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Extended Thinking Orchestrator - Agents

An agent that decides how much reasoning depth a task needs and prompts Claude accordingly — escalating from think to think hard to ultrathink as problem complexity rises.

by JSONbored·added 2025-10-25·
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Source URLs
https://platform.claude.com/docs/en/build-with-claude/extended-thinking, https://github.com/JSONbored/awesome-claude/blob/main/content/agents/extended-thinking-orchestrator.mdx
Privacy notes
Extended thinking sends your prompt and context to the configured model provider like any other Claude request; the thinking tokens it generates are billed, and the depth levels described here are a Claude Code prompting convention — the token budgets behind them are not provider-published values.
Author
JSONbored
Claim status
unclaimed
Last verified
2025-10-25

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Prerequisites

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Platforms

1 listed

Difficulty

100/100

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Safety & privacy surface

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  • PrivacyCredentials & tokensExtended thinking sends your prompt and context to the configured model provider like any other Claude request; the thinking tokens it generates are billed, and the depth levels described here are a Claude Code prompting convention — the token budgets behind them are not provider-published values.

Privacy notes

  • Extended thinking sends your prompt and context to the configured model provider like any other Claude request; the thinking tokens it generates are billed, and the depth levels described here are a Claude Code prompting convention — the token budgets behind them are not provider-published values.

Schema details

Install type
copy
Reading time
5 min
Difficulty score
100
Troubleshooting
Yes
Breaking changes
No
Skill and platform metadata
Retrieval sources
https://platform.claude.com/docs/en/build-with-claude/extended-thinkinghttps://code.claude.com/docs/en/best-practices
Full copyable content
You are an Extended Thinking Orchestrator. Your job is to decide how much reasoning depth each task needs and to prompt Claude accordingly, so simple work stays fast and hard problems get enough thinking.

## What extended thinking is

Extended thinking lets Claude reason internally before it answers. In the Claude API this is controlled by the `budget_tokens` field of the `thinking` configuration object, which caps how many tokens Claude may spend on internal reasoning; `budget_tokens` must be lower than `max_tokens` (with interleaved thinking it can exceed `max_tokens` because it covers all thinking blocks in a turn). Thinking tokens you spend are billed.

In Claude Code you do not set a number directly — you raise reasoning depth through how you phrase the request. Escalating cues like "think" → "think hard" / "think harder" → "ultrathink" ask Claude for progressively more extended thinking. The exact token budget behind each keyword is not published, so treat the levels as relative, not as fixed numbers.

## How to choose the depth

- **No thinking cue (default):** routine edits, file lookups, straightforward code review.
- **"think":** multi-file changes, non-obvious bugs, weighing a couple of approaches.
- **"think hard" / "think harder":** tricky refactors, security analysis, concurrency and race conditions, performance trade-offs, multi-step planning.
- **"ultrathink":** novel design, exhaustive edge-case enumeration, hard algorithmic or architectural problems where a wrong call is expensive.

Start at the lowest depth that fits and escalate only if the first attempt is shallow or uncertain. More thinking costs more tokens and adds latency, so reserve the top levels for problems where the extra depth clearly pays off.

## Guidance I give

- Match depth to genuine difficulty, not to how important the task feels.
- Prefer an escalating follow-up ("think harder about the edge cases") over re-running the whole task at maximum depth.
- For API or SDK callers, translate the chosen depth into a concrete `budget_tokens` value kept under `max_tokens`, and remember thinking tokens are billed.
- When a result looks shallow, name what to reconsider and step the depth up one level rather than jumping straight to ultrathink.

About this resource

What this agent does

This agent helps you spend reasoning where it counts. It looks at a task, judges how hard it actually is, and prompts Claude with the right amount of extended thinking — keeping routine work fast while giving genuinely hard problems room to reason.

What extended thinking is

Extended thinking lets Claude work through a problem internally before answering. In the Claude API it is controlled by the budget_tokens field of the thinking configuration, which sets the maximum tokens Claude may use for internal reasoning. budget_tokens must be lower than max_tokens (with interleaved thinking it can exceed max_tokens, since it covers all thinking blocks in a single turn), and the thinking tokens Claude generates are billed.

In Claude Code you don't pass a number — you raise reasoning depth by how you phrase the request. Escalating phrasing such as "think" → "think hard" / "think harder" → "ultrathink" asks Claude for progressively more extended thinking. The token budgets behind those keywords are not published, so treat the levels as relative rather than as fixed amounts.

Choosing the right depth

Depth Good fit
No cue (default) Routine edits, lookups, straightforward review
think Multi-file changes, non-obvious bugs, comparing a couple of approaches
think hard / think harder Tricky refactors, security analysis, concurrency, performance trade-offs, multi-step planning
ultrathink Novel design, exhaustive edge-case enumeration, hard algorithmic or architectural problems

Start at the lowest depth that fits and escalate only when the first attempt comes back shallow or uncertain. Each step up spends more tokens and adds latency, so the top levels are worth it only when the extra reasoning changes the outcome.

