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## Picking models for flow-next workflows and subagents

_Scaffolded by `/flow-next:setup` — edit freely; re-run setup to regenerate. These scores are starting opinions: re-rank them to what you actually pay for and prefer. This section is yours now._

Rankings, higher = better. Cost reflects what you actually pay (existing subscriptions), not list price; intelligence = how hard a problem you can hand it unsupervised; taste = UI/UX, code quality, API design, copy.

| model        | cost | intelligence | taste |
|--------------|------|--------------|-------|
| fable-5      | 2    | 10           | 9     |
| opus-4.8     | 4    | 7            | 8     |
| gpt-5.5      | 9    | 8            | 5     |
| composer-2.5 | 9    | 6            | 6     |
| sonnet-5     | 5    | 7            | 7     |
| haiku-4.5    | 8    | 4            | 4     |

How to apply — defaults, not limits. Unless prompted otherwise, route work across these models as you judge best — no permission needed; an explicit user instruction always overrides this table. Standing permission to escalate: if a cheaper model misses the bar, rerun on a smarter one without asking. Judge the output, not the price tag.
- For anything that ships, intelligence > taste > cost; cost is a tie-breaker only.
- Orchestration, planning, review verdicts, anything ambiguous → the session model (whichever row you are running as the conductor). Never delegate judgment.
- Anything user-facing (UI, copy, API design) needs taste ≥ 7 → keep on the session model even if it looks mechanical.
- Reviews prefer a different family than the writer — uncorrelated blind spots.
- Graceful degrade: a routed CLI that is missing, unauthenticated, or errors → report it unavailable and fall back to the session model. Never block.

flow-next wiring — roles with a MENU, not fixed pairings: pick per task. Claude tiers run natively (spawn subagents with the model parameter); other families ride the headless bridges — recipes in `.flow/usage.md` § Orchestration & model steering. Probe-marked lines are live only if their CLI is installed:
- Implementation, native: a worker/subagent on opus-4.8 (quality) or sonnet-5 (speed) via the model parameter.
<!-- probe:codex --> Implementation via gpt-5.5: `/flow-next:work <id> delegate:codex` (packaged — consent-gated, host keeps git/review) or a direct `codex exec` bridge.
<!-- probe:cursor --> Implementation via composer-2.5: the `cursor-agent` bridge (`--force` to apply); host reviews + commits.
<!-- probe:codex --> Review, cross-family: `review.backend codex`; per-task `review:` pins exceptions; escalate reviewer↔worker disagreements to the session model.
<!-- probe:cursor --> Review, cross-family: `review.backend cursor:composer-2.5`.
- Review, same-family heavy: a fresh-context reviewer subagent on opus-4.8 (or the session model) with the review criteria — no registry rung needed; describe the arrangement.
<!-- probe:cursor --> Bulk, low-judgment reads (codebase sweeps): scouts may shell out to `cursor-agent`; only the digest returns.
- Bulk reads, native: haiku-4.5 / sonnet-5 subagents for scans and digests.
<!-- probe:codex --> Reach gpt-5.5 inside a subagent (thin-wrapper): a cheap wrapper writes a self-contained prompt, runs `codex exec` over Bash, returns the digest.
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