can execute tasks in the background using a dedicated virtual machine. This allows users to continue with their own work while the agent operates independently, only returning for approval when necessary.

This launch coincides with a broader industry shift away from simple conversational assistants toward agents that can actively work on behalf of users. Many of Anthropic’s rivals are already pivoting toward business use cases. While Meta’s Muse is primarily a personal assistant, the company has also rolled out a small-business version that integrates with other applications. OpenAI’s Dots similarly leans into professional integration, connecting with various workplace tools.

A key feature of Duet is its proactive nature. It monitors ongoing tasks and delivers recommendations without waiting to be prompted. The system is built on the Claude Opus 5.5 model and connects to a massive ecosystem of over 6,000 connectors and plug-ins available in the Claude Marketplace.

The agent also has the capability to make online purchases on behalf of users. It achieves this by integrating with digital payment methods such as Stripe’s Link wallet or Shopify’s Shop Pay. However, Anthropic has set boundaries on these autonomous financial actions. While it can process purchases, Duet will not trade securities or transfer money between bank accounts.

Security and privacy remain central to the design. Sensitive steps, particularly those involving payments, require explicit user approval to proceed. To further protect user data, Anthropic released a new classifier that scans every message to prevent sensitive information from leaking out. By default, the agent is programmed to turn down requests that ask for credit card numbers or government identification details.

Claude Duet is currently available as a mobile app for iOS and Android, as well as through the web interface on Claude.ai. Access is currently limited to Pro and Max customers who are part of a research preview. To use the tool, users must join a waitlist, signaling that the platform is still in a controlled rollout phase.