Claude 4: Opus & Sonnet Redefine AI Coding Excellence
On May 22, 2025, Anthropic released Claude Opus 4 and Claude Sonnet 4, constituting the Claude 4 family of hybrid reasoning models that push state-of-the-art in coding and extended agentic workflows. These models set new records on coding benchmarks such as SWE-bench (72.5%) and Terminal-bench (43.2%) with sustained performance over long-horizon tasks. Claude Opus 4 can autonomously execute multi-step workflows for up to seven hours without performance degradation. Sonnet 4 succeeds the 3.7 model, balancing power, efficiency, and cost-effectiveness for everyday use cases. Both models introduce hybrid reasoning modes that allow seamless switching between near-instant responses and deeper “extended thinking” for complex problem solving.
Introduction
Agentic AI continues to transform developer workflows by enabling AI systems to work autonomously on intricate tasks with minimal supervision. The Claude 4 family from Anthropic represents the latest advance in this paradigm, combining powerful coding abilities with extended reasoning and memory capabilities.
🎉The Claude 4 Family
🛠️ Claude Opus 4
Claude Opus 4 is Anthropic’s most powerful AI model to date and is widely regarded as the world’s best coding model. It leads on coding benchmarks—scoring 72.5% on SWE-bench and 43.2% on Terminal-bench—demonstrating significant improvements over previous models. In real-world tests, Opus 4 maintained peak performance for over seven continuous hours while refactoring code, showcasing its ability to handle thousands of steps in a single workflow.
🎶Claude Sonnet 4
Claude Sonnet 4 is the successor to Claude Sonnet 3.7, designed as a drop-in replacement for developers seeking a cost-effective yet powerful model. It achieves 72.7% on coding benchmarks—an improvement that balances speed, accuracy, and token efficiency for general-purpose tasks. Sonnet 4 also demonstrates a 65% reduction in shortcut behaviors and improved instruction following, making it reliable for precise code generation and reasoning across diverse workflows.
🔧Key Features
Hybrid Reasoning & Extended Thinking
Both Claude Opus 4 and Sonnet 4 employ hybrid reasoning modes that seamlessly switch between instant responses and “extended thinking” phases for deeper analysis on complex queries. The extended thinking feature is available in beta and intelligently allocates compute to balance speed and depth, improving accuracy on multi-hop problem solving.
Memory & Tool Use
The new Files API and local memory capabilities allow Claude 4 models to build and reference “memory files,” preserving critical context over long-running tasks and enabling sustained collaboration. When granted file access, Opus 4 can record and retrieve key data points, ensuring continuity over workflows spanning hours or days.
Thinking Summaries
A new “thinking summaries” feature condenses lengthy reasoning chains into concise, human-readable summaries using a smaller model about 5% of the time. This makes complex analyses more accessible and reduces cognitive load when reviewing AI-generated thought processes.
🧠Benchmarks & Performance
Anthropic benchmarks show that Opus 4 outperforms Google’s Gemini 2.5 Pro, OpenAI’s o3 reasoning, and GPT-4.1 on coding tasks, solidifying its position as the SOTA coding model. On the SWE-bench suite of 500 problems, Opus 4 achieved 72.5%, while Sonnet 4 reached 72.7% on a 477-problem subset, reflecting substantial gains in reasoning and code generation. Third-party evaluations by Rakuten and Replit confirm Opus 4’s ability to sustain multi-hour coding runs with no degradation in output quality.
🌐Integrations & Ecosystem
Cloud Platforms
Claude 4 models are available through Anthropic’s API, Amazon Bedrock, and Google Cloud Vertex AI, allowing scalable deployment across major cloud infrastructures. AWS Bedrock integration provides immediate access to Opus 4 and Sonnet 4 for secure, governed enterprise use.
Editor & Developer Tools
The official Claude Code extensions for Visual Studio Code and JetBrains IDEs enable inline AI assistance and code edits directly in the developer’s workflow. GitHub Copilot users can now select Sonnet 4 in all paid plans and Opus 4 in enterprise tiers, powering chat-based coding support across all GitHub environments.
Partner Integrations
Databricks customers can natively leverage Opus 4 and Sonnet 4 within their notebooks to automate data engineering tasks and build domain-specific agents across AWS, Azure, and GCP platforms.
🌐Safety & Ethics
Anthropic has deployed Claude Opus 4 under the AI Safety Level 3 (ASL-3) safeguards, incorporating enhanced anti-jailbreak measures and a bug bounty program to mitigate misuse risks. Sonnet 4 operates under ASL-2 measures, reflecting its lower potential risk profile while still undergoing rigorous bias and safety evaluations. Anthropic’s Responsible Scaling Policy ensures that both models adhere to stringent pre-deployment safety tests and continuous third-party assessments.
🚀Getting Started
Developers can access Claude 4 today by signing up at the Anthropic website or through the Claude API dashboard. For VS Code integration, install the Claude Code extension from the marketplace and authenticate with your API key to begin coding with Opus 4 or Sonnet 4 instantly.
Conclusion
Anthropic’s Claude 4 family sets a new benchmark in AI-driven coding and agentic workflows by combining state-of-the-art performance, extended reasoning, integrated tools, and robust safety measures. Whether you need a relentless coding partner in Opus 4 or an efficient all-rounder in Sonnet 4, the Claude 4 models represent the next evolution in collaborative AI for developers and enterprises alike.