model-switchinglisted

# Model Switching Guide Match task complexity to the right model. Opus is now affordable enough for most work (~5x Haiku, not 25x like older pricing), so the main reasons to drop to Haiku or Sonnet are **speed and context conservation**, not raw cost. Using Haiku for architecture decisions wastes time; using Opus for a trivial grep wastes a little money and some latency. ## Model-Task Matrix ### Haiku (Fast, Cheap) Best for tasks that are simple, repetitive, or involve searching: - **File search & grep** - Finding files, searching for patterns - **Simple code edits** - Renaming variables, fixing typos, adding imports - **Quick lookups** - Checking a function signature, reading a config value - **Boilerplate generation** - Test scaffolding, interface stubs, CRUD operations - **Status checks** - Git status, running simple commands - **Data extraction** - Pulling specific values from files or outputs **Use via:** Investigator agent, or `model: "haiku"` in command frontmatter. ### Sonnet (Balanced) Best for tasks that require understanding and multi-step reasoning: - **Code review** - Reading and evaluating code quality, patterns, bugs - **Refactoring** - Restructuring code while preserving behavior - **Multi-file changes** - Coordinated edits across several files - **Bug investigation** - Following call chains, understanding data flow - **Feature implementation** - Standard features with clear requirements - **Test writing** - Understanding code to write meaningful tests *