Open source Claude Duet alternative
Updated October 24, 2026.
Need an open source Claude Duet alternative? Anthropic opened Claude Duet, its proactive personal agent, on October 21, 2026, as a research preview. Talking to it feels like texting a person. Each morning it sends a brief, it watches your connected accounts, and it does its work on Anthropic's cloud computer.
Krypton is open source and built for persistent AI teammates. You host it, pick the model yourself, and may run several bots instead of one. It can even sign in with your existing Claude Pro or Max subscription.
- Runs on a server you own
- Claude or any supported model
- Apache-2.0 source
- Hosted by Anthropic
- Claude Pro and Max, US only
- No self-host install
Krypton vs Claude Duet, side by side
| Topic | Krypton | Claude Duet |
|---|---|---|
| Product | An open source home for persistent AI teammates, currently in beta. | A standalone Anthropic app built around a single ongoing thread, by text or voice. Anthropic aims it at professionals and small business owners. |
| Who runs it | You, when you self-host with Docker or connect the desktop and mobile apps to a server you operate. Prefer not to? Krypton Cloud (beta) runs it for you. | Anthropic. Duet works from a dedicated cloud VM that includes a browser, and the help center says you can neither watch nor take over that browser. |
| Source | Public on GitHub under Apache-2.0. | A hosted Anthropic service; its pages say nothing about self-hosting. |
| Model | Credentials you bring: Claude Pro/Max sign-in, other providers, or a local server. Every bot can run a different model. | Claude Opus 5.5. According to the help center, the model cannot be changed. |
| Connections | Pick Composio or Pipedream Connect, or install your own Treg, remote MCP, or OpenAPI source. Each bot also works in its own sandboxed desktop, browser, terminal, and files included. | Claude's connectors and plugins, over 6,000 by Anthropic's count. Named in the help center: Slack, Gmail, Google Drive, Google Calendar, HubSpot, QuickBooks, Calendly, and Docusign, with Microsoft 365 still missing. Purchases go through Link by Stripe or Shop Pay using single-use virtual cards. |
| Ongoing work | Every bot has its own conversations, memory, routines, and history. Bots write facts to memory without being asked, and the team rules turn a procedure that worked into a skill any bot in the workspace can pick up. Routines are plain Markdown you can read, and they can run on a schedule. Bots can hand work to a peer bot or to a short-lived subagent. | A morning brief, followed by check-ins on your accounts: every few hours according to the announcement, at set intervals according to the help center. Duet draws on your Claude memory, skills, and connectors. |
| Control and availability | You draw the boundaries and the bot asks before crossing one; every action lands in an audit log. Self-hosting gives you the web, desktop, and mobile clients today. | Duet asks first before sending a message, paying, signing a document, or deleting anything. It is blocked outright from trading securities, shifting funds between accounts, or entering another person's account. Access is limited to Pro and Max in the US, via a waitlist, and usage draws down the plan's limits. |
Why an open source, self-hosted agent
- Every line is public on GitHub under the Apache-2.0 license.
- Deploy from the published Docker images or straight from source, on hardware you control. The desktop app can launch that stack on your computer or connect to a server you already operate.
- Model credentials are yours to bring. Connector credentials stay encrypted on the server, and the API never returns them.
- Routines are Markdown you can read. Bots stop for your approval at the boundaries you set, and each action is written to an audit log.
- Web, Electron desktop, and Expo mobile are all clients of one API, so the same bots follow you everywhere.
Try Krypton your way
Self-host it on your own machine, or skip the setup with Krypton Cloud, now in beta.
Claude Duet alternative: common questions
Can Krypton use my Claude subscription?
Yes. Log in with your Claude Pro or Max plan, or paste an Anthropic key. Claude is just one model among many, and bots can each run a different model.
Can Claude Duet be self-hosted, or is it open source?
Nothing on Anthropic's Duet pages points to runnable source or a self-hosted install; Duet works on a cloud computer Anthropic operates. Krypton, by contrast, is Apache-2.0 and yours to run.
What sources does the Claude Duet column use?
Four Anthropic pages: the announcement (October 21, 2026), the help center article, the product page, and the safety post (October 23, 2026). Because Duet is still a research preview, check them before you depend on any detail.