diff --git a/packages/core/src/agents/agent-transcript.test.ts b/packages/core/src/agents/agent-transcript.test.ts
index e80ce6636a8..0e970249cb1 100644
--- a/packages/core/src/agents/agent-transcript.test.ts
+++ b/packages/core/src/agents/agent-transcript.test.ts
@@ -409,7 +409,43 @@ describe('agent-transcript', () => {
       cleanup();
     });
 
-    it('drops usage-only ROUND_TEXT to keep the canonical view valid', () => {
+    it('writes usage-only ROUND_TEXT with a model message for exporters', () => {
+      const jsonlPath = path.join(tempDir, 's', 'agent-x.jsonl');
+      const { emitter, cleanup } = makeWriter(jsonlPath);
+
+      emitter.emit(AgentEventType.ROUND_TEXT, {
+        subagentId: 'agent-x',
+        runId: 'run-1',
+        round: 1,
+        text: '',
+        thoughtText: '',
+        usageMetadata: {
+          promptTokenCount: 100,
+          candidatesTokenCount: 20,
+          cachedContentTokenCount: 40,
+          totalTokenCount: 120,
+        },
+        timestamp: Date.now(),
+      });
+      cleanup();
+
+      const records = readJsonl(jsonlPath);
+      expect(records).toHaveLength(1);
+      expect(records[0]).toMatchObject({
+        type: 'assistant',
+        message: { role: 'model', parts: [] },
+        usageMetadata: {
+          promptTokenCount: 100,
+          candidatesTokenCount: 20,
+          cachedContentTokenCount: 40,
+          totalTokenCount: 120,
+        },
+        agentRunId: 'run-1',
+        agentRound: 1,
+      });
+    });
+
+    it('drops ROUND_TEXT with no text, thought, or usage', () => {
       const jsonlPath = path.join(tempDir, 's', 'agent-x.jsonl');
       const { emitter, cleanup } = makeWriter(jsonlPath);
 
@@ -418,7 +454,6 @@ describe('agent-transcript', () => {
         round: 1,
         text: '',
         thoughtText: '',
-        usageMetadata: { totalTokenCount: 42 },
         timestamp: Date.now(),
       });
       cleanup();
diff --git a/packages/core/src/agents/agent-transcript.ts b/packages/core/src/agents/agent-transcript.ts
index 77a7a5d2c44..ccd2e205eb6 100644
--- a/packages/core/src/agents/agent-transcript.ts
+++ b/packages/core/src/agents/agent-transcript.ts
@@ -458,18 +458,16 @@ export function attachJsonlTranscriptWriter(
   };
 
   const onRoundText = (event: AgentRoundTextEvent) => {
-    if (!event.text && !event.thoughtText) return;
+    const parts = [
+      ...(event.thoughtText
+        ? [{ text: event.thoughtText, thought: true }]
+        : []),
+      ...(event.text ? [{ text: event.text }] : []),
+    ];
+    if (parts.length === 0 && !event.usageMetadata) return;
     append({
       ...baseFields('assistant'),
-      message: {
-        role: 'model',
-        parts: [
-          ...(event.thoughtText
-            ? [{ text: event.thoughtText, thought: true }]
-            : []),
-          ...(event.text ? [{ text: event.text }] : []),
-        ],
-      },
+      message: { role: 'model', parts },
       usageMetadata: event.usageMetadata,
       agentRunId: event.runId ?? streamRunId,
       agentRound: event.round,
diff --git a/packages/core/src/agents/runtime/agent-core.ts b/packages/core/src/agents/runtime/agent-core.ts
index c8574ba3052..f2947846a4d 100644
--- a/packages/core/src/agents/runtime/agent-core.ts
+++ b/packages/core/src/agents/runtime/agent-core.ts
@@ -1002,7 +1002,7 @@ export class AgentCore {
           break;
         }
 
-        if (roundText || roundThoughtText) {
+        if (roundText || roundThoughtText || lastUsage) {
           this.eventEmitter?.emit(AgentEventType.ROUND_TEXT, {
             subagentId: this.subagentId,
             runId,
diff --git a/packages/core/src/agents/runtime/agent-headless.test.ts b/packages/core/src/agents/runtime/agent-headless.test.ts
index 36440f33104..270432120fd 100644
--- a/packages/core/src/agents/runtime/agent-headless.test.ts
+++ b/packages/core/src/agents/runtime/agent-headless.test.ts
@@ -43,6 +43,7 @@ import {
 import {
   AgentEventEmitter,
   AgentEventType,
+  type AgentRoundTextEvent,
   type AgentStreamTextEvent,
   type AgentToolCallEvent,
   type AgentToolResultEvent,
@@ -2090,6 +2091,59 @@ describe('subagent.ts', () => {
         expect(events[1]!.thought).toBe(false);
       });
 
+      it('should emit usage for a tool-call-only model round', async () => {
+        const { config } = await createMockConfig();
+        const usageMetadata = {
+          promptTokenCount: 100,
+          candidatesTokenCount: 10,
+          cachedContentTokenCount: 5,
+          totalTokenCount: 110,
+        };
+        mockSendMessageStream.mockImplementation(async () =>
+          (async function* () {
+            yield {
+              type: 'chunk',
+              value: {
+                functionCalls: [
+                  {
+                    id: 'call-1',
+                    name: 'missing_tool',
+                    args: {},
+                  },
+                ],
+                usageMetadata,
+              },
+            };
+          })(),
+        );
+
+        const eventEmitter = new AgentEventEmitter();
+        const events: AgentRoundTextEvent[] = [];
+        eventEmitter.on(AgentEventType.ROUND_TEXT, (event) => {
+          events.push(event);
+        });
+        const scope = await AgentHeadless.create(
+          'test-agent',
+          config,
+          promptConfig,
+          defaultModelConfig,
+          { ...defaultRunConfig, max_turns: 1 },
+          undefined,
+          eventEmitter,
+        );
+
+        await scope.execute(new ContextState());
+
+        expect(events).toEqual([
+          expect.objectContaining({
+            round: 1,
+            text: '',
+            thoughtText: '',
+            usageMetadata,
+          }),
+        ]);
+      });
+
       it('should exclude thought text from finalText', async () => {
         const { config } = await createMockConfig();