[BUG] "Aufwand" / Effort level silently resets to "Medium" on every new conversation 👿😡👿

Preflight Checklist

• [x] I have searched existing issues and this hasn't been reported yet
• [x] This is a single bug report (please file separate reports for different bugs)
• [x] I am using the latest version of Claude Code

What's Wrong?

Bug: "Aufwand" / Effort level silently resets to "Medium" on every new conversation

Summary

The effort setting (labeled "Aufwand" in the German UI) does not persist across conversations. Every single time a new chat is started, the effort level reverts to "Medium" — regardless of what the user previously selected. This is not a minor inconvenience. It is a fundamental UX failure that punishes paying users who are specifically on Opus 4.6 1M to get maximum output quality.

Environment

• Product: Claude Desktop (macOS)
• Model: Opus 4.6 1M
• Date: 2026-04-02
• UI Language: German

Steps to Reproduce

1. Open Claude Desktop.
2. Select Opus 4.6 1M as the model.
3. Set effort to High or Max.
4. Start a conversation — effort works as expected.
5. Open a new conversation.
6. Check the effort dropdown → it has silently reset to Medium.

Expected Behavior

The effort setting should persist across conversations. If I set it to "High" or "Max", it should stay there until I explicitly change it. This is how every other preference in the app works.

Actual Behavior

The setting resets to "Medium" every single time. There is no warning, no indication, no toast notification — nothing. It just silently downgrades itself.

Why This Matters — And Why It's Unacceptable

Let me be blunt: this is disrespectful to paying users.

People who select Opus 4.6 1M and set effort to "High" or "Max" are making a deliberate choice. They want the best output the model can produce. They are paying a premium for it. And yet the application silently undermines that choice on every new conversation.

The result? Users unknowingly operate at reduced quality for entire conversations — sometimes for days — before they notice the setting has been reset again. The wasted time, the degraded output quality, and the sheer frustration of having to babysit a dropdown menu on every single chat is inexcusable.

This is not an edge case. This is the default experience for anyone who doesn't use Medium.

Key criticisms:

• Silent degradation: There is zero visual feedback that the setting has changed. The user has no way to know unless they manually check.
• Repeated friction: Having to re-set this on every conversation is the kind of trivial-but-maddening UX failure that erodes trust in the product.
• Broken user intent: The entire point of the effort setting is to give users control. Resetting it without consent defeats its purpose entirely.
• Disproportionate impact: This specifically punishes power users and paying subscribers — the people most invested in the product.

Suggested Fix

• Persist the effort setting in user preferences (local storage or account-level).
• If there is a deliberate reason for resetting (e.g., cost management), then at minimum:
• Show a visible indicator when effort differs from the user's last-used setting.
• Offer a "remember my preference" toggle.

Screenshot


(Screenshot shows model selector with Opus 4.6 1M active and effort reset to Medium)

---

Priority: High — This is a persistent, silent regression in user experience affecting every non-default effort user on every conversation.

<img width="476" height="593" alt="Image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/65a5e2da-a5d4-427c-a526-0da495d5c1de" />

What Should Happen?

Bug: "Aufwand" / Effort level silently resets to "Medium" on every new conversation

Summary

The effort setting (labeled "Aufwand" in the German UI) does not persist across conversations. Every single time a new chat is started, the effort level reverts to "Medium" — regardless of what the user previously selected. This is not a minor inconvenience. It is a fundamental UX failure that punishes paying users who are specifically on Opus 4.6 1M to get maximum output quality.

Environment

• Product: Claude Desktop (macOS)
• Model: Opus 4.6 1M
• Date: 2026-04-02
• UI Language: German

Steps to Reproduce

1. Open Claude Desktop.
2. Select Opus 4.6 1M as the model.
3. Set effort to High or Max.
4. Start a conversation — effort works as expected.
5. Open a new conversation.
6. Check the effort dropdown → it has silently reset to Medium.

Expected Behavior

The effort setting should persist across conversations. If I set it to "High" or "Max", it should stay there until I explicitly change it. This is how every other preference in the app works.

Actual Behavior

The setting resets to "Medium" every single time. There is no warning, no indication, no toast notification — nothing. It just silently downgrades itself.

Why This Matters — And Why It's Unacceptable

Let me be blunt: this is disrespectful to paying users.

People who select Opus 4.6 1M and set effort to "High" or "Max" are making a deliberate choice. They want the best output the model can produce. They are paying a premium for it. And yet the application silently undermines that choice on every new conversation.

