> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://docs.kontinent.ai/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://docs.kontinent.ai/features/reasoning.md). # Reasoning Reasoning models think before they answer. Every provider spells that differently: OpenAI takes an effort word, Anthropic takes a token budget, Google takes a nested thinking configuration. Kontinent accepts **one** shape and translates it. ```json { "model": "bedrock/claude-sonnet-5", "messages": [{ "role": "user", "content": "Is 9.11 larger than 9.9?" }], "reasoning": { "effort": "high" } } ``` | Field | Type | Meaning | | ------------ | ------------------------------------------------ | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | `effort` | `"minimal"` \| `"low"` \| `"medium"` \| `"high"` | How hard to think. On budget-based models it becomes a share of `max_tokens` (high ≈ 80 %, medium ≈ 50 %, low ≈ 20 %). | | `max_tokens` | integer | An exact thinking budget, for models that support one. Clamped to 1024–128000. | | `exclude` | boolean | Still think, but do not return the thoughts. | | `enabled` | boolean | `false` switches thinking off where the model allows it. | The legacy boolean `include_reasoning: true` is still accepted and means `reasoning: { enabled: true }`. {% hint style="info" %} **On budget-based models** (Claude, via Bedrock and Vertex) `reasoning.max_tokens` and `max_tokens` are resolved together: the budget is clamped to 1024–128000 and the answer always keeps at least 1024 tokens of room above it. If your `max_tokens` is too small to hold both, the budget is reduced first — your cap is respected wherever it can be. Gemini's thinking budget is forwarded as you set it, because Google applies its own per-model limits and enforces them itself. On effort-based models (Azure) `reasoning.max_tokens` has no equivalent and is ignored. {% endhint %} ## Which models reason `GET /v1/models` says so twice: the flat `supported_parameters` list every model carries, and — for models that reason — a `reasoning` object with the detail. Models that do not reason omit the object entirely and omit `reasoning` from the list. ```json { "id": "bedrock/claude-sonnet-5", "supported_parameters": ["max_tokens", "temperature", "top_p", "stop", "stream", "tools", "tool_choice", "reasoning", "include_reasoning"], "reasoning": { "supported_efforts": ["low", "medium", "high"], "default_effort": "medium", "supports_max_tokens": true, "mandatory": false } } ``` `mandatory: true` means the upstream refuses to switch thinking off (Azure's GPT-5 family, Gemini 2.5 Pro). For those models `enabled: false` is ignored rather than answered with an error. ## Reading the thoughts Every response carries thinking twice, on purpose: * `reasoning` — a plain string you can concatenate and print. * `reasoning_details[]` — the structured form, which is what you send back to continue a thinking conversation. Non-streaming: ```json { "choices": [{ "message": { "role": "assistant", "content": "No — 9.9 is larger.", "reasoning": "Compare the tenths: 0.11 vs 0.9…", "reasoning_details": [{ "type": "reasoning.text", "text": "Compare the tenths: 0.11 vs 0.9…", "signature": "EqoBCkgIA…", "format": "anthropic-claude-v1", "index": 0 }] } }] } ``` Streaming — thinking arrives before the answer, in the same `delta` a client already reads: ``` data: {"choices":[{"delta":{"role":"assistant","reasoning":"Compare the ","reasoning_details":[{"type":"reasoning.text","text":"Compare the ","index":0}]}}]} data: {"choices":[{"delta":{"reasoning":"tenths…","reasoning_details":[{"type":"reasoning.text","text":"tenths…","index":0}]}}]} data: {"choices":[{"delta":{"reasoning_details":[{"type":"reasoning.text","signature":"EqoBCkgIA…","index":0}]}}]} data: {"choices":[{"delta":{"content":"No — 9.9 is larger."}}]} data: {"choices":[],"usage":{"prompt_tokens":19,"completion_tokens":214,"total_tokens":233}} data: [DONE] ``` ### Detail types | `type` | Contains | Notes | | --------------------- | ----------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | `reasoning.text` | `text`, sometimes `signature` | The chain of thought. The signature is an integrity token; keep it. | | `reasoning.summary` | `summary` | A provider-written précis, for models that never expose raw thoughts. | | `reasoning.encrypted` | `data` | Thinking that exists and may not be read. **Never** accompanied by plaintext. | ## Redacted thinking Some models — Azure's GPT-5 and o-series in particular — do the thinking and return only an opaque blob. Kontinent reports it as `reasoning.encrypted` with no `text`. ```json { "type": "reasoning.encrypted", "data": "gAAAAAB…", "format": "openai-responses-v1", "index": 0 } ``` This is deliberate: we never invent readable thoughts for a model that did not provide them, and we never silently drop the blob either — without it the model cannot continue from its own reasoning on the next turn. ## Continuing a thinking conversation Send the assistant turn back with its `reasoning_details` attached: ```json { "model": "bedrock/claude-sonnet-5", "reasoning": { "effort": "high" }, "messages": [ { "role": "user", "content": "Is 9.11 larger than 9.9?" }, { "role": "assistant", "content": "No — 9.9 is larger.", "reasoning_details": [{ "type": "reasoning.text", "text": "Compare the tenths…", "signature": "EqoBCkgIA…", "format": "anthropic-claude-v1", "index": 0 }] }, { "role": "user", "content": "And 9.11 vs 9.099?" } ] } ``` Details are forwarded to providers that can verify them and dropped for those that cannot — an Anthropic signature means nothing to an OpenAI deployment, and sending it would be an error rather than a continuation. Unsigned thinking is dropped too: Claude refuses thinking it cannot attribute to itself, so replaying it would fail the request. ## Hiding the thoughts `exclude: true` asks the model to think and strips the thinking from the response. ```json { "reasoning": { "effort": "high", "exclude": true } } ``` ### Counting them Where a provider separates the thinking share of the output, it is reported as `usage.completion_tokens_details.reasoning_tokens`. The key is **omitted** rather than zeroed when a provider does not report one — Anthropic counts thinking inside `output_tokens` and never breaks it out, and a zero would claim the model did not think. {% hint style="warning" %} Thinking tokens are billed whether you read them or not — they are output tokens the model generated. `exclude` is about what your UI shows, not about cost. {% endhint %} ## Related {% content-ref url="/pages/a9oLCCh9Acd4ZtHHnJwp" %} [Streaming](/features/streaming.md) {% endcontent-ref %} {% content-ref url="/pages/gJyUCtzhTvMq5MNXJfuc" %} [API reference](/reference/api-reference.md) {% endcontent-ref %} --- # Agent Instructions This documentation is published with GitBook. GitBook is the documentation platform designed so that both humans and AI agents can read, navigate, and reason over technical content effectively. 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