diff --git a/common/chat.cpp b/common/chat.cpp
index 938872e82ee1d..93eadfdb19f29 100644
--- a/common/chat.cpp
+++ b/common/chat.cpp
@@ -2269,6 +2269,13 @@ static common_chat_params common_chat_params_init_hermes_2_pro(const common_chat
 
     data.prompt = apply(tmpl, inputs, /* messages_override =*/ std::nullopt, /* tools_override= */ std::nullopt, extra_context);
     data.format = COMMON_CHAT_FORMAT_HERMES_2_PRO;
+    auto supports_thinking = tmpl.source().find("<think>") != std::string::npos;
+
+    // you should not be able to call enable_thinking if <think> is not supported
+    if (!supports_thinking && extra_context["enable_thinking"]) {
+        extra_context["enable_thinking"] = false;
+    }
+
     if (string_ends_with(data.prompt, "<think>\n")) {
         if (!extra_context["enable_thinking"]) {
             data.prompt += "</think>";
@@ -2331,9 +2338,27 @@ static common_chat_params common_chat_params_init_hermes_2_pro(const common_chat
             tool_call_alts.push_back(
                 "( \"```\\n\" | \"```json\\n\" | \"```xml\\n\" ) space " + wrappable_tool_call + " space \"```\" space ");
             auto tool_call = builder.add_rule("tool_call", string_join(tool_call_alts, " | "));
-            builder.add_rule("root",
-                std::string(data.thinking_forced_open ? "( \"</think>\" space )? " : "") +
-                (inputs.parallel_tool_calls ? "(" + tool_call + ")+" : tool_call));
+
+            // thinking grammar logic depending on if thinking_forced_open was to true (so already opened (and maybe closed)) and if thinking is even allowed
+            if (extra_context["enable_thinking"]) {
+                data.grammar_triggers.push_back({
+                    COMMON_GRAMMAR_TRIGGER_TYPE_WORD,
+                    data.thinking_forced_open ? "</think>" : "<think>"
+                });
+                std::string prelude = "";
+                if (!data.thinking_forced_open) {
+                    prelude = builder.add_rule("think-start", "\"<think>\"");
+                }
+                prelude += " ";
+                prelude += builder.add_rule("think-content", "( [^<] | \"<\" [^/] | \"</\" [^t] | \"</t\" [^h] | \"</th\" [^i] | \"</thi\" [^n] | \"</thin\" [^k] | \"</think\" [^>] )*");
+                prelude += " ";
+                prelude += builder.add_rule("think-end", "\"</think>\" space");
+                prelude += " ";
+                builder.add_rule("root", prelude + "(" + tool_call + ")" + (inputs.parallel_tool_calls ? "*" : "?"));
+            } else {
+                builder.add_rule("root", inputs.parallel_tool_calls ? "(" + tool_call + ")+" : tool_call);
+            }
+
             // Trigger on some common known "good bad" outputs (only from the start and with a json that's about a specific argument name to avoid false positives)
             data.grammar_triggers.push_back({
                 COMMON_GRAMMAR_TRIGGER_TYPE_PATTERN_FULL,
diff --git a/models/templates/Qwen-Qwen3-0.6B.jinja b/models/templates/Qwen-Qwen3-0.6B.jinja
index 699ff8df401fe..01be9b307daa2 100644
--- a/models/templates/Qwen-Qwen3-0.6B.jinja
+++ b/models/templates/Qwen-Qwen3-0.6B.jinja
@@ -17,23 +17,27 @@
 {%- set ns = namespace(multi_step_tool=true, last_query_index=messages|length - 1) %}
 {%- for message in messages[::-1] %}
     {%- set index = (messages|length - 1) - loop.index0 %}
-    {%- if ns.multi_step_tool and message.role == "user" and not(message.content.startswith('<tool_response>') and message.content.endswith('</tool_response>')) %}
+    {%- if ns.multi_step_tool and message.role == "user" and message.content is string and not(message.content.startswith('<tool_response>') and message.content.endswith('</tool_response>')) %}
         {%- set ns.multi_step_tool = false %}
         {%- set ns.last_query_index = index %}
     {%- endif %}
 {%- endfor %}
 {%- for message in messages %}
+    {%- if message.content is string %}
+        {%- set content = message.content %}
+    {%- else %}
+        {%- set content = '' %}
+    {%- endif %}
     {%- if (message.role == "user") or (message.role == "system" and not loop.first) %}
-        {{- '<|im_start|>' + message.role + '\n' + message.content + '<|im_end|>' + '\n' }}
+        {{- '<|im_start|>' + message.role + '\n' + content + '<|im_end|>' + '\n' }}
     {%- elif message.role == "assistant" %}
-        {%- set content = message.content %}
         {%- set reasoning_content = '' %}
