fix: quality/balanced profiles now deliver Opus subagents (#695)

resolveModelInternal was converting every 'opus' result to 'inherit'
before returning it. 'inherit' tells Claude Code's Task tool to use
the parent session's model — which defaults to Sonnet 4.6, silently
running quality/balanced-profile agents on the wrong model.

Pass 'opus' directly; Claude Code's Task tool resolves it to the
current Opus version. Orgs that block Opus will now get a clear error
instead of a silent Sonnet downgrade.

- Remove opus → 'inherit' conversion from all 3 return sites in
  resolveModelInternal (core.cjs)
- Update 7 test assertions and fix validValues set (core.test.cjs)
- Update model-profiles.md, model-profile-resolution.md, and
  adaptive-model-selection.md to reflect the change

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -6,6 +6,11 @@ Format follows [Keep a Changelog](https://keepachangelog.com/en/1.1.0/).
 
 ## [Unreleased]
 
+### Fixed
+- **Quality/balanced profiles now deliver Opus subagents** — `resolveModelInternal` previously
+  converted `opus` to `inherit`, causing agents to silently run on Sonnet when the parent
+  session used the default Sonnet 4.6 model. Opus is now passed directly to Task calls (#695)
+
 ### Added
 - **Adaptive model profile** — fourth model profile (`adaptive`) that auto-selects models per-plan based on complexity evaluation (#210)
   - `evaluateComplexity()` scores plan metadata (files modified, task count, objective keywords, plan type, dependencies) on 0-10+ scale

get-shit-done/bin/lib/core.cjs

@@ -497,7 +497,7 @@ function resolveModelInternal(cwd, agentType, context) {
   // Check per-agent override first
   const override = config.model_overrides?.[agentType];
   if (override) {
-    return override === 'opus' ? 'inherit' : override;
+    return override;
   }
 
   // Fall back to profile lookup
@@ -523,13 +523,13 @@ function resolveModelInternal(cwd, agentType, context) {
       }
     }
 
-    return resolved === 'opus' ? 'inherit' : resolved;
+    return resolved;
   }
 
   const agentModels = MODEL_PROFILES[agentType];
   if (!agentModels) return 'sonnet';
   const resolved = agentModels[profile] || agentModels['balanced'] || 'sonnet';
-  return resolved === 'opus' ? 'inherit' : resolved;
+  return resolved;
 }
 
 // ─── Misc utilities ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

get-shit-done/references/adaptive-model-selection.md

@@ -85,7 +85,7 @@ When adaptive is active but no plan context is available (e.g., during init), de
    a. Evaluate complexity from plan context
    b. Look up model from ADAPTIVE_TIERS[tier][agentType]
    c. Clamp to min_model / max_model bounds
-   d. Return result (opus → 'inherit')
+   d. Return result ('opus', 'sonnet', or 'haiku')
 3. Non-adaptive: standard profile table lookup
 ```
 
@@ -102,7 +102,7 @@ node gsd-tools.cjs resolve-adaptive-model gsd-executor \
 # Complex plan
 node gsd-tools.cjs resolve-adaptive-model gsd-planner \
   --context '{"files_modified":["a.js","b.js","c.js","d.js","e.js"],"task_count":8,"objective":"architect new integration with external API"}'
-# Returns: inherit (opus), complex tier
+# Returns: opus, complex tier
 ```
 
