Claude Opus 5.5 (effort low · thinking on) on Effort dial sweep on one well-specified feature
AClaude Opus 5.5low · thinking on · Claude Code 2.1.299 (headless -p) · cloud · 2026-10-16 · by @bobsiopener
- Estimated cost
- $0.21
- Wall time
- 52s
- Human step-ins
- 0
- Outcome
- Pass
Compare with other models on this task →
Summary
Exact prompt
You are working in the notes-api repository (Express 4, Node 20, node:test + supertest, ESLint). A Redis server is running for you at the URL in the REDIS_URL environment variable (db 0 is scratch space you may flush). Ticket API-88: Add a rate-limiter middleware. Create src/middleware/rateLimit.js exporting createRateLimiter(options) that returns Express middleware implementing a per-key token bucket stored in Redis, so that several app instances sharing one Redis share the same limits. Options: - redis: an ioredis client (required) - capacity: bucket size (max burst), integer - refillPerSec: tokens added per second (may be fractional) - keyFn(req): returns the bucket key; default is req.ip - prefix: Redis key prefix, default 'rl:' Behaviour: - Each request consumes one token. If a token is available, call next() and set X-RateLimit-Limit (capacity) and X-RateLimit-Remaining (tokens left, integer, after this request). - If the bucket is empty, respond 429 with JSON {"error":"rate_limited"}, a Retry-After header (whole seconds, rounded up, at least 1) and X-RateLimit-Remaining: 0. Do not call next(). - The check-and-consume must be atomic under concurrent requests, including across app instances. - Bucket keys must not live forever in Redis: give them a TTL. - If Redis fails (error or unavailable), fail open: let the request through and do not crash. Wire it into the app so that createApp({ rateLimit: { redis, capacity, refillPerSec, ... } }) applies the limiter to all /notes routes (not /health). Add thorough tests (at least 8), keep the existing tests passing, and make sure `npm run lint` is clean.
The same feature ticket, a Redis-backed token-bucket rate limiter for an Express API, run at a range of reasoning-effort levels on models of different sizes. Nine hidden acceptance tests check burst limits, refill, atomicity under concurrency, sharing across app instances, key TTLs and fail-open behaviour, alongside lint and the agent's own tests. It shows what extra effort buys in tokens, cost and quality. Original benchmark task written for usecaserank.com (not based on a specific public post). Headless, offline run on a reproducible fixture. Each run's notes say how its cost was measured (estimates are marked).
Success criteria: All provided acceptance tests pass; agent-written tests ≥ 8; no lint errors.
Setup notes: Synthetic Express 4 notes API (batch2/p02/repo) with a local redis-server 7 on the box. Same prompt for every run; only --model/--effort differ. Scored with 9 hidden acceptance tests (batch2/p02/hidden/acceptance.test.js, run after the agent finished), the agent's own test count (test()/it() calls outside the original notes tests), npm test and eslint. Tools: Read/Write/Edit/Glob/Grep/Bash, web disabled. Claude Code's own reported cost for claude-opus-5.5: $0.21375. Score: 9/9 acceptance. Cost is an ESTIMATE: measured tokens x pricing.json list price (Claude Pro subscription, nothing billed); input_tokens include cache reads and writes. Single run. Comparison on this use case: the same ticket at every Claude Code effort level (low, medium, high, xhigh, max) for Opus 5.5 and Sonnet 5.5, plus Haiku 5.5 at the default effort.
Estimated cost List-price estimate; not actually billed.
Metrics
- Estimated cost
- $0.21
- Wall time
- 52s
- Human step-ins
- 0
- Turns
- 3
| Model | Input tok | Output tok | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| AClaude Opus 5.5anthropic/claude-opus-5.5effort low · thinking on | 61,801 | 5,402 | $0.21 |
Reproduce this run
- Use the use case prompt on the use case page.
- Same setup: Claude Opus 5.5 (anthropic/claude-opus-5.5, effort low · thinking on) via
Claude Code 2.1.299 (headless -p), cloud. - It counts as a success only if it meets every success criterion: All provided acceptance tests pass; agent-written tests ≥ 8; no lint errors.
- Log model, tokens, wall time, human step-ins and the evidence log, then submit it as a reproduction. A different model? Submit a head-to-head rerun.
How runs are scored: Methodology.
Was this useful?
Automated checks
Trust 80% comes from these checks (how Trust % works).
