Effort Levels - Claude Code
Low, medium, high, xhigh, and max for adaptive reasoning control.
Effort levels tune how much reasoning Claude puts into each turn. Low is fast and cheap, max is slow and thorough, and there are three settings between.
What it does
Each level (low, medium, high, xhigh, max) adjusts the amount of internal reasoning before Claude commits to a response. Higher levels catch more edge cases and produce better plans on complex work. Lower levels ship faster and cost less for tasks where speed beats depth.
When to use it
lowfor trivial edits, one-line fixes, or rote tool calls.mediumfor normal day-to-day work.highorxhighfor architecture, tricky refactors, and debugging.maxfor the hardest problems where a wrong answer is costly.
Gotchas
- Higher effort means slower turns. Don't use max for everything.
- Effort scales tokens, which scales cost. Watch the spend on xhigh and max.
- Swapping mid-task can produce mixed quality. Pick a level for a session and stick with it unless a specific step needs more.
Official docs: https://code.claude.com/docs/en/model-config.md#adjust-effort-level
Technical content at the intersection of AI and development. Building with AI agents, Claude Code, and modern dev tools - then showing you exactly how it works.
Was this helpful?
Related Guides
Related Tools
Claude Code
Anthropic's agentic coding CLI. Runs in your terminal, edits files autonomously, spawns sub-agents, and maintains memory...
View Tool
Claude Agent SDK
Anthropic's SDK for building agents on the same tools, agent loop, and context management that power Claude Code. Python...
View ToolCodeburn
Interactive TUI dashboard that shows exactly where your Claude Code and Cursor tokens are going, in real time.
View ToolConductor
Mac app for running parallel Claude Code, Codex, and Cursor agents in isolated workspaces. Watch every agent work at onc...
View ToolRelated Videos
Claude Code Just Killed After Effects
Create motion graphics and launch videos using natural language — no traditional video editor required. 🔗 Try Higgsfield Katana in Claude:** https://higgsfield.ai/s/katana-inside-claude-yt-developer...
Generate Videos in Codex + Claude Code with This...
Check out HeyGen! https://heygen.1stcollab.com/developersdigest The video introduces HeyGen, an AI video generation platform with a rich API and a CLI that lets developers create, fetch, and manipula...
10x Design in Claude Code and Codex
Try Higgsfield: https://higgsfield.ai/s/higgsfield-general-campaign-developersdigest-juDMTi AI coding agents can build entire websites in minutes, but the default results often still look generic and...
Related Posts
Claude Fable 5.1 in Claude Code: How to Switch, Pin, and Pay Less
Claude Code v2.1.257 points /model fable at Fable 5.1: 1M context, $10/$50 per MTok, $0.25 cache reads. Setup, gotchas,...
Claude Design, Slides and Docs in Any Chat: How to Use Them
Claude Design, Slides and Docs now open in any Claude chat, Claude Code session or the Artifacts tab, on every plan. Exa...
Claude for Startups Offer Paused: What Founders Do Now
Claude for Startups paused its free Claude Team year and $1,000 API credit offer at capacity. What the program page says...
Claude Advisor Tool vs a Bigger Model: When the Pairing Pays
Anthropic's own runs: a Fable 5.1 advisor added 1.7 points to Opus 5.5 for 2.1x the cost. When the Claude advisor tool p...
Claude Code Retry Watchdog: Keep Unattended Runs Alive
CLAUDE_CODE_RETRY_WATCHDOG=1 makes Claude Code wait out 429 and 529 errors instead of failing after 10 retries. When to...
Claude Max API Credits: $100 a Month, What They Cover
Claude Max and Team plans now include a monthly Claude API credit, starting at $100 on Max 5x. What it covers, what it d...