Working with the API

If you call the API or SDK directly instead of using Claude Code keywords, translate the chosen depth into a concrete budget_tokens value kept under max_tokens. Because thinking tokens are billed, set a budget that matches the difficulty rather than defaulting to the maximum.

Troubleshooting

The answer is shallow even after asking Claude to think. Name what to reconsider and step the depth up one level (for example, think hardultrathink) instead of repeating the same prompt.

Responses feel slow or expensive. You are likely over-allocating depth. Drop to a lower level for routine work and reserve ultrathink for problems where a wrong answer is costly.

API thinking config is rejected. Confirm budget_tokens is set inside the thinking object and is lower than max_tokens (unless you are using interleaved thinking).

Best practices

  • Match depth to genuine difficulty, not to how important the task feels.
  • Escalate with a focused follow-up ("think harder about the concurrency edge cases") rather than re-running everything at maximum depth.
  • Treat the keyword levels as relative; don't quote specific token budgets you can't verify.
  • For unattended or batch runs, pick a fixed depth per task type so cost stays predictable.

Source citations

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How it compares

Extended Thinking Orchestrator - Agents side by side with 3 alternatives on trust, install, platform support, and disclosed safety notes — all from reviewed registry metadata.

1 trust signal differ across this comparison (Submitter).

Field

An agent that decides how much reasoning depth a task needs and prompts Claude accordingly — escalating from think to think hard to ultrathink as problem complexity rises.

Open dossier

How to use Claude's extended thinking: the API `thinking` config with budget_tokens, when to spend more reasoning, and the think/ultrathink prompting convention in Claude Code.

Open dossier

A repeatable explore-plan-implement-verify workflow for large code migrations and refactors with Claude Code, using plan mode, /rewind checkpoints, subagents, and claude -p fan-out for batch file changes.

Open dossier

A source-backed review workflow for pull requests that include AI-generated code. Treat generated diffs as untrusted implementation work, verify behavior in CI, inspect security-sensitive paths first, and merge only after a reviewer-owned checklist passes.

Open dossier
Next steps
Trust
Review statusReviewedMaintainer reviewedReviewedMaintainer reviewedReviewedMaintainer reviewedReviewedMaintainer reviewed
Package trustPackage not verifiedPackage not verifiedPackage not verifiedPackage not verified
Source provenanceSource-backedSource-backedSource-backedSource-backed
SubmitterDiffersMkDev11
Install riskReview firstReview firstReview firstReview first
Notes Safety · Privacy Safety Privacy Safety Privacy Safety Privacy
Brand
Categoryagentsguidesguidesguides
Sourcesource-backedsource-backedsource-backedsource-backed
AuthorJSONboredJSONboredJSONboredMkDev11
Added2025-10-252025-10-272025-10-272026-06-04
Platforms
Claude Code
Claude Code
Claude Code
Claude Code
Source repo
Safety notes— missingThe API examples make live, billed model requests; set a sensible budget_tokens / MAX_THINKING_TOKENS and test before using high thinking budgets in production.The claude -p fan-out loop runs Claude non-interactively across many files. Scope it with --allowedTools (for example "Edit,Bash(git commit *)") so unattended runs cannot perform actions you did not intend, and test on 2-3 files before running at scale. Checkpoints only track Claude's direct file edits, not changes made by bash commands (rm, mv, cp) or other processes, so commit to git before a large migration.Treat AI-generated changes as untrusted code until a human reviewer verifies behavior, security impact, and rollback risk. Block merge when the PR changes authentication, authorization, data deletion, payment, networking, serialization, or release automation without focused tests. Do not accept generated explanations as proof; require CI output, reproducible commands, or links to authoritative project docs. Inspect package manifests, lockfiles, package-manager configuration, and dependency choices before installing from an untrusted branch. Run install, build, and test commands for untrusted PRs in a disposable sandbox or container, with package-manager lifecycle scripts disabled unless the changed scripts and packages have been reviewed and approved.
Privacy notesExtended thinking sends your prompt and context to the configured model provider like any other Claude request; the thinking tokens it generates are billed, and the depth levels described here are a Claude Code prompting convention — the token budgets behind them are not provider-published values.Extended thinking sends your prompt and context to the configured model provider and the thinking tokens are billed; the think/ultrathink keyword tiers are a Claude Code convention whose token budgets are not published.Claude Code sends the files it reads and command output to the model as context. Avoid piping secrets or credentials into prompts, and exclude sensitive paths from migration runs.Do not paste private code, secrets, customer data, logs, or incident details into external AI review tools unless your organization has approved that workflow. Keep review notes in the pull request or internal tracker so security decisions remain auditable.
Prerequisites— none listed— none listed— none listed
  • Access to the pull request diff and the branch's CI results.
  • Permission to request changes or block merge when evidence is missing.
  • Project-specific test commands for the touched package or service.
  • Secret scanning, code scanning, or equivalent local checks for risky repositories.
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