Choosing an Engine
Benchmarked against: Anthropic โ Choosing a model Rule source: Cost Awareness (Company Constitution ยง6) Captain decision: 2026-02-27 โ "CP value is NOT cheapest possible but minimum cost that gets the job done RIGHT"
Engine selection is a core operational skill. The wrong choice wastes money (using Opus for trivial tasks) or produces garbage (using free Groq for important analysis). This guide helps match engine to task.
The selection principleโ
Minimum cost that gets the job done RIGHT. โ Captain decision, 2026-02-27
This is NOT "use the cheapest engine." It's "use the least expensive engine that produces quality results."
Anti-pattern: Using free Groq for important intel analysis led to hallucinated version numbers, poor quality summaries, and bad meeting notes. The cost of bad output far exceeds the savings of a free engine.
Decision matrixโ
| Task importance | Engine | Cost | Rationale |
|---|---|---|---|
| Trivial โ random searches, cleanup, format conversion | Groq (free) | $0 | Not worth spending on |
| Standard โ research, analysis, summaries, translation | Gemini / DeepSeek | Cents | Quality matters, cost is minimal |
| Important โ intel analysis, key research, decision support | Gemini with citations | ~$0.014 | Need authoritative, verified results |
| Critical โ code editing, file operations, system changes | Claude (Sonnet/Opus) | $$ | Only engine with full tool access |
| Architecture โ decisions, design, delegation, reviews | Opus (direct) | $$$$ | Worth every token |
Role-based engine assignmentโ
Each agent role has a natural engine:
| Role | Agent | Engine | Should do | Should NOT do |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chief Engineer | ๅฐๅ (Opus) | Claude Opus | Architecture, decisions, delegation, reviews | Repetitive coding, data searching |
| Executor | ๅฐA (Sonnet) | Claude Sonnet | Coding, execution, standard analysis | Architecture decisions |
| Intel Officer | Patrol worker | Groq / Gemini | External research, web search, translation | File operations, code editing |
| Courier | cron + bash | N/A (scripted) | Scheduled checks, automation | โ |
| Strategist | ๅฐ่ฅฟ (Chat) | Claude Sonnet | Strategy analysis, reviews | โ |
Engine selection by task typeโ
Research tasksโ
UB empty on topic?
โโโ Quick background โ Groq Search (free)
โโโ Need citations โ Gemini Search (~$0.014)
โโโ Critical decision โ Opus WebSearch (expensive, last resort)
Coding tasksโ
Code change needed?
โโโ Small fix, well-defined โ Sonnet (dispatch_work_order engine=claude)
โโโ Architecture design โ Opus (direct)
โโโ No code change, just analysis โ Groq/Gemini (call_model)
Analysis tasksโ
What kind of analysis?
โโโ Simple summary โ Groq (free)
โโโ Need accuracy โ DeepSeek (cheap, strong reasoning)
โโโ Chinese NLP โ Zhipu GLM-5 (cheap, best Chinese)
โโโ Need citations โ Gemini (authoritative)
Dispatch engine selectionโ
When creating a Work Order, the engine parameter determines execution:
| Engine value | Provider | Cost | Capability |
|---|---|---|---|
claude | Claude Opus/Sonnet | ~$1-2/run | Full tool access (files, shell, code) |
groq | Groq Llama 3.3 70B | Free | Text analysis, summaries |
groq-search | Groq Compound | Free | Web search + analysis |
gemini | Gemini 2.5 Flash | Cents | General tasks |
gemini-search | Gemini + Google | ~$0.014 | Authoritative search with citations |
deepseek | DeepSeek R1/V3 | Cents | Reasoning, analysis |
mistral | Mistral | Cents | European alternative |
zhipu | Zhipu GLM-5 | Cents | Chinese NLP, tool-calling |
ingest | MTAAA Pipeline | Free | Batch file ingestion (no LLM) |
Common mistakesโ
| Mistake | Why it's wrong | Correct choice |
|---|---|---|
| Using Opus for web search | Burns expensive tokens on retrieval | Delegate to Groq/Gemini, ingest results |
| Using Groq for important intel | Hallucinates version numbers, poor quality | Gemini with citations |
| Using Claude for text analysis | Overkill โ no file operations needed | Groq (free) or DeepSeek |
| Using any engine without UB check | May already have the answer in UB | Always search_brain() first |
Using engine=claude for research WOs | ~$1-2 per run for text work | engine=groq or engine=gemini-search |
The search flowโ
The mandatory information retrieval flow optimizes engine usage:
Related pagesโ
| Page | Relationship |
|---|---|
| Engine Overview | All engines and capabilities |
| Pricing | Detailed cost breakdown |
| Cost Awareness | Governance rule |
| Usage & Cost | Tracking tools |