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Choose an effort level
Effort sets how much the agent thinks before it acts. Use lower levels for quick changes and higher ones for hard problems, and change it without opening any menu.
Higher effort gives the agent more time to reason, which helps with tricky bugs and big changes. It also takes longer and uses more of your plan. Claude Code’s documentation puts it this way: “Lower effort is faster and cheaper for straightforward tasks, while higher effort provides deeper reasoning for complex problems.”
Steps
Select the message box
While it’s selected, the effort levels slide out beside the agent button.
Select a level
The highlighted level is the one your next message uses.
Send your message
The agent works at the level you selected.
You can also open the agent settings and choose in the Effort column. In the iPhone app, select the button that shows the model and effort, then choose under Effort.
Good to know
Levels for each agent
- Claude Code: Low, Medium, High, xHigh, Max, and Ultracode, shown as Ultra beside the agent button. Medium is the default.
- Codex: Low, Medium, High, Extra high, Max, and Ultra. Medium is the default.
- Grok Build: Low, Medium, High, and Extra high. High is the default.
- Antigravity: Model default, Low, Medium, and High. Model default is the default, and uses the selected model’s own setting.
- OpenCode: only Model default, so each model uses the effort set up for it in OpenCode. No levels appear beside the button.
The highest levels
- Max is the deepest reasoning level. Claude Code’s documentation warns that it “may show diminishing returns and is prone to overthinking,” so try lower levels first.
- Ultra in Codex is the level above Max. OpenAI describes Ultra as maximum reasoning that can also hand suitable parts of the work to helper agents, called subagents, and offers it only to eligible accounts and supported models.
- Ultracode in Claude Code turns on Claude’s ultracode setting, which has Claude plan larger tasks as workflows that run many helper agents. Enjoy runs it at xHigh effort. Anthropic notes that each request then takes longer and uses more of your plan.
More details
- Beside the agent button, some levels use short names: Med is Medium, xHigh is Extra high, and Default is Model default. Ultra levels have a sparkle.
- The levels beside the button need a wide message box. In a narrow window, use the Effort column in the agent settings instead.
- When a level has keyboard focus, the arrow keys select the previous or next level.
- Enjoy remembers the last effort you used with each agent.
- The agent button shows the effort after the model name. Point to a reply to see the effort it used.
For advice on when to raise or lower effort, see Match the effort level to the task.