AnthropicClaude API

Prompt cache reads on Claude Fable 5.1 and Claude Mythos 5.1 cost $0.25 USD per million tokens: 0.025x the…

Tuesday, 1 September 2026

AI summary

Written by AI from the official notes. Check them for exact details.

Claude Fable 5.1 and Claude Mythos 5.1 introduce lower prompt cache read costs and several new features.

Prompt cache reads cost $0.25 per million tokens, lower than other models.
Tool choice types 'any' and 'tool' return a 400 error.
Thinking blocks are preserved only for the model that produced them.
Per-message effort changes are in beta for better control.
Turn-scoped system messages in beta reduce token costs.

Why it matters: Users of Claude Fable 5.1 and Claude Mythos 5.1 should be aware of cost savings and new functionality.

Official notes on platform.claude.com

Full release notes9 changes

Prompt cache reads on Claude Fable 5.1 and Claude Mythos 5.1 cost $0.25 USD per million tokens: 0.025x the base input price, compared with 0.1x on other models. Cache writes are unchanged. See Prompt caching pricing.
On Claude Fable 5.1 and Claude Mythos 5.1, tool_choice types any and tool aren't supported and return a 400 error. auto and none are unchanged. To guarantee schema-conformant tool inputs, use strict tool use or structured outputs.
Thinking blocks produced by Claude Fable 5.1 and Claude Mythos 5.1 are preserved only for the model that produced them or a newer one: earlier models can't read them, and the API drops one replayed to an earlier model. Claude Fable 5.1 accepts thinking blocks from Claude Opus 5, Claude Fable 5, Claude Mythos 5, and earlier Claude models. On Claude Fable 5.1, the API also checks that nothing before a block has changed: for new accounts created on or after August 31, 2026, replaying one after the system prompt, tools, or an earlier message changed returns a 400 error. With the thinking-binding-controls-2026-08-01 beta header, dropped blocks are reported in an input_transformations response field, and thinking.block_binding.prefix_mismatch_behavior chooses between rejecting and dropping blocks whose history changed. See Preserved thinking.
Per-message effort changes are in beta on Claude Fable 5.1, Claude Mythos 5.1, and Claude Opus 5 on the Claude API. Add a role: "system" message with output_config.effort inside messages to change effort for later turns while preserving the prompt cache. Include the mid-conversation-output-config-2026-07-01 beta header in your requests. See Per-message effort.
Turn-scoped system messages are in beta (mid-conversation-system-clear-at-2026-08-21 header). Set clear_at: "next_user_message" on a mid-conversation role: "system" message and it renders for the current turn only, then stays in the history at no token cost. Per-turn reminders don't accumulate and don't invalidate the prompt cache or later thinking blocks.
thinking.display accepts a third value, "updates", in beta (thinking-display-updates-2026-08-18 header). Reasoning comes back with an empty thinking field, as under "omitted", and the short progress updates that Claude Fable 5.1, Claude Mythos 5.1, and Claude Fable 5 write between tool calls come back as text, at most one thinking block before a tool call. See Progress updates between tool calls.
Text generated by Claude Fable 5.1 and Claude Mythos 5.1 carries Anthropic's text watermark, and supported image, video, and audio files that Claude produces through the code execution tool carry C2PA Content Credentials when you retrieve them through the Files API on the Claude API. Marking requires no changes to your requests or response handling.
Like Claude Fable 5, both models require 30-day data retention and aren't available under zero data retention unless expressly authorized by Anthropic. See Model-specific data retention requirements.
The guides for the Claude Enterprise endpoints of the Admin API (user management and spend limits), the Claude Enterprise Analytics API, and the Compliance API now show the anthropic-version header; send it on every request to these endpoints, as in the rest of the Claude API. See API versions.

Full release notes9 changes

Prompt cache reads on Claude Fable 5.1 and Claude Mythos 5.1 cost $0.25 USD per million tokens: 0.025x the base input price, compared with 0.1x on other models. Cache writes are unchanged. See Prompt caching pricing.
On Claude Fable 5.1 and Claude Mythos 5.1, tool_choice types any and tool aren't supported and return a 400 error. auto and none are unchanged. To guarantee schema-conformant tool inputs, use strict tool use or structured outputs.
Thinking blocks produced by Claude Fable 5.1 and Claude Mythos 5.1 are preserved only for the model that produced them or a newer one: earlier models can't read them, and the API drops one replayed to an earlier model. Claude Fable 5.1 accepts thinking blocks from Claude Opus 5, Claude Fable 5, Claude Mythos 5, and earlier Claude models. On Claude Fable 5.1, the API also checks that nothing before a block has changed: for new accounts created on or after August 31, 2026, replaying one after the system prompt, tools, or an earlier message changed returns a 400 error. With the thinking-binding-controls-2026-08-01 beta header, dropped blocks are reported in an input_transformations response field, and thinking.block_binding.prefix_mismatch_behavior chooses between rejecting and dropping blocks whose history changed. See Preserved thinking.
Per-message effort changes are in beta on Claude Fable 5.1, Claude Mythos 5.1, and Claude Opus 5 on the Claude API. Add a role: "system" message with output_config.effort inside messages to change effort for later turns while preserving the prompt cache. Include the mid-conversation-output-config-2026-07-01 beta header in your requests. See Per-message effort.
Turn-scoped system messages are in beta (mid-conversation-system-clear-at-2026-08-21 header). Set clear_at: "next_user_message" on a mid-conversation role: "system" message and it renders for the current turn only, then stays in the history at no token cost. Per-turn reminders don't accumulate and don't invalidate the prompt cache or later thinking blocks.
thinking.display accepts a third value, "updates", in beta (thinking-display-updates-2026-08-18 header). Reasoning comes back with an empty thinking field, as under "omitted", and the short progress updates that Claude Fable 5.1, Claude Mythos 5.1, and Claude Fable 5 write between tool calls come back as text, at most one thinking block before a tool call. See Progress updates between tool calls.
Text generated by Claude Fable 5.1 and Claude Mythos 5.1 carries Anthropic's text watermark, and supported image, video, and audio files that Claude produces through the code execution tool carry C2PA Content Credentials when you retrieve them through the Files API on the Claude API. Marking requires no changes to your requests or response handling.
Like Claude Fable 5, both models require 30-day data retention and aren't available under zero data retention unless expressly authorized by Anthropic. See Model-specific data retention requirements.
The guides for the Claude Enterprise endpoints of the Admin API (user management and spend limits), the Claude Enterprise Analytics API, and the Compliance API now show the anthropic-version header; send it on every request to these endpoints, as in the rest of the Claude API. See API versions.