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 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 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

707 safety hooks, all open source. One command to install.

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