effort level displays max in banner but runs at medium

description

CLAUDE_CODE_EFFORT_LEVEL=max is set in ~/.claude/settings.json under the env block. the env var is confirmed present in the shell environment during sessions. the session banner correctly shows "Opus 4.6 (1M context) with max effort" - but the actual runtime effort level is medium. running /model confirms medium, and manually switching to max changes behavior.

Feedback ID: 24223e57-bde0-4106-9af8-2a13da465fb0

reproduction

1. set CLAUDE_CODE_EFFORT_LEVEL=max in ~/.claude/settings.json env block
2. start a new session (not resume)
3. observe banner says "with max effort"
4. run /model - shows medium effort

environment

• claude code v2.1.86
• windows 11 (10.0.26200)
• opus 4.6 (1m context)
• reproduced across multiple fresh sessions and resumed sessions on 2026-03-27

workaround

setting $env:CLAUDE_CODE_EFFORT_LEVEL = "max" in powershell profile (before claude launches) may fix it - testing pending. the issue appears to be that cc reads the env var for the banner display but doesn't apply it to the actual effort level configuration.