sonnet[1m] and fable[1m] model aliases do not apply 1M context window (only opus[1m] works)
Open 💬 4 comments Opened Jul 5, 2026 by devisioncx
Description
The [1m] model alias suffix (documented at https://code.claude.com/docs/en/model-config) works correctly for Opus, but does not apply the 1M context window for Sonnet or Fable, even though both models support 1M context at the API level (per https://platform.claude.com/docs/en/about-claude/models/overview).
Steps to reproduce
- Run
/model opus[1m]
- Confirmation: "Set model to Opus 4.8 (1M context)" ✅ label present
- Status line reports total context window as
1.0M✅
- Run
/model sonnet[1m]
- Confirmation: "Set model to Sonnet 5" ❌ no "(1M context)" label
- Status line reports total context window as
200.0k❌
- Run
/model fable[1m]
- Same result as Sonnet: confirmation drops the "(1M context)" label, status line stays at
200.0k
Expected behavior
sonnet[1m] and fable[1m] should apply a 1,000,000 token context window and report it in the /model confirmation and in the context_window.total_tokens field passed to the status line, consistent with opus[1m].
Actual behavior
Only opus[1m] actually engages the 1M context window. sonnet[1m] and fable[1m] silently fall back to the standard 200k window with no error or warning.
Environment
- Claude Code version:
2.1.201(confirmed up to date viaclaude update) - OS: macOS 26.5.1 (BuildVersion 25F80)
- Plan: Enterprise / Claude for Work
~/.claude/settings.jsonhas"model": "sonnet[1m]"explicitly pinned — same result as using/model sonnet[1m]interactively- No
ANTHROPIC_MODEL/CLAUDE_CODE_MODELenv vars set that could override the alias
Additional notes
- This does not appear to be a plan/entitlement gate — the platform docs state 1M context is generally available (GA, no surcharge) and enterprise plans have no separate toggle to enable it.
- Possibly related to prior reports of the Sonnet 1M status-bar/context mismatch, e.g. #61734 and #26428, though those predate the current Sonnet 5 / Fable 5 models and were closed as not planned — this report is specifically about the
[1m]alias not taking effect (not just a status-bar display issue) for non-Opus models on the current CLI version.
This issue has 4 comments on GitHub. Read the full discussion on GitHub ↗