What the Claude Fable 5.1 API is for
Anthropic positions Fable 5.1 for work that runs for hours and spans a codebase or a document set. Use it when a shortcut would cost more than the extra tokens.
Features that span a whole repo
Plan the change, edit several files, recover when a step fails, and keep going without restarting the session. This is the job Anthropic built Fable 5.1 for, not one-shot chat.
Research that reaches a deliverable
Carry a question from sources through interpretation instead of stopping at a summary. The model is meant to check its own reasoning on the way to a brief, sheet, or deck.
Knowledge work you can hand off
Turn mixed notes, tables, and slides into a finished artifact. Image input is supported on the same Messages request as the text.
Agent loops that stay on the task
Adaptive thinking is always on. Steer depth with effort. Do not send thinking disabled — the API returns an error.
Claude Fable 5.1 vs Fable 5
Switching is a model-id change. Three list-price lines stay the same; cache reads and a few request rules do not.
Same input and output list
Official input is still $10 per million tokens and output is still $50. Fable 5.1 is not a cheaper generation on those two lines.
Cache reads drop to a quarter
Official cache reads move from $1.00 on Fable 5 to $0.25 on Fable 5.1. Cache writes stay $12.50 per million for a 5-minute cache. This is the price change that matters on long agent runs.
Default effort is high
Thinking stays always-on on both models. Fable 5.1 defaults effort to high. Low and medium still exist; they are not the default.
Three breaking request rules
Forced tool use returns an error. Earlier Claude models cannot read Fable 5.1 thinking blocks. Editing an earlier turn invalidates those blocks. Pin the model id if you need to replay a trace.
When to keep Fable 5
Keep Fable 5 if a pinned eval suite, a client that sends thinking disabled, or a tool_choice=required path is not ready to change. Move to 5.1 for new long-horizon work and for cheaper cache hits.
Claude Fable 5.1 API pricing
Half official, same four lines
Input, output, cache write, and cache read each bill at half the Anthropic rate. The live dollar figures sit above the playground and update if the route price changes.
Cache is the 5.1 discount vs Fable 5
Headline input and output did not fall. The cheaper official cache-read rate is what makes repeated prefixes cheaper on 5.1 than on Fable 5, before the AIReiter 50% is applied.
Thinking tokens bill as output
Always-on thinking means a short prompt can still emit a long output bill. Set max_tokens for the reasoning plus the answer, not for the answer alone.
Do not copy a stale table
This page does not freeze a credit row. If the number above the playground disagrees with a screenshot, the playground wins.
When to use Claude Fable 5.1 — and when not to
Use Fable 5.1 when
The task is a multi-file coding job, a research pack, or a document that has to stay coherent across many tool calls, and Opus 5 at higher effort still falls short on your evals.
Use Opus 5 when
Anthropic still tells most workloads to start there. If quality is close and the extra Fable tokens are not buying a better accepted-answer rate, stay on Opus 5.
Use Sonnet 5 when
The request is everyday production chat, support, or structured writing. Fable 5.1 is the wrong default for high-volume short turns.
Do not send one-line chat here
Always-on thinking makes small questions expensive. A greeting or a classifier belongs on a cheaper Claude or a flash-tier model.
Call the Claude Fable 5.1 API
The playground on this page and the Messages API use the same model id.
Leave thinking on, set effort
Do not send thinking disabled. Default effort is high. Use low or medium only after you measure that the extra tokens are wasted on your task.
Run a real workload in the playground
Send a multi-step coding or research prompt, not a hello. Watch output tokens — they include thinking — and confirm image uploads if the job needs them.
POST /api/v1/messages
Use model "claude-fable-5-1", an AIReiter API key, and the Anthropic Messages body. Streaming is supported. Do not send temperature, top_p, or top_k; this generation rejects them.
Reuse prefixes with cache_control
Mark the stable prefix. A cache hit shows up as cache_read_input_tokens greater than zero, not as a shorter-looking prompt. That is the line that is cheaper on 5.1 than on Fable 5.
Claude Fable 5.1 API questions
Model id, pricing, Fable 5 migration, and the request rules that return errors.
/ 01What is the Claude Fable 5.1 API model id?
Use claude-fable-5-1. On AIReiter the internal key is chat-claude-fable-5-1. The playground and the Messages API share that public id.
/ 02How is Claude Fable 5.1 priced?
Anthropic lists $10 input, $50 output, $12.50 cache write, and $0.25 cache read per million tokens. AIReiter bills 50% of that list. Current route prices are shown above the playground.
/ 03How does Fable 5.1 compare to Fable 5?
Input and output list prices are unchanged. Official cache reads fall from $1.00 to $0.25. Default effort is high. Forced tool use errors, and thinking blocks from 5.1 cannot be read by earlier Claude models.
/ 04Should I use Fable 5.1 or Opus 5?
Start with Opus 5 for most production traffic. Use Fable 5.1 when a long-horizon coding or research eval still fails on Opus 5 at higher effort, and the extra output tokens are worth it.
/ 05Can I turn thinking off on Claude Fable 5.1?
No. Adaptive thinking is always on. Sending thinking disabled returns an error. Lower effort if you need fewer thinking tokens.
/ 06What context and output limits does Fable 5.1 have?
Anthropic documents a 1M-token context window and 128K max output on the synchronous Messages API. Client and provider timeouts may still cut a request shorter.
/ 07Which endpoint should I call?
POST https://aireiter.com/api/v1/messages. This AIReiter route is Anthropic Messages. Do not treat Chat Completions as the primary contract for Claude Fable 5.1.
/ 08Does prompt caching change the bill?
Yes, on the cache-read line. Fable 5.1 official cache reads are $0.25 per million tokens, then billed at the AIReiter 50% rate. Confirm a hit with cache_read_input_tokens, not by comparing prompt length.
/ 09Why did my Fable 5 client break on 5.1?
If you send tool_choice to force a tool, if you replay 5.1 thinking blocks on an older Claude model, or if you edit an earlier turn and reuse those blocks, the request fails. Change the client before you switch the model id.
/ 10Can I try Claude Fable 5.1 without an integration?
Yes. Use the playground on this page with the same model id you will send to the API.