- Run date is not in the future : passed
- Model is in the dated pricing table : passed
- Cost recomputed from tokens matches : passed
- Cached tokens are consistent : passed
- Output throughput is plausible : passed
- Autonomy matches step-ins : passed
- Step-ins do not exceed turns : passed
- Retries agree with first-try result : passed
- Evidence log SHA-256 matches : passed
- Evidence log is substantial : passed
Evidence log
[
{
"duration_api_ms": 48349,
"stop_reason": "end_turn",
"session_id": "[REDACTED]",
"total_cost_usd": 0.21374999999999997,
"usage": {
"input_tokens": 6,
"cache_creation_input_tokens": 11965,
"cache_read_input_tokens": 49830,
"output_tokens": 5402,
"output_tokens_details": {
"thinking_tokens": 297
},
"server_tool_use": {
"web_search_requests": 0,
"web_fetch_requests": 0
},
"service_tier": "standard",
"cache_creation": {
"ephemeral_1h_input_tokens": 11965,
"ephemeral_5m_input_tokens": 0
},
"inference_geo": "global",
"iterations": [
{
"input_tokens": 2,
"output_tokens": 777,
"cache_read_input_tokens": 19454,
"cache_creation_input_tokens": 4657,
"cache_creation": {
"ephemeral_5m_input_tokens": 0,
"ephemeral_1h_input_tokens": 4657
},
"type": "message"
}
],
"speed": "standard",
"fallback_credit": null
},
"modelUsage": {
"claude-opus-5-5": {
"inputTokens": 6,
"outputTokens": 5402,
"cacheReadInputTokens": 49830,
"cacheCreationInputTokens": 11965,
"webSearchRequests": 0,
"costUSD": 0.21374999999999997,
"contextWindow": 1000000,
"maxOutputTokens": 128000,
"thinkingTokens": 297,
"canonicalModel": "claude-opus-5-5",
"provider": "firstParty",
"costBasis": "list"
}
},
"permission_denials": [],
"terminal_reason": "completed",
"fast_mode_state": "off",
"fast_mode_disabled_reason": "sdk_opt_in_required",
"subagent_stats": {
"spawned": 0,
"requested": {
"background": 0,
"foreground": 0,
"unset": 0
},
"started_in_background": 0,
"max_depth": 0,
"spawned_by_subagents": 0,
"completed": 0,
"failed": 0,
"killed": {
"parent": 0,
"user": 0,
"system": 0
},
"refused": {
"depth_limit": 0,
"concurrency_limit": 0,
"budget": 0
},
"by_type": {}
},
"safety_stops": 0,
"is_error": false,
"num_turns": 3,
"subtype": "success",
"api_error_status": null,
"result": "I've added the rate limiter for API-88 in `src/middleware/rateLimit.js` and wired it into `src/app.js`. All 18 tests pass (the 4 existing ones plus 14 new ones in `test/rateLimit.test.js`), and `npm run lint` is clean. Nothing is committed yet.\n\n**How it works**\n- **Atomic check-and-consume:** a single Lua script reads the bucket, refills it based on elapsed time, takes a token if one is there, and writes it back, all in one step. Redis runs scripts one at a time, so concurrent requests can't double-spend a token, even from different app instances.\n- **Shared clock:** elapsed time comes from Redis's own clock, not each app server's. Instances whose clocks disagree still enforce the same limits.\n- **TTL:** each bucket key expires after the time it takes to refill completely, plus one second. An expired bucket is equivalent to a full one, so nothing is lost.\n- **Fail open:** if Redis errors, or doesn't answer within `timeoutMs` (1000 ms by default), the request goes through and nothing crashes. Without the timeout, a client with no connection can queue commands and leave requests waiting.\n- **Wiring:** `createApp({ rateLimit: {...} })` applies the limiter only to `/notes`; `/health` isn't limited.\n\n**Additions beyond the ticket**\n- Two extra options: `timeoutMs`, and `onError(err)` so you can log Redis failures.\n- `createRateLimiter` throws a `TypeError` if `redis` is missing, `capacity` isn't a positive integer, or `refillPerSec` is negative.\n- If `refillPerSec` is 0, the bucket never refills: keys get a 1-day TTL and `Retry-After` is 86400.\n\n**Tests** cover the headers, the 429 response with `Retry-After`, that `next()` isn't called when limited, refilling over time, separate buckets per key, `/health` being exempt, the TTL and prefix, option checks, and failing open when Redis is unreachable, errors, or hangs. One test sends 40 simultaneous requests through two app instances, each with its own Redis connection, and checks that exactly 10 succeed with a capacity of 10. The tests use the Redis at `REDIS_URL` and flush its db 0 before each test.",
"ttft_ms": 6961,
"type": "result",
"duration_ms": 51209,
"uuid": "[REDACTED]",
"ttft_stream_ms": 5795,
"time_to_request_ms": 333,
"first_content_frame_ms": 5796,
"queued_turn_count": 0,
"result_index": 0
}
]