Model-strength task router
Source workflow
Use the source's three axes
Rank available routes by cost, intelligence, and taste. Intelligence means how hard a problem the model can take unsupervised. Taste covers UI/UX, code quality, API design, and copy. Theo's reported table is:
| Model | Cost | Intelligence | Taste |
|---|---|---|---|
| gpt-5.5 | 9 | 8 | 5 |
| sonnet-5 | 5 | 5 | 7 |
| opus-4.8 | 4 | 7 | 8 |
| fable-5 | 2 | 9 | 9 |
These are Theo's defaults and reflected what he actually paid, not list price.
Apply the routing defaults
- For bulk or mechanical work, clear-spec implementation, data analysis, and migrations, use gpt-5.5.
- Anything user-facing, including UI, copy, and API design, needs taste of at least 7.
- Review plans and implementations with fable-5 or opus-4.8, optionally adding gpt-5.5 as an independent perspective.
- Never use Haiku under this source policy.
When axes conflict for work that ships, use intelligence before taste before cost. Cost is only the tie-breaker.
Judge and escalate the output
Treat the rankings as defaults, not limits. If a cheaper model's output misses the bar, rerun or redo it with a smarter model without asking. Judge the output, not the price tag.
Use the source's Codex mechanics
Reach gpt-5.5 through the Codex CLI. Use `codex exec` for implementation and `codex review` for reviews, with Theo's `codex-implementation`, `codex-review`, and `codex-computer-use` skills where available. For uncovered investigation or data analysis, run `codex exec -s read-only` with a self-contained prompt.
Claude models run through the Agent or Workflow model parameter. The source begins a thin low-effort Sonnet wrapper that writes a self-contained Codex prompt, invokes `codex exec` through Bash, and returns the result, but the visible instruction is truncated. Do not invent the missing wrapper steps.
XSkills operational adaptations
Preflight the named models, Codex CLI commands, named skills, Agent/Workflow model selection, and source-era defaults. When a model or command is unavailable, ask the operator for the current equivalent and record the substitution. When the thin-wrapper instruction is required, obtain its missing text or use a direct, operator-approved Codex invocation; do not claim the wrapper was reproduced from the cropped source.
XSkills safety adaptations
Routing does not expand authority. Preserve the user's existing permission boundaries for writes, network access, private data, credentials, sends, publishing, spending, destructive work, and computer use. Require explicit approval when the chosen route would cross one of those boundaries.
Return
Return the source-era route selected, any current substitution, the exact self-contained handoff, observed result, whether it cleared the bar, and any escalation.
Source attribution
Independently compiled by XSkills from Theo's post and attached CLAUDE.md policy for choosing models in workflows and subagents. Theo did not author or review this skill. Capability and substitution handling, cropped-wrapper fallback, and explicit permission boundaries are XSkills adaptations. Attribution does not imply endorsement.