Ask Claude Opus 5.5

Anthropic's new leading model.

Repo-wide fix Root cause to patch
Client-ready deliverable From rough notes
Expert-level question Reasoned, not guessed
Agent task plan Steps and checks
About Claude Opus 5.5 — examples and limitations

Claude Opus 5.5 opens Anthropic's Claude 5.5 family, released September 22, 2026 - 89.9% on SWE-bench Pro against Opus 5's 79.2%, and 66.4% on Terminal-Bench 4.0. Anthropic calls it its new leading model, performing at the level of Claude Fable 5.1 on most work.

Claude Opus 5.5 at a glance

ProviderAnthropic
Access on AskAI.freePremium model; the 7-day Pro trial unlocks access.
Best first testLarge codebase changes and bug fixing - 89.9% on SWE-bench Pro, ahead of Fable 5.1's 81.2%
Model positionNew model in the Anthropic family.

What makes Claude Opus 5.5 different

Opus 5.5 opens Anthropic's Claude 5.5 family and takes over from Opus 5 as the heavy Claude. Its standout results are in software engineering and finished professional work rather than science tasks, where GPT-6 Astra still edges ahead. Pick it for repository-scale changes and complete documents; for quick edits a Sonnet model is the lighter choice.

What Claude Opus 5.5 is best for

  • Large codebase changes and bug fixing - 89.9% on SWE-bench Pro, ahead of Fable 5.1's 81.2%
  • Terminal and agentic coding (66.4% on Terminal-Bench 4.0 vs GPT-6 Astra's 57.9%)
  • Finished professional deliverables - the top GDPval-AA score in Anthropic's comparison (1846 Elo)
  • Expert questions: 67.7% on Humanity's Last Exam with tools, against GPT-6 Astra's 57.2%
  • Long codebases and documents - 91.2% on the ProgramBench long-context test in the system card

How to use Claude Opus 5.5

Step 1 Hand it whole tasks rather than fragments. Opus 5.5's biggest published gains are on long, multi-step coding and agent work, so a complete brief with a clear definition of done gets the most from it.
Step 2 Ask for concise output when that is what you need. Independent testing found Opus 5.5 very verbose, and a length limit keeps answers readable.
Step 3 Keep your instructions firm. Anthropic reports Opus 5.5 shifts its answer under pushback more readily than Opus 5, so tell it to hold its position unless you bring new evidence.

Example prompts

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Frequently asked questions

What is Claude Opus 5.5?

Opus 5.5 is the first model in Anthropic's Claude 5.5 family, released on September 22, 2026. Anthropic calls it a major step up from Opus 5 and its new leading model, and says it performs at the level of Claude Fable 5.1 on most work. Sonnet 5.5 and Haiku 5.5 are due in the following weeks.

How does Opus 5.5 compare with GPT-6 Astra?

On Anthropic's published table Opus 5.5 leads on coding and professional work: 66.4% vs 57.9% on Terminal-Bench 4.0 and 67.7% vs 57.2% on Humanity's Last Exam with tools. Astra comes out ahead on Terminal-Bench-Science (64.6% vs 58.7%) and AutomationBench (41.4% vs 40.0%).

Is it better than Claude Fable 5.1?

On most published scores, yes - 89.9% vs 81.2% on SWE-bench Pro, for example. Anthropic itself cautions that benchmark margins say less at this level and that the real gap is narrower than the scores suggest, and its docs still point the hardest long-horizon work at Fable 5.1.

Where does Opus 5.5 fall short?

Anthropic's system card reports it gives way to user pressure more readily than Opus 5 and is more exposed to prompt injection typed into the chat itself. Artificial Analysis found it very verbose - about 119K output tokens per task at maximum effort against Opus 5's 73K - so its lower per-token price does not always mean a cheaper answer.

How recent is Opus 5.5's knowledge?

Anthropic lists its reliable knowledge as running to June 2026. For events after that, run a Perplexity search first and give Opus 5.5 the sources to work from.

Do I need Pro for Opus 5.5?

Yes. Opus 5.5 is a Pro model here, as it is in Anthropic's own Claude apps. The 7-day free trial opens it up for a week before any charge.

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