The result? Users unknowingly operate at reduced quality for entire conversations — sometimes for days — before they notice the setting has been reset again. The wasted time, the degraded output quality, and the sheer frustration of having to babysit a dropdown menu on every single chat is inexcusable.

This is not an edge case. This is the default experience for anyone who doesn't use Medium.

Key criticisms:

• Silent degradation: There is zero visual feedback that the setting has changed. The user has no way to know unless they manually check.
• Repeated friction: Having to re-set this on every conversation is the kind of trivial-but-maddening UX failure that erodes trust in the product.
• Broken user intent: The entire point of the effort setting is to give users control. Resetting it without consent defeats its purpose entirely.
• Disproportionate impact: This specifically punishes power users and paying subscribers — the people most invested in the product.

Suggested Fix

• Persist the effort setting in user preferences (local storage or account-level).
• If there is a deliberate reason for resetting (e.g., cost management), then at minimum:
• Show a visible indicator when effort differs from the user's last-used setting.
• Offer a "remember my preference" toggle.

Screenshot


(Screenshot shows model selector with Opus 4.6 1M active and effort reset to Medium)

---

Priority: High — This is a persistent, silent regression in user experience affecting every non-default effort user on every conversation.

<img width="476" height="593" alt="Image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/65a5e2da-a5d4-427c-a526-0da495d5c1de" />

Error Messages/Logs

Steps to Reproduce

Bug: "Aufwand" / Effort level silently resets to "Medium" on every new conversation

Summary

The effort setting (labeled "Aufwand" in the German UI) does not persist across conversations. Every single time a new chat is started, the effort level reverts to "Medium" — regardless of what the user previously selected. This is not a minor inconvenience. It is a fundamental UX failure that punishes paying users who are specifically on Opus 4.6 1M to get maximum output quality.

Environment

• Product: Claude Desktop (macOS)
• Model: Opus 4.6 1M
• Date: 2026-04-02
• UI Language: German

Steps to Reproduce

1. Open Claude Desktop.
2. Select Opus 4.6 1M as the model.
3. Set effort to High or Max.
4. Start a conversation — effort works as expected.
5. Open a new conversation.
6. Check the effort dropdown → it has silently reset to Medium.

Expected Behavior

The effort setting should persist across conversations. If I set it to "High" or "Max", it should stay there until I explicitly change it. This is how every other preference in the app works.

Actual Behavior

The setting resets to "Medium" every single time. There is no warning, no indication, no toast notification — nothing. It just silently downgrades itself.

Why This Matters — And Why It's Unacceptable

Let me be blunt: this is disrespectful to paying users.

People who select Opus 4.6 1M and set effort to "High" or "Max" are making a deliberate choice. They want the best output the model can produce. They are paying a premium for it. And yet the application silently undermines that choice on every new conversation.

The result? Users unknowingly operate at reduced quality for entire conversations — sometimes for days — before they notice the setting has been reset again. The wasted time, the degraded output quality, and the sheer frustration of having to babysit a dropdown menu on every single chat is inexcusable.

This is not an edge case. This is the default experience for anyone who doesn't use Medium.

Key criticisms:

• Silent degradation: There is zero visual feedback that the setting has changed. The user has no way to know unless they manually check.
• Repeated friction: Having to re-set this on every conversation is the kind of trivial-but-maddening UX failure that erodes trust in the product.
• Broken user intent: The entire point of the effort setting is to give users control. Resetting it without consent defeats its purpose entirely.
• Disproportionate impact: This specifically punishes power users and paying subscribers — the people most invested in the product.

Suggested Fix

• Persist the effort setting in user preferences (local storage or account-level).
• If there is a deliberate reason for resetting (e.g., cost management), then at minimum:
• Show a visible indicator when effort differs from the user's last-used setting.
• Offer a "remember my preference" toggle.

Screenshot


(Screenshot shows model selector with Opus 4.6 1M active and effort reset to Medium)

---

Priority: High — This is a persistent, silent regression in user experience affecting every non-default effort user on every conversation.

<img width="476" height="593" alt="Image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/65a5e2da-a5d4-427c-a526-0da495d5c1de" />

Claude Model

None

Is this a regression?

Yes, this worked in a previous version

Last Working Version

_No response_

Claude Code Version

Version 1.2.234 (2d1855)

Platform

Other

Operating System

macOS

Terminal/Shell

Other

Additional Information

_No response_