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claude-code - 💡(How to fix) Fix Add Opus 4.6 as a selectable model in the VS Code extension [1 participants]

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anthropics/claude-code#51894•Fetched 2026-04-23 07:42:03
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The VS Code extension currently exposes only three tiers in the model picker — opus / sonnet / haiku — with the opus tier pinned to 4.7. Opus 4.6 is not selectable from the extension.

Root Cause

The VS Code extension currently exposes only three tiers in the model picker — opus / sonnet / haiku — with the opus tier pinned to 4.7. Opus 4.6 is not selectable from the extension.

Fix Action

Fix / Workaround

For these, 4.6's voice is markedly preferable; for the surrounding coding / file-editing work in the same IDE session, 4.7 remains the right choice. Being able to toggle within the extension would remove the current terminal workaround.

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Summary

The VS Code extension currently exposes only three tiers in the model picker — opus / sonnet / haiku — with the opus tier pinned to 4.7. Opus 4.6 is not selectable from the extension.

Problem

4.6 and 4.7 have distinctly different voice and behavior, especially for non-code work:

  • 4.7 prose (especially bilingual Chinese / English long-form writing) often reads as translation-inflected, with an "engineering tone" that's ill-suited to narrative articles, newsletters, or journal correspondence.
  • 4.6 produces noticeably more natural, rhythmic Chinese prose and better English narrative voice.
  • Many workflows mix the two intentionally: 4.6 for article writing / paper revision, 4.7 for coding and agentic work.

Currently the only way to use 4.6 is to drop out of the IDE and open a separate terminal with the CLI (claude --model claude-opus-4-6), which breaks flow and loses the editor integration. The CLI already supports --model claude-opus-4-6 cleanly, so the capability exists — it just isn't surfaced in the extension.

Request

Please add claude-opus-4-6 to the VS Code extension's model picker (either as a separate entry alongside opus/sonnet/haiku, or as a sub-option under the opus tier). At minimum, make it possible to configure a preferred opus version via extension settings so users who consistently prefer 4.6 for writing work don't have to switch to the CLI each time.

Use case

Bilingual Chinese / English technical writing:

  • Center newsletter articles (1,000-2,000 word narrative pieces)
  • Journal correspondence and manuscript revisions
  • Teaching material drafts

For these, 4.6's voice is markedly preferable; for the surrounding coding / file-editing work in the same IDE session, 4.7 remains the right choice. Being able to toggle within the extension would remove the current terminal workaround.

Environment

  • VS Code native Claude Code extension
  • macOS (Darwin 25.3.0)
  • Claude Code CLI (installed separately) does support --model claude-opus-4-6

extent analysis

TL;DR

Add claude-opus-4-6 to the VS Code extension's model picker to allow users to select Opus 4.6 alongside Opus 4.7.

Guidance

  • The current limitation of only having Opus 4.7 available in the VS Code extension is causing workflow disruptions for users who prefer Opus 4.6 for certain tasks.
  • To mitigate this, consider adding a configuration option to the extension settings to allow users to specify a preferred Opus version.
  • The CLI already supports --model claude-opus-4-6, so the underlying capability exists and can be leveraged.
  • Adding claude-opus-4-6 as a separate entry or sub-option under the Opus tier in the model picker would provide a seamless experience for users.

Example

No code snippet is provided as it is not explicitly mentioned in the issue, but an example of how the model picker could be updated is:

{
  "models": [
    {
      "name": "Opus",
      "versions": [
        "4.6",
        "4.7"
      ]
    },
    {
      "name": "Sonnet",
      "versions": []
    },
    {
      "name": "Haiku",
      "versions": []
    }
  ]
}

Notes

The solution assumes that the VS Code extension is designed to be extensible and can be updated to include additional models or versions.

Recommendation

Apply workaround: Add a configuration option to the extension settings to allow users to specify a preferred Opus version, as this would provide a temporary solution until the model picker can be updated to include claude-opus-4-6.

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