 ## Workflow Integration

get-shit-done/references/model-profile-resolution.md

@@ -20,11 +20,11 @@ Look up the agent in the table for the resolved profile. Pass the model paramete
 Task(
   prompt="...",
   subagent_type="gsd-planner",
-  model="{resolved_model}"  # "inherit", "sonnet", or "haiku"
+  model="{resolved_model}"  # "opus", "sonnet", or "haiku"
 )
 ```
 
-**Note:** Opus-tier agents resolve to `"inherit"` (not `"opus"`). This causes the agent to use the parent session's model, avoiding conflicts with organization policies that may block specific opus versions.
+**Note:** Opus-tier agents resolve to `"opus"`, which Claude Code's Task tool maps to the current Opus model version. Earlier versions used `"inherit"` to avoid org-policy conflicts, but that silently downgraded agents to Sonnet when the parent session ran on Sonnet (the default). Passing `"opus"` directly ensures quality-profile agents actually run on Opus.
 
 ## Adaptive Profile
 
@@ -43,4 +43,4 @@ See `references/adaptive-model-selection.md` for full algorithm.
 1. Resolve once at orchestration start (or per-plan if adaptive)
 2. Store the profile value
 3. Look up each agent's model from the table when spawning
-4. Pass model parameter to each Task call (values: `"inherit"`, `"sonnet"`, `"haiku"`)
+4. Pass model parameter to each Task call (values: `"opus"`, `"sonnet"`, `"haiku"`)

get-shit-done/references/model-profiles.md

@@ -103,5 +103,10 @@ Verification requires goal-backward reasoning - checking if code *delivers* what
 **Why Haiku for gsd-codebase-mapper?**
 Read-only exploration and pattern extraction. No reasoning required, just structured output from file contents.
 
-**Why `inherit` instead of passing `opus` directly?**
-Claude Code's `"opus"` alias maps to a specific model version. Organizations may block older opus versions while allowing newer ones. GSD returns `"inherit"` for opus-tier agents, causing them to use whatever opus version the user has configured in their session. This avoids version conflicts and silent fallbacks to Sonnet.
+**Why `opus` and not `inherit`?**
+GSD passes `"opus"` directly to Claude Code's Task tool, which resolves it to the current
+Opus model version. Earlier versions used `"inherit"` to avoid org-policy version conflicts,
+but this silently downgraded agents to Sonnet when the parent session ran on Sonnet (the
+default). Passing `"opus"` explicitly ensures quality-profile agents actually run on Opus.
+If an org policy blocks Opus, the Task call will fail with a clear error rather than
+silently running on the wrong model.

tests/core.test.cjs

@@ -161,7 +161,7 @@ describe('resolveModelInternal', () => {
     test('all known agents resolve to a valid string for each profile', () => {
       const knownAgents = ['gsd-planner', 'gsd-executor', 'gsd-phase-researcher', 'gsd-codebase-mapper'];
       const profiles = ['quality', 'balanced', 'budget'];
-      const validValues = ['inherit', 'sonnet', 'haiku', 'opus'];
+      const validValues = ['opus', 'sonnet', 'haiku'];
 
       for (const profile of profiles) {
         writeConfig({ model_profile: profile });
@@ -185,20 +185,20 @@ describe('resolveModelInternal', () => {
       assert.strictEqual(resolveModelInternal(tmpDir, 'gsd-executor'), 'haiku');
     });
 
-    test('opus override resolves to inherit', () => {
+    test('opus override resolves to opus', () => {
       writeConfig({
         model_overrides: { 'gsd-executor': 'opus' },
       });
-      assert.strictEqual(resolveModelInternal(tmpDir, 'gsd-executor'), 'inherit');
+      assert.strictEqual(resolveModelInternal(tmpDir, 'gsd-executor'), 'opus');
     });
 
     test('agents not in override fall back to profile', () => {
       writeConfig({
         model_profile: 'quality',
         model_overrides: { 'gsd-executor': 'haiku' },
       });
-      // gsd-planner not overridden, should use quality profile -> opus -> inherit
-      assert.strictEqual(resolveModelInternal(tmpDir, 'gsd-planner'), 'inherit');
+      // gsd-planner not overridden, should use quality profile -> opus
+      assert.strictEqual(resolveModelInternal(tmpDir, 'gsd-planner'), 'opus');
     });
   });
 
@@ -210,8 +210,8 @@ describe('resolveModelInternal', () => {
 
     test('defaults to balanced profile when model_profile missing', () => {
       writeConfig({});
-      // balanced profile, gsd-planner -> opus -> inherit
-      assert.strictEqual(resolveModelInternal(tmpDir, 'gsd-planner'), 'inherit');
+      // balanced profile, gsd-planner -> opus
+      assert.strictEqual(resolveModelInternal(tmpDir, 'gsd-planner'), 'opus');
     });
   });
 });
@@ -1004,9 +1004,9 @@ describe('resolveModelInternal (adaptive profile)', () => {
     // gsd-executor in medium tier = sonnet
     const result = resolveModelInternal(tmpDir, 'gsd-executor');
     assert.strictEqual(result, 'sonnet');
-    // gsd-planner in medium tier = opus -> inherit
+    // gsd-planner in medium tier = opus
     const plannerResult = resolveModelInternal(tmpDir, 'gsd-planner');
-    assert.strictEqual(plannerResult, 'inherit');
+    assert.strictEqual(plannerResult, 'opus');
   });
 
   test('medium tier codebase-mapper resolves to haiku', () => {
@@ -1023,15 +1023,15 @@ describe('resolveModelInternal (adaptive profile)', () => {
     assert.strictEqual(result, 'haiku');
   });
 
-  test('complex context returns inherit for planner (opus)', () => {
+  test('complex context returns opus for planner', () => {
     writeConfig({ model_profile: 'adaptive' });
     const ctx = {
       files_modified: ['a.js', 'b.js', 'c.js', 'd.js', 'e.js'],
       task_count: 8,
       objective: 'architect new integration with external API',
     };
     const result = resolveModelInternal(tmpDir, 'gsd-planner', ctx);
-    assert.strictEqual(result, 'inherit'); // opus -> inherit
+    assert.strictEqual(result, 'opus');
   });
 
   test('min_model clamping upgrades haiku to sonnet', () => {
@@ -1068,7 +1068,7 @@ describe('resolveModelInternal (adaptive profile)', () => {
     const ctx = { files_modified: ['a.js'], task_count: 1, objective: 'fix typo' };
     // Override should win over adaptive
     const result = resolveModelInternal(tmpDir, 'gsd-executor', ctx);
-    assert.strictEqual(result, 'inherit'); // opus -> inherit
+    assert.strictEqual(result, 'opus');
   });
 
   test('context ignored for non-adaptive profiles', () => {