diff --git a/hermes_constants.py b/hermes_constants.py
index 64331299345..29dac85fe8a 100644
--- a/hermes_constants.py
+++ b/hermes_constants.py
@@ -797,7 +797,7 @@ VALID_REASONING_EFFORTS = ("minimal", "low", "medium", "high", "xhigh", "max")
 def parse_reasoning_effort(effort) -> dict | None:
     """Parse a reasoning effort level into a config dict.
 
-    Valid levels: "none", "minimal", "low", "medium", "high", "xhigh".
+    Valid levels: "none", "minimal", "low", "medium", "high", "xhigh", "max".
     Returns None when the input is empty or unrecognized (caller uses default).
     Returns {"enabled": False} for "none" (aliases: "false", "disabled", and
     YAML boolean False — users write ``reasoning_effort: false``/``off``/``no``
diff --git a/tests/test_hermes_constants.py b/tests/test_hermes_constants.py
index f23bed43ab8..e4b064ed947 100644
--- a/tests/test_hermes_constants.py
+++ b/tests/test_hermes_constants.py
@@ -473,7 +473,7 @@ class TestParseReasoningEffort:
 
     @pytest.mark.parametrize(
         "value",
-        ["bogus", "very-high", "max", "0", "off", "true", "default"],
+        ["bogus", "very-high", "0", "off", "true", "default"],
     )
     def test_unknown_levels_return_none(self, value):
         """Unrecognized strings fall back to the caller default (None)."""
@@ -482,11 +482,11 @@ class TestParseReasoningEffort:
     def test_known_supported_levels_are_documented(self):
         """Guard against silently dropping a documented level.
 
-        The docstring promises "minimal", "low", "medium", "high", "xhigh".
-        If someone removes one from VALID_REASONING_EFFORTS without updating
-        the docstring, this test will fail and force the call out.
+        The docstring promises "minimal", "low", "medium", "high", "xhigh",
+        "max". If someone removes one from VALID_REASONING_EFFORTS without
+        updating the docstring, this test will fail and force the call out.
         """
-        documented = {"minimal", "low", "medium", "high", "xhigh"}
+        documented = {"minimal", "low", "medium", "high", "xhigh", "max"}
         assert documented.issubset(set(VALID_REASONING_EFFORTS))