Anthropic has introduced Claude Opus 4.8, an update to Claude Opus 4.7 that the company claims enhances performance for coding, agentic tasks, reasoning, and knowledge work.
The model is accessible via claude.ai, Claude Code, and the Claude API, where it is identified as claude-opus-4-8.
The release also features new platform controls, including user-adjustable effort settings, dynamic workflows in Claude Code, and live updates to the Messages API.
Pricing and Effort Controls in Claude Opus 4.8
Claude Opus 4.8 maintains the same pricing structure as Claude Opus 4.7. The standard mode costs five dollars per million input tokens and twenty-five dollars per million output tokens.
The fast mode is priced at ten dollars per million input tokens and fifty dollars per million output tokens. In addition, fast mode for Opus 4.8 operates at 2.5 times the speed of the standard mode.
Users on claude.ai and Cowork can now adjust how much effort Claude puts into a response, which directly affects token usage. Opus 4.8 defaults to a high effort setting.
Anthropic states that even at this default level, coding tasks use about the same number of tokens as Opus 4.7, while providing better performance.
An xhigh setting is available for tasks that need more computation. Claude’s code rate limits have been increased to support the higher token consumption enabled by these effort controls.
These new options are part of Anthropic’s shift toward token-based billing instead of fixed subscription tiers.
Dynamic Workflows in Claude Code and Live Updates to the Messages API
Claude Code now supports dynamic workflows, enabling users to plan work, run parallel sub-agents, verify outputs, and report results.
Anthropic explains that this feature is aimed at large codebases and can handle codebases with hundreds of thousands of lines. Currently in research preview, dynamic workflows are available for Enterprise, Team, and Max plans.
The Messages API now supports real-time updates to the messages array while an agent is active. Developers can change instructions, adjust permissions, modify token limits, or update context during a task without disrupting prompt caching or needing a new user turn.
Performance and Safety Changes in Claude Opus 4.8
Anthropic claims that Opus 4.8 offers improvements over Opus 4.7 across various benchmarks, including coding, agentic functions, reasoning, and office tasks.
The company also states that the model is roughly four times less likely than Opus 4.7 to pass flawed code without commenting on it.
In terms of safety, Anthropic reports that Opus 4.8 shows lower levels of deception and a reduced tendency to comply with attempts to misuse the model compared to Opus 4.7. These safety metrics are said to be similar to those of Claude Mythos Preview.
External testers mentioned by Anthropic include organizations in software development, law, finance, and research. CursorBench found that Opus 4.8 required fewer tool steps to achieve the same output quality as comparable models.
Another tester noted that the model’s cost performance was on par with GPT-5.5 in internal benchmarks.
Looking Ahead
Anthropic said it is developing models that offer current capabilities at a lower cost, as well as a new class of model that surpasses the existing Opus level.
Mythos-class models, which are currently limited to participants in Project Glasswing, are expected to be available to customers in the next few weeks once additional safeguards are in place.
Claude Opus 4.8 is now accessible to users on claude.ai, Claude Code, and via the Claude API.
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