How I Combine Opus 4.7 and Sonnet 4.6 in Claude Code

Claude Opus 4.7 launched on April 16, 2026 as Anthropic's newest generally available flagship for complex reasoning and coding. If you work with agents, code generation, or multimodal workflows, this release is worth paying attention to.

What is new in Opus 4.7

• Stronger coding and agentic execution, especially on long multi-step tasks that previously needed closer supervision.
• Better instruction following, which improves reliability but also means old prompts may need retuning.
• Higher-fidelity vision support with images up to 2,576 pixels on the long edge, useful for dense screenshots and technical diagrams.
• New effort level xhigh between high and max for finer reasoning-versus-latency control.
• Task budgets in public beta on Claude Platform to guide token spend on longer autonomous runs.
• Same API pricing as Opus 4.6: $5 per million input tokens and $25 per million output tokens, with availability across Claude API, Bedrock, Vertex AI, and Microsoft Foundry.

Migration notes before upgrading

• Expect token usage shifts: Opus 4.7 uses an updated tokenizer and equivalent text can map to roughly 1.0x to 1.35x tokens depending on content.
• At higher effort levels, the model can emit more output tokens, so set effort intentionally for your workload.
• Anthropic flags API breaking changes versus Opus 4.6, so review the migration guide and test on real traffic before full rollout.

My experience using Opus 4.7 in Claude Code

After testing Opus 4.7 in Claude Code, I found it excellent for critical thinking and planning mode. It structures hard problems clearly, catches assumptions, and produces stronger implementation plans than most models.

The tradeoff is token speed. Opus 4.7 can consume tokens quickly during long sessions, especially when effort is high and the task spans multiple tool calls.

• Use Opus 4.7 for planning mode: architecture decisions, task breakdowns, debugging strategy, and risk analysis.
• Switch to Sonnet 4.6 for execution mode: finishing tasks, iterative edits, and lower-cost completion loops.

Where Opus 4.7 shines the most

• Critical planning for complex refactors across multiple services.
• Design reviews where tradeoffs, risks, and edge cases matter.
• Root-cause analysis for bugs that require long context and hypothesis testing.
• Agent orchestration prompts where quality of planning directly affects execution.

Practical model playbook I use

• Start in Opus 4.7 with planning prompts: ask for architecture, milestones, risks, and rollback paths.
• Lock the plan into a checklist before writing code.
• Switch to Sonnet 4.6 for implementation loops: code edits, test fixes, and task completion.
• Return to Opus 4.7 only for blockers that need deep reasoning.
• Keep prompts concise in both models to reduce unnecessary token burn.

Quick checklist before you start

• Decide first: planning session or execution session.
• Set effort intentionally; avoid max unless the task truly requires it.
• Track token usage every few turns during long runs.
• Use Sonnet 4.6 as default finisher for stable throughput.