diff --git a/src/hooks/anthropic-effort/hook.ts b/src/hooks/anthropic-effort/hook.ts
index a545768d6..7d4eca99b 100644
--- a/src/hooks/anthropic-effort/hook.ts
+++ b/src/hooks/anthropic-effort/hook.ts
@@ -76,23 +76,35 @@ export function createAnthropicEffortHook() {
       const { agent, model, message } = input
       if (!model?.modelID || !model?.providerID) return
       if (isEffortUnsupportedModel(model.modelID)) return
-      if (message.variant !== "max") return
       if (!isClaudeProvider(model.providerID, model.modelID)) return
       if (shouldSkipForInternalAgent(agent?.name)) return
-      if (output.options.effort !== undefined) return
 
       const opus = isOpusModel(model.modelID)
       const constrained = isConstrainedProvider(model.providerID)
+
+      if (output.options.effort !== undefined) {
+        if (output.options.effort === "max" && constrained) {
+          const clamped = clampVariant("max", opus, constrained)
+          output.options.effort = clamped
+          ;(message as { variant?: string }).variant = clamped
+          log("anthropic-effort: clamped pre-set effort max→high", {
+            sessionID: input.sessionID,
+            provider: model.providerID,
+            model: model.modelID,
+            reason: "constrained-provider",
+          })
+        }
+        return
+      }
+
+      if (message.variant !== "max") return
+
       const clamped = clampVariant(message.variant, opus, constrained)
       output.options.effort = clamped
 
       const shouldOverrideMessageVariant = !opus || constrained
 
       if (shouldOverrideMessageVariant) {
-        // Override the variant so OpenCode doesn't pass "max" to the API.
-        // Non-Opus models cap at high; Anthropic OAuth (Claude Pro/Max) also
-        // caps at high even on Opus because the OAuth API only accepts
-        // low | medium | high.
         ;(message as { variant?: string }).variant = clamped
         log("anthropic-effort: clamped variant max→high", {
           sessionID: input.sessionID,