CriticalDeprecation
Anthropic Deprecating Manual Thinking in Claude Opus 4.6 — Migrate to Effort
Action Required
Applications relying on manual thinking in Claude Opus 4.6 will break after February 5, 2026, requiring code migration to the new `effort` parameter.
AI Impact Summary
Anthropic is deprecating the manual thinking approach in Claude Opus 4.6, replacing it with the adaptive thinking mode. This change impacts users who previously utilized the `budget_tokens` method to control model depth, requiring them to migrate to the new `effort` parameter. This shift represents a fundamental change in how users manage model complexity and token usage, potentially requiring code adjustments for existing applications.
Anthropic Deprecating Manual Thinking in Claude Opus 4.6 — Migrate to Effort
Affected Systems
Claude Opus 4.6
- Date
- Date not specified
- Change type
- deprecation
- Severity
- critical