modelSettings
A Claude Code settings key, read out of the shipped bundle. It was in the build from v2.1.239 and was gone by v2.1.284.
Keep a saved effort level or auto-compact window per model, or cap one model's effort
Anthropic's own wording. Read off All settings, captured 2026-10-22.
In the changelogs
8Releases whose published page names modelSettings.
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v2.1.301
Organizations can push more settings remotely, and the output style is now reported
Remotely managed settings now accept keys such as
effortLevel,outputStyleandattribution, and Claude Code's settings report includes the output stylefound in this entry's text
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v2.1.300
Claude Code now notes when a per-model auto-compact window is set
Claude Code's list of settings in use now includes
autoCompactWindowwhen it is set for any model undermodelSettingsfound in this entry's text
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v2.1.288
Auto-compact window can now be set separately for each model
autoCompactWindowcan now go undermodelSettingsfor a single model, as a token count orautofound in this entry's text, named in this entry
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v2.1.277
update_settings tool can now target more than localSettings, including userSettings.effortLevel
The internal update_settings tool can now write userSettings.effortLevel, not just localSettings
found in this entry's text
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v2.1.267
Per-model "maxEffortLevel" cap now enforced client-side across settings
maxEffortLevel now combines a global cap with per-model overrides across all settings files and clamps any explicit effort request
found in this entry's text
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v2.1.240
Saving a default effort level can now scope it to one model
Your saved default effort could apply per model instead of everywhere, but that is off.
found in this entry's text
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v2.1.239
New
modelSettingsconfig key holds per-model effortA new modelSettings config key stores an effort level per model, from low to xhigh.
named in this entry, found in this entry's text
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v2.1.239
Per-model effort level in settings, behind a gate
You could set an effort level per model in settings, but the lookup is gated off.
named in this entry, found in this entry's text
First cited
1The earliest release whose published evidence quoted modelSettings was v2.1.240, 22 Aug 2026. That is the oldest release this project wrote about it, so it is a floor on the name's age and not the release that introduced it. It is not a presence reading: which builds carried the name is the table below.
Presence across releases
2Build by build
60One row per release since the first build this name was read out of. Absent means the build was read and the name was not in it, never mined means no bundle for that release was ever archived, and a declared type or a default is only ever what that release's own bundle stated.
Read out of the published npm bundle release by release, and out of Anthropic's own documentation as this site captured it. Nothing on this page is a description anybody here wrote about what the settings key does. All settings keys.