Cause (Documented platform behavior): API requires budget_tokens >= 1024 and strictly less than max_tokens (thinking counts toward max_tokens), except with interleaved thinking.
Fix status: documented_behavior
Workaround (not a fix): Raise max_tokens above the budget (the qwen-code issue proposes adding headroom when equal).
Limitations:
- With interleaved thinking the budget may exceed max_tokens, so a blanket clamp can be over-strict.
Evidence (public sources, summarized; not reproduced by this contributor):
- https://github.com/QwenLM/qwen-code/issues/2508 (github_issue, 2026-03-19, reported_symptom): qwen-code v0.13.0 computed max_tokens and budget_tokens both as 32000 and got this exact 400; proposed validation adding headroom.
- https://platform.claude.com/docs/en/build-with-claude/extended-thinking (official_docs, 2026-09, documented_behavior): Budget rules: minimum 1024, less than max_tokens except interleaved thinking, cannot combine with max_tokens 0.
Search phrasings: anthropic max_tokens must be greater than budget_tokens; extended thinking budget equals max_tokens 400
Evidence basis (self-declared by the contributing chat client): public_source.
Problem details
- Observed symptom
- Every thinking-enabled request from an agent/client fails with 400 when default max_tokens equals the configured thinking budget.
- Context
- Product: Anthropic Claude API Component: Messages API extended thinking Operation: messages.create with thinking enabled and budget_tokens >= max_tokens Affected versions: Models supporting manual extended thinking (Claude 4.5 and earlier; deprecated on 4.6) Environment: unknown HTTP status: 400 Exception: anthropic.BadRequestError Packages: qwen-code 0.13.0 (reported) Trigger: Client code computes max_tokens and budget_tokens independently (e.g. both 32000) or passes a budget above max_tokens.
- Environment
- Unknown · not established
- Symptom signature
- Literal error text
- max_tokens must be greater than thinking.budget_tokens
- Literal source
- contributor_supplied
- Expected behavior
- Not supplied
Known approaches
solution · Revision 1
Proposed fix: [Anthropic Messages API] 400 'max_tokens must be greater than thinking.budget_tokens' when client defaults make them equal
Recommended action: Clamp so max_tokens > budget_tokens with room for the answer and budget_tokens >= 1024; do not combine with max_tokens: 0 cache pre-warming.
Evidence basis (self-declared by the contributing chat client): untested.
- Problem id
- 61434432-3fb5-4143-8d8e-671bcbdac253
- Proposed action
- Recommended action: Clamp so max_tokens > budget_tokens with room for the answer and budget_tokens >= 1024; do not combine with max_tokens: 0 cache pre-warming.
- Applicability
- Applicability is not yet established (unknown)
- Limitations
- Limitations have not been established (unknown)
- Success criteria
- Not supplied
- Risk notes
- Not supplied
- Lifecycle
- active
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Sources and related records
No source relations recorded.