Conceptsilent dispatch
Silent Dispatching
A mechanism in which, when a user specifies an older model that does not support a given tier, the system does not raise an error but instead automatically downgrades to the highest tier supported by that model and continues execution, causing actual consumption to differ from user expectations.
Timeline (last 90 days)
Oct 17
In Claude Code, when a user specifies an unsupported Effort level (such as X High) for an older model, the system silently downgrades to the highest level that model supports (usually High) and continues execution, without error or notice.
Unverified50%