# Model Reference

> Use when a model choice needs grounding and is not already settled, or when the fleet changes. Not a step before every dispatch.

- Skill: `giostriquer/model-reference` (Agent Skill)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add giostriquer/model-reference`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/giostriquer/model-reference/raw
- Safety review: pending
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: AI & ML
- Author: giostriquer (https://skillmd.com/u/giostriquer)
- Updated: 2026-09-17
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/giostriquer/model-reference

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# Model Reference

The model reference table: consult it when picking a model, update it when the
fleet changes. The canonical copy lives here and nowhere else; the operator's
always-injected rules file carries only the hard invariants and points here.

This is a lookup, not a step before every dispatch, and it never dispatches
anything.

## The table

**Legacy illustrative scores, not a current fleet calibration.** These entries
lack dated evaluation provenance and are retained only to explain the axes. Do
not route current work from these numbers or transfer fable-5's grade to Fable
5.1. A new model/effort needs its own operator-supplied calibration: date, task
set, method, and observed trade-offs. Otherwise use available host capabilities
and the session's current model under standing routing instructions.

Scores are 1–10, higher is better.

- **Cost** is subscription-limit burn, not dollars. The fleet runs on
  subscriptions, so a low cost score means "eats the weekly limit fast," not
  "expensive per token."
- **Speed** is wall-clock turnaround on the same task.
- **Intelligence** is how hard a problem the model can carry unsupervised.
- **Code** is coding craft: how correct and well-built the implementation
  comes out when the work is code.
- **Taste** covers user-facing surfaces only: UI/UX, copy, API shape, docs,
  research, audits.

| model | cost | intelligence | taste | code | speed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| gpt-5.6-sol | 6 | 9 | 8.5 | 9 | 6 |
| gpt-5.6-luna | 10 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 8 |
| opus-5 | 5 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 |
| fable-5 | 1 | 10 | 9.5 | 9 | 5 |
| grok-4.6 | 5 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 7 |

**One row per model, graded at the effort that model is actually run at.**
Effort is not a separate axis here, if you change the effort you habitually
run a model at, re-grade its row rather than adding one.

## Hard invariants

These carry the *shape* of each rule. The concrete policy, which models are
in, which are out, where the floor sits: belongs to the operator's
always-injected rules file, not to this skill; a plugin that hard-codes one
operator's fleet ships a policy its adopters never chose.

- **Orchestration stays home.** Decomposing, dispatching, and judging a set
  of work always run on the session's own model, or on whatever the operator's
  rules file specifies, never on a weaker-model subagent.
- **Standing escalation permission.** When output misses the bar, rerun or
  redo on a smarter tier without asking. Judge the output, not the price
  tag: escalating costs less than shipping mediocre work.
- **Cost and speed are tie-breakers only.** When axes conflict for anything
  that ships, intelligence > taste > cost > speed. Neither of the last two
  buys a drop on the first two.
- Repo-local model policies override this table where they conflict.

## Reading a currently calibrated table

The examples below apply only after the named models and grades have been
verified for the current fleet; the legacy rows above do not establish that.

- Routine, well-specified work → the cheap end: luna only for truly
  mechanical bulk, sol for routine work that still needs judgment.
- Judgment-heavy, taste-critical, or silent-failure work → the frontier:
  fable-5, or opus-5 as the lower-burn lane. Putting high-tier judgment at
  the plan while a cheaper tier implements is often the better spend.
- A shipping taste surface needs taste ≥ 7: luna is not a taste route.
- Speed breaks ties, never quality. When two rows are level on the axis the
  work actually loads, take the faster one. It does not buy a drop on
  intelligence, taste, or code.

## CI monitoring exception

Every CI watch uses a separate **Opus (`opus`) agent on Claude** or
**`gpt-5.6-sol` agent on Codex**. Never use Astra or Fable to watch CI. Select the
model explicitly; do not inherit a more capable parent. Parents already using
Opus/Sol still delegate to a separate designated agent. Missing dispatch is a
reported monitoring gap, not permission for parent polling or a prohibited
fallback. Haiku and Sonnet remain prohibited. See `fix-ci` for the workflow.