Anthropic engineer: don't run Sonnet at max effort — use Opus instead
edwinarbus · x · 2026-09-29
Anthropic's Edwin Arbus says outright: don't use Sonnet with max effort.
- Sonnet balances quality/speed/cost; pushing it to max makes it think more, take longer, and cost more, losing what makes it useful
- If you need top quality, you should probably be on Opus
- Claude Code defaults to medium effort; the dials remain for edge cases, but most users shouldn't touch them
Related event: Anthropic Staff: Don't Max Out Sonnet's Effort, Use Opus Instead(2 posts)→
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