diff --git a/src/cliproxy/catalog-cache.ts b/src/cliproxy/catalog-cache.ts
index 10436887..998c86c3 100644
--- a/src/cliproxy/catalog-cache.ts
+++ b/src/cliproxy/catalog-cache.ts
@@ -264,9 +264,17 @@ export function mergeCatalog(
     mergedIds.add(remote.id.toLowerCase());
 
     if (staticEntry) {
+      const mergedThinking = remoteEntry.thinking
+        ? {
+            ...remoteEntry.thinking,
+            maxLevel: remoteEntry.thinking.maxLevel ?? staticEntry.thinking?.maxLevel,
+          }
+        : staticEntry.thinking;
+
       // Merge: remote overrides, static fills gaps
       mergedModels.push({
         ...remoteEntry,
+        thinking: mergedThinking,
         // Preserve static-only fields
         tier: staticEntry.tier,
         broken: staticEntry.broken,
diff --git a/src/cliproxy/config/thinking-config.ts b/src/cliproxy/config/thinking-config.ts
index d9f2b39f..ef98234e 100644
--- a/src/cliproxy/config/thinking-config.ts
+++ b/src/cliproxy/config/thinking-config.ts
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ import type { CLIProxyProvider } from '../types';
 import { DEFAULT_THINKING_TIER_DEFAULTS } from '../../config/unified-config-types';
 import type { ThinkingConfig } from '../../config/unified-config-types';
 import { getThinkingConfig } from '../../config/unified-config-loader';
-import { supportsThinking } from '../model-catalog';
+import { getModelThinkingSupport, supportsThinking } from '../model-catalog';
 import { isThinkingOffValue, validateThinking } from '../thinking-validator';
 import { normalizeModelIdForProvider } from '../model-id-normalizer';
 import { warn } from '../../utils/ui';
@@ -86,7 +86,8 @@ function applyThinkingSuffixForProvider(
   const parenthesizedSuffixMatch = model.match(/\(([^)]+)\)$/);
 
   // Existing parenthesized suffix:
-  // - keep as-is for non-codex providers
+  // - keep as-is for non-codex providers unless the target model now expects
+  //   named levels and we need to rewrite an old numeric suffix
   // - for codex effort levels, normalize to codex model suffix style
   if (parenthesizedSuffixMatch) {
     if (provider === 'codex') {
@@ -95,6 +96,15 @@ function applyThinkingSuffixForProvider(
         return model.replace(/\([^)]+\)$/, `-${normalizedParensValue}`);
       }
     }
+
+    if (provider) {
+      const normalizedBaseModel = normalizeModelForThinkingLookup(model, provider);
+      const thinking = getModelThinkingSupport(provider, normalizedBaseModel);
+      if (thinking?.type === 'levels') {
+        return model.replace(/\([^)]+\)$/, `(${thinkingValue})`);
+      }
+    }
+
     return model;
   }
 
diff --git a/src/cursor/cursor-anthropic-translator.ts b/src/cursor/cursor-anthropic-translator.ts
index 6dbe7d92..416b4246 100644
--- a/src/cursor/cursor-anthropic-translator.ts
+++ b/src/cursor/cursor-anthropic-translator.ts
@@ -68,17 +68,30 @@ function toToolResultContent(content: unknown, label: string): string {
   return safeJsonStringify(content, TOOL_RESULT_SERIALIZATION_FALLBACK);
 }
 
