--- title: "Choosing a Claude model and effort level in Claude Code" url: https://daily.dev/posts/choosing-a-claude-model-and-effort-level-in-claude-code-iymysmyba source_url: https://claude.com/blog/claude-model-and-effort-level-in-claude-code type: article source: "Claude" published: 2026-07-09T06:36:52.584Z updated: 2026-07-09T06:37:16.122Z tags: ["ai-coding", "claude-code", "ai-inference", "context-engineering"] reading_time: 11 upvotes: 0 comments: 0 language: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Choosing a Claude model and effort level in Claude Code **[Claude](https://daily.dev/sources/claude)** · 11 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary Claude Code exposes two settings that affect output quality: model selection and effort level. Model selection swaps which set of frozen weights handles a request, determining capability ceiling and per-token cost. Effort level controls how much work Claude does per turn — including files read, tools used, verification steps, and thinking depth — not just thinking time. The guidance is to use default effort levels for most tasks and treat effort as a general preference rather than a per-task dial. When Claude fails, diagnose whether it lacked knowledge (switch to a larger model) or didn't try hard enough (raise effort level). Larger models like Fable excel at complex multi-step tasks and can outperform smaller models on total cost for hard tasks despite higher per-token pricing. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: --- Tags: [#ai-coding](https://daily.dev/tags/ai-coding), [#claude-code](https://daily.dev/tags/claude-code), [#ai-inference](https://daily.dev/tags/ai-inference), [#context-engineering](https://daily.dev/tags/context-engineering) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/choosing-a-claude-model-and-effort-level-in-claude-code-iymysmyba)