Status bar shows default effort level, not per-turn ultrathink override

Resolved 💬 3 comments Opened Mar 31, 2026 by GothamTheChessMan Closed Mar 31, 2026

Description

When using the "ultrathink" keyword in a message to trigger high reasoning effort for a single turn, the status bar at the bottom of the CLI still displays "Thinking with medium effort" (the default from settings.json), even though the system correctly sends reasoning effort level: high to the model.

Steps to reproduce

  1. Set "effortLevel": "medium" in ~/.claude/settings.json (default)
  2. Send a message containing "ultrathink" (e.g., "ultrathink this problem")
  3. Observe the status bar during thinking

Expected behavior

Status bar should show "Thinking with high effort" when ultrathink keyword is active for that turn.

Actual behavior

Status bar shows "Thinking with medium effort" despite the per-turn override being active. The model does receive the high effort instruction (confirmed via system-reminder), but the UI doesn't reflect it.

Screenshot

The status bar displays "Thinking with medium effort" while processing a message that included "ultrathink".

Environment

  • Claude Code CLI on WSL2 (Linux 6.6.87.2-microsoft-standard-WSL2)
  • Settings: {"effortLevel": "medium"}

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