-function mapThinkingToReasoningEffort(
-  thinking: CursorAnthropicRequest['thinking']
-): string | undefined {
+function mapAdaptiveEffortToCursorReasoningEffort(effort: string | undefined): string {
+  const normalized = effort?.trim().toLowerCase();
+  if (!normalized || normalized === 'auto') {
+    return 'high';
+  }
+  if (normalized === 'minimal' || normalized === 'low' || normalized === 'medium') {
+    return 'medium';
+  }
+  return 'high';
+}
+
+function mapThinkingToReasoningEffort(request: CursorAnthropicRequest): string | undefined {
+  const thinking = request.thinking;
   if (!thinking) {
     return undefined;
   }
   if (thinking.type === 'disabled') {
     return undefined;
   }
+  if (thinking.type === 'adaptive') {
+    return mapAdaptiveEffortToCursorReasoningEffort(request.output_config?.effort);
+  }
   if (thinking.type !== 'enabled') {
-    throw new Error('thinking.type must be "enabled" or "disabled"');
+    throw new Error('thinking.type must be "enabled", "adaptive", or "disabled"');
   }
   return typeof thinking.budget_tokens === 'number' && thinking.budget_tokens >= 8192
     ? 'high'
@@ -209,7 +222,7 @@ export function translateAnthropicRequest(raw: unknown): TranslatedAnthropicRequ
         ? request.model
         : undefined,
     stream: request.stream === true,
-    reasoning_effort: mapThinkingToReasoningEffort(request.thinking),
+    reasoning_effort: mapThinkingToReasoningEffort(request),
     tools: Array.isArray(request.tools) ? request.tools : undefined,
     messages: translatedMessages,
   };
diff --git a/src/cursor/cursor-anthropic-types.ts b/src/cursor/cursor-anthropic-types.ts
index 336fb75f..9374de5b 100644
--- a/src/cursor/cursor-anthropic-types.ts
+++ b/src/cursor/cursor-anthropic-types.ts
@@ -41,6 +41,9 @@ export interface CursorAnthropicRequest {
   system?: string | AnthropicTextBlock[];
   stream?: boolean;
   tools?: CursorTool[];
+  output_config?: {
+    effort?: string;
+  };
   thinking?: {
     type?: string;
     budget_tokens?: number;
diff --git a/src/proxy/transformers/request-transformer.ts b/src/proxy/transformers/request-transformer.ts
index a8ccb98c..58e7969e 100644
--- a/src/proxy/transformers/request-transformer.ts
+++ b/src/proxy/transformers/request-transformer.ts
@@ -396,7 +396,7 @@ function mapThinkingToReasoning(
   };
 }
 
-const VALID_EFFORT_LEVELS = new Set(['low', 'medium', 'high', 'max']);
+const VALID_EFFORT_LEVELS = new Set(['low', 'medium', 'high', 'xhigh', 'max']);
 
 function resolveOutputConfigEffort(
   outputConfig: AnthropicOutputConfig | undefined
@@ -416,7 +416,7 @@ function resolveOutputConfigEffort(
  * for Codex; for generic OpenAI-compat providers we clamp to high.
  */
 function toOpenAIEffort(effort: string): string {
-  return effort === 'max' ? 'high' : effort;
+  return effort === 'max' || effort === 'xhigh' ? 'high' : effort;
 }
 
 function transformMessages(messagesValue: unknown): OpenAIMessage[] {
diff --git a/src/targets/droid-config-manager.ts b/src/targets/droid-config-manager.ts
index 29a3943e..29f3c92d 100644
--- a/src/targets/droid-config-manager.ts
+++ b/src/targets/droid-config-manager.ts
@@ -9,6 +9,9 @@ import * as fs from 'fs';
 import * as path from 'path';
 import * as os from 'os';
 import * as lockfile from 'proper-lockfile';
+import { getModelThinkingSupport } from '../cliproxy/model-catalog';
+import { validateThinking } from '../cliproxy/thinking-validator';
+import { stripModelConfigurationSuffixes } from '../shared/extended-context-utils';
 
 const CCS_MODEL_PREFIX = 'ccs-';
 const CCS_DISPLAY_PREFIX = 'CCS ';
@@ -144,6 +147,24 @@ function toAnthropicBudget(value: string | number): number {
   return DROID_ANTHROPIC_BUDGET_BY_EFFORT[normalized] ?? DROID_ANTHROPIC_BUDGET_BY_EFFORT.high;
 }
 
