The questions everyone's asking

Is Fable 5 back after the suspension?

Yes. Suspended worldwide June 12, 2026 under a US export-control directive; the controls were lifted June 30 and Anthropic restored Fable 5 globally on July 1 — API, claude.ai, Claude Code, Claude Cowork, with AWS, Google Cloud, and Microsoft Foundry re-enabling in progress.

Is Claude Fable 5 free?

Since the July 1 return: on claude.ai paid plans (Pro, Max, Team, select Enterprise) it's included at 50% of weekly usage limits through July 7, 2026. After July 7 it takes usage credits. The API is never free — $10/$50 per million tokens. There is no free public API tier.

What happens after July 7?

Subscription use moves behind usage credits on July 8. The make-good window is shorter and shallower than the original free-through-June-22 offer, and some subscribers aren't shy about saying so. API access never changes.

How much does it cost?

$10 per million input tokens, $50 per million output — twice Opus 4.8. It's also more token-efficient (Notation Capital measured a third of the reasoning tokens on physics work), so judge by completed-task cost. Caching cuts repeat input to ~10%.

How do I get access?

Three doors: the API (claude-fable-5), Claude Code (it's the engine), or claude.ai paid plans during the window. AWS, Google Cloud, and Microsoft Foundry are re-enabling access after the July 1 restoration. Walkthroughs in Start.

What's the exact model ID?

claude-fable-5 — no date suffix exists. Bedrock prefixes it: anthropic.claude-fable-5.

What is Mythos 5?

The same model with safeguards lifted in narrow domains, restricted to vetted partners. Fable is "a Mythos-class model made safe for general use." Full story: Mythos, explained.

Context window? Output limit?

1M tokens in, up to 128K out (stream anything large). No long-context premium.

Is it better than Opus 4.8?

On the hardest work, clearly — 91/100 on Every's senior-engineer exam vs Opus's 63. For daily work, Opus at half price is often the right call. The routing table: Fable vs Opus 4.8.

Why is my old code 400ing?

Sampling params, thinking budgets, and prefills are gone; explicit thinking: disabled is Fable-specific 400 — omit the field. The full list with fixes: gotchas.json / Recipe 01.

Does it refuse things?

Three classifiers (cyber, bio/chem, distillation) fall back to Opus 4.8 when tripped. Anthropic reports they trigger on under 5% of sessions; independent testing has suggested ~8–9%. Separately — and controversially — frontier-AI-development tasks can be quietly limited without notice.

Moral: most questions about a new model are really one question — "is it worth my time yet?" For hard work: yes, and through July 7 the return window makes finding out cheap.