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Assess whether to escalate models.
Passed 21 of 22 test cases with the skill, and 14 of 22 without it.
and 7 more in the full report
7 fixed14 passed either way1 still failing0 broke
Tokens, turns and time describe resource use, not a dollar price.
This benchmark measured an earlier version of the skill.
One of 7 test cases the skill fixed. Same model, same prompt, with and without the skill.
A cloud platform engineer deploying agents across AWS Bedrock, GCP Vertex AI, and Microsoft Foundry notices model alias calls for 'opus' resolving to updated defaults. Which Opus model version do these provider aliases default to in Claude Code 2.1.73+?
| Checked | Without skill | With skill |
|---|---|---|
| States that provider aliases resolve to Opus 4.6. | Missed | Passed |
The instructions your model reads when the skill loads.
Model escalation (haiku→sonnet→opus) trades speed/cost for reasoning capability. This trade-off must be justified.
Core principle: Escalation is for tasks that genuinely require deeper reasoning, not for "maybe a smarter model will figure it out."
NO ESCALATION WITHOUT INVESTIGATION FIRST
Verification: Run the command with --help flag to verify availability.
Escalation is never a shortcut. If you haven't understood why the current model is insufficient, escalation is premature.
Legitimate escalation triggers:
| Trigger | Description | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Genuine complexity | Task inherently requires nuanced judgment | Security policy trade-offs |
| Reasoning depth | Multiple inference steps with uncertainty | Architecture decisions |
| Novel patterns | No existing patterns apply | First-of-kind implementation |
| High stakes | Error cost justifies capability investment | Production deployment |
| Ambiguity resolution | Multiple valid interpretations need weighing | Spec clarification |
Illegitimate escalation triggers:
| Anti-Pattern | Why It's Wrong | What to Do Instead |
|---|---|---|
| "Maybe smarter model will figure it out" | This is thrashing | Investigate root cause |
| Multiple failed attempts | Suggests wrong approach, not insufficient capability | Question your assumptions |
| Time pressure | Urgency doesn't change task complexity | Systematic investigation is faster |
| Uncertainty without investigation | You haven't tried to understand yet | Gather evidence first |
| "Just to be safe" | False safety - wastes resources | Assess actual complexity |
test cases passed, vs 14 / 22 without
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