The reasoning effort parameter lets you control how much time the model spends thinking. This is a cost-quality tradeoff.
| Level | Thinking Time | Cost | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|
| low | ~1-2s | Lowest | Simple classification, quick answers |
| medium | ~3-5s | Moderate | Standard coding, analysis |
| high | ~5-30s | Highest | Complex math, architecture design, research |
GPT-5.4 models feature adaptive reasoning — they automatically decide whether to think deeply or respond instantly based on query complexity. You can override this with explicit effort settings.
// Let the model decide how much to think:
const simple = await openai.responses.create({
model: "gpt-5.4",
input: "What is 2+2?" // Instant response, no deep thinking
});
// Force deep reasoning:
const complex = await openai.responses.create({
model: "gpt-5.4",
reasoning: { effort: "high" },
input: "Design a distributed consensus algorithm for a 10-node cluster"
});