Image: Claude Code / youtube.com Claude Code 2.1.197 Makes Sonnet 5 the Default Model, With a 1M-Token Window and Promotional Pricing Through August
The latest Claude Code release switches the default model to Sonnet 5, which ships a native one-million-token context window. Promotional API pricing of $2/$10 per million tokens runs through August 31.
Claude Code 2.1.197 shipped June 30, roughly 18 hours after 2.1.196. The release does one thing: it makes Claude Sonnet 5 the default model across every Claude Code plan.
What Changed
The sonnet alias now resolves to Sonnet 5. If you’re on Pro, Team Standard, or a per-seat Enterprise plan and haven’t manually set a model preference, you’re on Sonnet 5 starting with this version.
Sonnet 5 ships with a native one-million-token context window. That’s relevant for large codebases and long multi-file refactors where previous context limits required careful management or external summarization.
Anthropic set promotional API pricing at $2 per million input tokens and $10 per million output tokens through August 31. After that date, pricing reverts to standard Sonnet rates.
Why Sonnet 5
The previous default was Sonnet 4.6. Sonnet 5 closes a lot of the gap with Opus 4.8 on coding tasks while staying at clearly lower pricing. Anthropic’s own Terminal-Bench results put Claude Code combined with Fable 5 at 83.1%, though Sonnet 5 is the model most Claude Code subscribers will actually run day to day.
The main reason to care about the model switch isn’t the benchmark numbers. It’s the context window. One million tokens means a 40,000-line codebase fits comfortably without hitting limits. For teams running Claude Code against large monorepos or long agent sessions, that removes a practical bottleneck.
Updating
Run npm install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code@latest or claude update to get 2.1.197. If you prefer to stay on 4.6 for now, claude /model lets you override at the session level.
The 2.1.196 release from the previous day added org-level default model configuration, readable session names, and a 25% token reduction for /code-review. That update is also included if you’re coming from an older version.