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Some jobs deserve more thought than others. Two controls next to the message box let you say which is which.

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Effort

Effort is how much your coworker thinks before answering. The control says it plainly:
Reasoning effort: how much the model thinks before answering. Higher is more thorough but slower and costs more.
The levels run from Off through Minimal, Low, Medium, High, Extra high to Max. There’s also Default, which uses whatever the chosen model is happiest with — and is the right answer most of the time.
The effort menu listing Default, Off, Minimal, Low, Medium, High, Extra high and Max

Default is selected, and tells you what the model would pick on its own.

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Turning it up

  • A problem with genuine ambiguity in it
  • Analysis where the conclusion matters more than the speed
  • A job that went wrong at a lower setting
  • Anything you’d describe as “think about this properly”

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Turning it down

  • Reformatting, extracting, tidying
  • Bulk work over many similar items, where speed compounds
  • Simple lookups
  • Anything where the answer is obvious and you just want it done
Leave it on Default until something goes wrong. Then turn it up for that task rather than for everything. Effort is a per-task decision, not a setting to configure once.

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Model

The model picker chooses which AI does the work. Models are grouped by who makes them, with friendly names rather than version strings. Two badges are worth noticing:
  • Extended thinking — this model supports the higher effort levels. Without it, turning effort up does less.
  • Accepts images — this model can look at pictures. Necessary if your task involves screenshots, scans or photos.
The model menu grouped by vendor, with Extended thinking and Accepts images badges

Models grouped by who makes them, with badges for the two things that change what you can ask for.

Not every model supports every effort level. The menu only offers the ones the chosen model actually supports, so you can’t set a combination that quietly does nothing.

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Which to reach for

They solve different problems, and people reach for the wrong one. That last pair matters. Effort makes your coworker think harder about the task it has. It does not make it think harder about whether that’s the right task.

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Good to know

Both are per task. Changing them doesn’t affect your other tasks or your other coworkers.
You can also switch with /model from the keyboard. See Slash commands.

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Common questions

The default, unless you have a reason. It’s chosen to be a good balance. Switch when you need images, or when a task is genuinely hard and you want the strongest option.
More thorough, not infallible. For correctness, Thorough review does more than raising effort.
Yes. It applies from the next thing your coworker does — useful when a task turns out harder than it looked.
Yes, meaningfully, which is why Default exists. Raise it for the task that needs it rather than as a standing setting.

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Next steps

Thorough review

For correctness, not depth.

Plan mode and Build mode

For doing the right job.

Slash commands

Switching from the keyboard.

The conversation

Where the controls live.