How to Downgrade from Opus 4.7 to Opus 4.6

Opus 4.6 was removed from the Desktop model picker (#49689). Here are 4 ways to pin your model.

Why downgrade?

Opus 4.7 has 50 known issues: 4x token consumption, safety classifier failure, data loss (50GB+), cache_read billing anomaly, and CLAUDE.md instructions being ignored. Pinning to Opus 4.6 avoids all of these.

Method 1: CLI Flag (instant)

One command

claude --model claude-opus-4-6

This starts Claude Code with Opus 4.6 for this session only. You need to add the flag every time.

Method 2: User Settings (permanent)

Applies to all projects

# Edit your user settings
# Location: ~/.claude/settings.json

{
  "model": "claude-opus-4-6"
}

Create the file if it doesn't exist. This pins Opus 4.6 across all projects until you change it.

Method 3: Project Settings (per-project)

Pin for one project only

# Create in your project root
# Location: .claude/settings.json

{
  "model": "claude-opus-4-6"
}

Useful if you want Opus 4.7 for some projects but not others. Project settings override user settings.

Method 4: Model Version Alert Hook

Detect silent model switching

npx github:yurukusa/cc-safe-setup --install-example model-version-alert

Even after pinning, Claude Code can silently switch models mid-session. This hook checks every 50 tool calls and warns if Opus 4.7 is active. #49541

Important: Pinning alone isn't enough

The safety classifier, data loss, and credential issues exist independent of model version. Install safety hooks for baseline protection:

npx github:yurukusa/cc-safe-setup

This adds 8 core hooks (rm-rf blocker, git protection, secret leak detection) in ~10 seconds.

Verify your model

Check which model is actually running

# In Claude Code, type:
/model

# Or check settings:
cat ~/.claude/settings.json | grep model

The Safety Scanner can also detect your current model and identify missing protections.

Protect yourself while on any model version

900+ example hooks, all open source. One command to install.

View on GitHub Survival Guide (69+ issues) Token Checkup (free)