Model tiers

Every task runs on one model tier, chosen at start with version and fixed for the life of the task.

`version`	Tier	Character
`ranger`	Ranger	Most capable model, deepest reasoning. The default when `version` is omitted.
`scout`	Scout	Fast responses on a tuned harness.
`wren`	Wren	Cheapest tier, about a fifth of Scout’s cost per task, for well-specified enrichment and research. Admin plans only.

curl -sS -X POST "https://api.autumn.ai/task" \
  -H "X-API-Key: $AUTUMN_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "prompt": "Find 20 AI infrastructure startups hiring founding engineers.",
    "version": "scout",
    "clarify": false
  }'

Choosing a tier

Reach for scout on bounded, well-specified work where latency matters more than depth, wren when cost matters most and the brief already names the columns and constraints, and stay on ranger for open-ended research. wren is currently limited to admin plans. On any other plan it is rejected with 403 and {"error": "forbidden"}, so treat scout as the cheapest generally available tier.

Signal	Tier
The columns and the source are already known	`scout` or `wren`
A fixed list of inputs to enrich	`wren`
Latency matters more than depth	`scout`
Cost matters more than the last few points of coverage	`wren`
The task has to decide where to look	`ranger`
Facts need cross-checking across sources	`ranger`
The request is open-ended or ambiguous	`ranger`

A well-specified prompt is what makes scout and wren viable; see Writing task prompts.

The tier is fixed at start

version only applies to the start routes. /task/{task_id}/continue and /task/{task_id}/execute stay on the tier the task started with. Read the tier back from GET /task/{task_id} as tier. ranger, scout and wren are the only accepted values; anything else is rejected with 403 and {"error": "forbidden"}. wren returns the same 403 on a non-admin plan, with the message tier 'wren' requires an admin plan.

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Choosing a tier

The tier is fixed at start

​Choosing a tier

​The tier is fixed at start

Choosing a tier

The tier is fixed at start