+function resolveAnthropicModelId(model: string): string {
+  return stripModelConfigurationSuffixes(model);
+}
+
+function usesAnthropicAdaptiveThinking(model: string): boolean {
+  return getModelThinkingSupport('claude', resolveAnthropicModelId(model))?.type === 'levels';
+}
+
+function toAnthropicAdaptiveEffort(model: string, value: string | number): string | undefined {
+  const validation = validateThinking('claude', resolveAnthropicModelId(model), value);
+  if (isReasoningOffValue(validation.value)) {
+    return undefined;
+  }
+
+  const normalized = String(validation.value).trim().toLowerCase();
+  return normalized === 'auto' ? undefined : normalized;
+}
+
 function toReasoningEffort(value: string | number): string {
   if (typeof value === 'number') {
     if (value <= 4000) return 'low';
@@ -181,12 +202,35 @@ function applyReasoningOverride(
 
     if (isReasoningOffValue(reasoningOverride)) {
       delete extraArgs.thinking;
+      delete extraArgs.output_config;
+    } else if (usesAnthropicAdaptiveThinking(entry.model)) {
+      const thinking = isObject(extraArgs.thinking) ? { ...extraArgs.thinking } : {};
+      const outputConfig = isObject(extraArgs.output_config) ? { ...extraArgs.output_config } : {};
+      const effort = toAnthropicAdaptiveEffort(entry.model, reasoningOverride);
+
+      thinking.type = 'adaptive';
+      delete thinking.budget_tokens;
+      delete thinking.budgetTokens;
+
+      if (effort) {
+        outputConfig.effort = effort;
+      } else {
+        delete outputConfig.effort;
+      }
+
+      extraArgs.thinking = thinking;
+      if (Object.keys(outputConfig).length > 0) {
+        extraArgs.output_config = outputConfig;
+      } else {
+        delete extraArgs.output_config;
+      }
     } else {
       const thinking = isObject(extraArgs.thinking) ? { ...extraArgs.thinking } : {};
       thinking.type = 'enabled';
       thinking.budget_tokens = toAnthropicBudget(reasoningOverride);
       delete thinking.budgetTokens;
       extraArgs.thinking = thinking;
+      delete extraArgs.output_config;
     }
   } else if (provider === 'openai') {
     delete extraArgs.reasoning_effort;
diff --git a/tests/unit/cliproxy/composite-thinking.test.ts b/tests/unit/cliproxy/composite-thinking.test.ts
index 6fb3758b..6a9de3fd 100644
--- a/tests/unit/cliproxy/composite-thinking.test.ts
+++ b/tests/unit/cliproxy/composite-thinking.test.ts
@@ -538,6 +538,20 @@ describe('applyThinkingConfig - composite variant integration', () => {
     expect(result.ANTHROPIC_DEFAULT_OPUS_MODEL).toBe('claude-opus-4-6-thinking(32768)');
   });
 
+  it('rewrites legacy budget suffixes for claude level-based models', () => {
+    const envVars: NodeJS.ProcessEnv = {
+      ANTHROPIC_MODEL: 'claude-opus-4-7(32768)',
+      ANTHROPIC_DEFAULT_OPUS_MODEL: 'claude-opus-4-7(32768)',
+      ANTHROPIC_DEFAULT_SONNET_MODEL: 'claude-sonnet-4-6',
+      ANTHROPIC_DEFAULT_HAIKU_MODEL: 'claude-haiku-4-5-20251001',
+    };
+
+    const result = applyThinkingConfig(envVars, 'claude' as CLIProxyProvider, 'max');
+
+    expect(result.ANTHROPIC_MODEL).toBe('claude-opus-4-7(max)');
+    expect(result.ANTHROPIC_DEFAULT_OPUS_MODEL).toBe('claude-opus-4-7(max)');
+  });
+
   it('should use codex effort suffix style when provider is codex', () => {
     const envVars: NodeJS.ProcessEnv = {
       ANTHROPIC_MODEL: 'gpt-5.3-codex',
diff --git a/tests/unit/cliproxy/model-catalog-compat.test.ts b/tests/unit/cliproxy/model-catalog-compat.test.ts
index b6fc21cc..0590a44b 100644
--- a/tests/unit/cliproxy/model-catalog-compat.test.ts
+++ b/tests/unit/cliproxy/model-catalog-compat.test.ts
@@ -58,4 +58,24 @@ describe('model-catalog compatibility lookups', () => {
 
