Term
Claude Opus 4.8
Claude Opus 4.8 is the flagship model of Anthropics Opus line, released in May 2026. It targets agentic coding, complex reasoning and computer use, and is described as an incremental but measurable improvement over Opus 4.7.
Claude Opus 4.8 — explained in detail
Claude Opus 4.8 is the most capable model in Anthropics Opus line and was released on 28 May 2026. Within the Claude family, Opus sits above the smaller Haiku and Sonnet models and is built for especially demanding tasks. Anthropic describes the version as an incremental yet tangible improvement over Opus 4.7 — without a change in its pricing tier.
Key data according to the provider: a context window of up to 1,000,000 tokens, a maximum output length of 128,000 tokens and a knowledge cutoff of January 2026. Access is proprietary and runs through the Anthropic API as well as the Claude products. Standard pricing is 5 US dollars per million input tokens and 25 US dollars per million output tokens; a faster fast mode offers higher throughput at a higher price.
The focus of the improvements lies in agentic coding, multidisciplinary reasoning, agentic computer use and knowledge work. A further highlight is greater reliability: the model is said to be around four times less likely than its predecessor to let its own code flaws pass unremarked.
Example / practical relevance
In practice, Opus 4.8 is used where multi-step, autonomous workflows are required — for instance as a coding agent that analyses, edits and tests a codebase across many steps, or for evaluating large document collections thanks to its million-token context. It also achieves strong benchmark scores when operating browser and computer interfaces (computer use).
Distinction
Opus is the top line for maximum capability; Sonnet and Haiku are smaller, faster and cheaper models for broader or latency-sensitive applications. The version number 4.8 distinguishes the model from its predecessor 4.7 and from future model generations. Unlike freely available open-weight models, Opus 4.8 is accessible only through commercial interfaces.