Extended Thinking Skill

Enable Claude to "think out loud" before responding - dramatically improves complex reasoning tasks.

When to Use Extended Thinking

• Complex math, logic, or coding problems
• Multi-step analysis requiring careful reasoning
• Tasks where you need to verify Claude's thought process
• Debugging intricate issues
• Strategic planning and decision-making

Budget Guidance

Key Patterns

Basic Extended Thinking

See templates/basic-thinking.ts and templates/basic-thinking.py

Interleaved Thinking with Tools

Requires beta header: anthropic-beta: interleaved-thinking-2025-05-14

Streaming Extended Thinking

Stream thinking blocks for real-time visibility into reasoning process.