Anthropic engineer: don't use Sonnet at max effort — just use Opus
edwinarbus · x · 2026-09-29
Edwin Arbus of Anthropic says it outright: don't run Sonnet at max effort. At that point you should be using Opus.
- Sonnet is the balance of quality/speed/cost; pushing it to max makes it think more, take longer, and cost more, losing what makes it useful
- That's why default effort levels exist — Claude Code defaults to medium
- The effort dials remain for edge cases, but the recommendation for most users is: don't touch that dial
Related event: Anthropic Staff: Don't Max Out Sonnet's Effort, Use Opus Instead(2 posts)→
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