# Claude Central

> Start with Claude Opus 5. Use Claude Fable 5.1 for demanding long-horizon work, Claude Sonnet 5 for speed and intelligence, and Claude Haiku 4.5 for fastest and cheapest. Those four are generally available as of September 2026.

Claude Central is an independent guide to the Claude ecosystem. It is not affiliated with Anthropic. Use it as a structured map, then verify volatile facts on the linked official sources. Last checked September 19, 2026.

## Signature

- [The Switchboard](https://claudecentral.com/switchboard/): which of Fable 5.1 / Opus 5 / Sonnet 5 / Haiku 4.5. Four jacks light API ID, price, context, and the sibling to read next. Official guidance: start with Opus 5.

## Current State (September 19, 2026)

- Generally available models: Claude Fable 5.1 (`claude-fable-5-1`, $10/$50 per MTok), Claude Opus 5 (`claude-opus-5`, $5/$25), Claude Sonnet 5 (`claude-sonnet-5`, $2/$10), Claude Haiku 4.5 (`claude-haiku-4-5`, $1/$5).
- Official guidance: start with Claude Opus 5; use Claude Fable 5.1 for demanding reasoning and long-horizon agentic work.
- Fable 5.1 launched September 1, 2026 and is the most capable generally available model. Mythos 5.1 is trusted access only.
- Sonnet 5's $2/$10 introductory rate became the standard rate. It did not rise to $3/$15 on September 1, 2026.
- Fable 5.1 and Mythos 5.1 price cache reads at $0.25 per MTok (2.5% of base input); other models are at 10%.

## Core Pages

- [The Switchboard](https://claudecentral.com/switchboard/): which Claude model as of September 2026. Four jacks — Fable 5.1, Opus 5, Sonnet 5, Haiku 4.5 — lighting API ID, price, context, and the sibling to read next. Official guidance: start with Opus 5.
- [What Is Claude?](https://claudecentral.com/what-is-claude): orientation to Claude as models, app surfaces, Claude Code, and API.
- [Claude Models Explained](https://claudecentral.com/models): Fable 5.1, Opus 5, Sonnet 5, Haiku 4.5, Mythos 5.1 trusted access, API IDs, prices, context limits, and the start-with-Opus-5 default.
- [Claude Plans And Pricing](https://claudecentral.com/plans-pricing): Free, Pro, Max, Team, Enterprise, API token pricing, Claude for Teachers, and the researcher seat program.
- [Claude Apps And Product Surfaces](https://claudecentral.com/claude-apps): Chrome GA, memory everywhere, projects, artifacts, connectors, Cowork, Design, Teachers, @Claude, Science, and Security.
- [Claude Code Guide](https://claudecentral.com/claude-code): coding agent surfaces, Fable 5.1 High effort default, install and docs paths, automation, Agent SDK, and safe usage patterns.
- [Claude API Guide](https://claudecentral.com/api): Messages API, model IDs, 1M context, mid-conversation tool changes, automatic fallbacks, MCP, citations, files, batches, caching, and effort.
- [How To Prompt Claude](https://claudecentral.com/prompting): success criteria, evals, structure, examples, and self-checking.
- [Claude Privacy, Security, And Data Controls](https://claudecentral.com/privacy-security): Enterprise Frontier Safeguards and the ZDR bridge, text watermarking, retention, incognito, memory defaults, and ZDR caveats.
- [Latest Claude Releases](https://claudecentral.com/releases): dated timeline from July 14 to September 17, 2026, plus the verification path.
- [Official Claude Resources And Glossary](https://claudecentral.com/resources): primary-source library and glossary.

## Free Tools

- [Claude Central Tools](https://claudecentral.com/tools): index of all free client-side tools.
- [Claude Network Directory](https://claudecentral.com/tools/network-directory): filterable directory of all 19 Claude Network sites, their lanes, flagship tools, and live Pages links.
- [Claude Start-Here Pathfinder](https://claudecentral.com/tools/pathfinder): four-question browser-only router that recommends a personalized path through the Claude Network.
- [Claude Ecosystem Glossary](https://claudecentral.com/tools/glossary): searchable glossary of Claude and Claude Code terms with deep links to the network site that owns each topic.

## Source Policy

Claude Central prioritizes primary sources: Anthropic News, Claude product pages, Claude Platform Docs, Claude Code Docs, Claude Help Center, the app release notes, status.claude.com, and the Anthropic Trust Center. For current pricing, model availability, beta headers, retention, and security controls, verify the official page directly before acting.

Weekly Claude and Anthropic news is covered by the sibling site https://claudeweekly.com rather than duplicated here.

Optional: [Full LLM context](https://claudecentral.com/llms-full.txt)