# Extended thinking

> A setting that lets Claude work through a hard problem step by step before it answers, trading a little speed for a better result.

**Category:** Claude

**Extended thinking gives Claude room to reason before it replies.** Instead of answering straight away, it plans and works through the steps, which helps on hard, self-contained problems like tricky analysis, maths, or debugging.

It is a dial, not an always-on: **for everyday tasks the default is fine and faster; switch thinking on when a problem is genuinely hard.** It pairs with an effort setting that controls how thorough Claude is.

## At work

Untangling a messy spreadsheet formula or a logic-heavy policy question? Turn on extended thinking and let Claude reason it through before it answers.

## Often confused with

Web search. Thinking helps Claude reason with what it already knows; [web search](/glossary#web-search) fetches current facts from the internet.

## Related terms

- Model
- Web search
- Prompt

## See it in a lesson

[Models, thinking, and web access](/en/learn/getting-started-with-claude/models-thinking-and-web-access)

## Further reading

- [Change the model, effort, and thinking settings (Help)](https://support.claude.com/en/articles/10574485-using-extended-thinking): Where the thinking and effort controls live.
- [When should I use web search, extended thinking, and research? (Help)](https://support.claude.com/en/articles/11095361-when-should-i-use-web-search-extended-thinking-and-research): Which setting fits which kind of task.
- [Extended thinking (Anthropic docs)](https://docs.claude.com/en/docs/build-with-claude/extended-thinking): The mechanics behind step-by-step reasoning.

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Last updated: 24/07/2026  
Source: Rollo Academy glossary