The text in Claude Code's "Extended Thinking" output is not authentic

patrickmccanna.net · 3 months ago · 21

Claude's "Extended Thinking" feature encrypts the model's actual reasoning into signatures stored on Anthropic's servers, not the user's machine, while users only receive a summary of that reasoning. Access to the full reasoning text requires an enterprise agreement, and the API summary differs from the actual thinking that drove the model's behavior. Users cannot obtain an authentic record of the reasoning logic used by Claude agents from local files, making audit trails impossible without special licensing.