Claude Code

Stop Burning Your Limit on Thinking: Give Each Claude Code Subagent Its Own Effort Level

Effort controls how hard Claude thinks, and max is prone to overthinking small jobs. How to set effort low on a subagent in its file, how to ask for it per run, how to check it with /tasks, and the one variable that overrides both

Alex ChenAlex Chen@nocodealex · 50,000+ follow on Instagram
2min read
2prompts to copy
4numbered steps
3sections

Effort levels control how much Claude thinks on each step. The docs say lower effort is faster and cheaper for straightforward tasks, and that max "may show diminishing returns and is prone to overthinking." You are charged for all thinking tokens generated. So a subagent that only renames files or searches the repo does not need to run at max.

Free, for your emailGet the full setup steps + the copy-paste setup prompt

Free, for your email

Get the full setup steps + the copy-paste setup prompt

The rest of this guide (3 more sections, 2 copy-paste prompts) opens right here. The setup prompt, one paste into Claude that sets it all up, comes by email only. Use your real address.

Unlocks: The setup (from the docs) · The catch · Sources

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