Use Opus for planning and Sonnet for cheaper coding
From a firsthand workflow, Claude Code with Opus at maximum effort handled research, planning, coding, review, and testing very well. The problem was that started running out faster, and became hard to ignore.
The cost-saving pattern was to use Opus for the expensive thinking work first: write a plan detailed enough for a weaker model to follow. Sonnet could then run in another window, do the from that plan, and hand the result back for Opus to review.
With agents, Opus can start a Sonnet agent by itself, tell it to follow the plan, and supervise the run. Opus can also adjust or clarify instructions while the work is happening, but that supervision adds cost.
Key points
- Claude Code with Opus at maximum effort can handle research, planning, coding, review, and testing well.
- and can become a problem quickly.
- A cheaper workflow is to have Opus write the plan, Sonnet do the , and Opus review the result.
- Agents can let Opus launch and supervise a Sonnet agent automatically.
- Automatic supervision is convenient, but it can add cost.