     expect(catalog?.models.map((model) => model.id)).toEqual(['gemini-2.5-pro']);
   });
+
+  it('preserves static maxLevel when live thinking metadata omits it', () => {
+    const catalog = mergeCatalog('claude', [
+      {
+        id: 'claude-opus-4-7',
+        display_name: 'Claude Opus 4.7',
+        thinking: {
+          levels: ['low', 'medium', 'high', 'xhigh', 'max'],
+          dynamic_allowed: true,
+        },
+      },
+    ]);
+
+    expect(catalog?.models[0]?.thinking).toMatchObject({
+      type: 'levels',
+      levels: ['low', 'medium', 'high', 'xhigh', 'max'],
+      maxLevel: 'max',
+      dynamicAllowed: true,
+    });
+  });
 });
diff --git a/tests/unit/cursor/cursor-anthropic-translator.test.ts b/tests/unit/cursor/cursor-anthropic-translator.test.ts
index 9da161fe..2fce792c 100644
--- a/tests/unit/cursor/cursor-anthropic-translator.test.ts
+++ b/tests/unit/cursor/cursor-anthropic-translator.test.ts
@@ -90,6 +90,16 @@ describe('translateAnthropicRequest', () => {
     ]);
   });
 
+  it('maps adaptive anthropic thinking into Cursor reasoning effort', () => {
+    const translated = translateAnthropicRequest({
+      thinking: { type: 'adaptive' },
+      output_config: { effort: 'xhigh' },
+      messages: [{ role: 'user', content: 'hello' }],
+    });
+
+    expect(translated.reasoning_effort).toBe('high');
+  });
+
   it('preserves mixed user text around tool_result blocks in order', () => {
     const translated = translateAnthropicRequest({
       messages: [
diff --git a/tests/unit/proxy/transformers/request-transformer-regressions.test.ts b/tests/unit/proxy/transformers/request-transformer-regressions.test.ts
index 77b56294..4bb3192f 100644
--- a/tests/unit/proxy/transformers/request-transformer-regressions.test.ts
+++ b/tests/unit/proxy/transformers/request-transformer-regressions.test.ts
@@ -30,6 +30,17 @@ describe('ProxyRequestTransformer regressions', () => {
     expect(result.reasoning).toEqual({ enabled: true, effort: 'high' });
   });
 
+  it('explicitly normalizes anthropic xhigh adaptive effort for OpenAI-compatible upstreams', () => {
+    const result = new ProxyRequestTransformer().transform({
+      messages: [{ role: 'user', content: 'hello' }],
+      thinking: { type: 'adaptive' },
+      output_config: { effort: 'xhigh' },
+    });
+
+    expect(result.reasoning_effort).toBe('high');
+    expect(result.reasoning).toEqual({ enabled: true, effort: 'high' });
+  });
+
   it('rejects unsupported thinking types instead of silently dropping them', () => {
     expect(() =>
       new ProxyRequestTransformer().transform({
diff --git a/tests/unit/targets/droid-config-manager.test.ts b/tests/unit/targets/droid-config-manager.test.ts
index 8f0efaa1..21128d55 100644
--- a/tests/unit/targets/droid-config-manager.test.ts
+++ b/tests/unit/targets/droid-config-manager.test.ts
@@ -143,6 +143,23 @@ describe('droid-config-manager', () => {
       expect(settings.customModels[0].extraArgs?.thinking?.budget_tokens).toBe(40960);
     });
 
+    it('writes adaptive anthropic thinking for claude-opus-4-7 overrides', async () => {
+      await upsertCcsModel('claude', {
+        model: 'claude-opus-4-7',
+        displayName: 'CCS claude',
+        baseUrl: 'https://api.anthropic.com',
+        apiKey: 'anthropic-key',
+        provider: 'anthropic',
+        reasoningOverride: 'max',
+      });
+
+      const settingsPath = path.join(tmpDir, '.factory', 'settings.json');
+      const settings = JSON.parse(fs.readFileSync(settingsPath, 'utf8'));
+      expect(settings.customModels[0].extraArgs?.thinking?.type).toBe('adaptive');
+      expect(settings.customModels[0].extraArgs?.thinking?.budget_tokens).toBeUndefined();
+      expect(settings.customModels[0].extraArgs?.output_config?.effort).toBe('max');
+    });
+
     it('should clear prior reasoning config when override disables thinking', async () => {
       await upsertCcsModel('glm', {
         model: 'glm-4.7',