-        {%- if message.reasoning_content is defined and message.reasoning_content is not none %}
+        {%- if message.reasoning_content is string %}
             {%- set reasoning_content = message.reasoning_content %}
         {%- else %}
-            {%- if '</think>' in message.content %}
-                {%- set content = message.content.split('</think>')[-1].lstrip('\n') %}
-                {%- set reasoning_content = message.content.split('</think>')[0].rstrip('\n').split('<think>')[-1].lstrip('\n') %}
+            {%- if '</think>' in content %}
+                {%- set reasoning_content = content.split('</think>')[0].rstrip('\n').split('<think>')[-1].lstrip('\n') %}
+                {%- set content = content.split('</think>')[-1].lstrip('\n') %}
             {%- endif %}
         {%- endif %}
         {%- if loop.index0 > ns.last_query_index %}
@@ -70,7 +74,7 @@
             {{- '<|im_start|>user' }}
         {%- endif %}
         {{- '\n<tool_response>\n' }}
-        {{- message.content }}
+        {{- content }}
         {{- '\n</tool_response>' }}
         {%- if loop.last or (messages[loop.index0 + 1].role != "tool") %}
             {{- '<|im_end|>\n' }}
diff --git a/tests/test-chat.cpp b/tests/test-chat.cpp
index 4a8ba849b3f8c..619bc1f1062b9 100644
--- a/tests/test-chat.cpp
+++ b/tests/test-chat.cpp
@@ -1111,6 +1111,68 @@ static void test_template_output_parsers() {
                     /* .reasoning_format = */ COMMON_REASONING_FORMAT_DEEPSEEK,
                 }));
     }
+    {
+        auto tmpls = read_templates("models/templates/Qwen-Qwen3-0.6B.jinja");
+        std::vector<std::string> end_tokens{ "<|im_end|>" };
+
+        assert_equals(COMMON_CHAT_FORMAT_HERMES_2_PRO, common_chat_templates_apply(tmpls.get(), inputs_no_tools).format);
+        assert_equals(COMMON_CHAT_FORMAT_HERMES_2_PRO, common_chat_templates_apply(tmpls.get(), inputs_tools).format);
+
+        // Test that enable_thinking=false adds empty think tags
+        {
+            common_chat_templates_inputs inputs_no_thinking;
+            inputs_no_thinking.messages = {message_user};
+            inputs_no_thinking.tools = tools;
+            inputs_no_thinking.tool_choice = COMMON_CHAT_TOOL_CHOICE_REQUIRED;
+            inputs_no_thinking.enable_thinking = false;
+            
+            auto params = common_chat_templates_apply(tmpls.get(), inputs_no_thinking);
+            assert_equals(COMMON_CHAT_FORMAT_HERMES_2_PRO, params.format);
+            // Verify the prompt contains empty think tags when thinking is disabled
+            assert_equals(true, params.prompt.find("<think>\n\n</think>") != std::string::npos);
+        }
+
+        // Test that grammar allows thinking with REQUIRED tool choice
+        {
+            common_chat_templates_inputs inputs_with_thinking;
+            inputs_with_thinking.messages = {message_user};
+            inputs_with_thinking.tools = tools;
+            inputs_with_thinking.tool_choice = COMMON_CHAT_TOOL_CHOICE_REQUIRED;
+            inputs_with_thinking.enable_thinking = true;
+            
+            auto params = common_chat_templates_apply(tmpls.get(), inputs_with_thinking);
+            assert_equals(COMMON_CHAT_FORMAT_HERMES_2_PRO, params.format);
+            
+            // The key fix: grammar should contain the thinking pattern even with REQUIRED
+            assert_equals(false, params.grammar.empty());
+            assert_equals(true, params.grammar.find("</think>") != std::string::npos);
+            
+            // Grammar should allow thinking before tool calls
+            assert_equals(true, params.grammar.find("think-") != std::string::npos || 
+                            params.grammar.find("<think>") != std::string::npos);
+        }
+
+        // Test parsing: tool call with thinking works correctly
+        assert_msg_equals(message_assist_call_thoughts,
+            common_chat_parse(
+                "<think>I'm\nthinking</think>\n"
+                "<tool_call>{\"name\": \"special_function\", \"arguments\": {\"arg1\": 1}}</tool_call>",
+                /* is_partial= */ false,
+                {
+                    /* .format = */ COMMON_CHAT_FORMAT_HERMES_2_PRO,
+                    /* .reasoning_format = */ COMMON_REASONING_FORMAT_DEEPSEEK,
+                }));
+
+        // Test that reasoning + tool calls work in template generation
+        test_templates(tmpls.get(), end_tokens, message_assist_call_thoughts, tools,
+                    "",  // Don't check exact delta, just verify it parses correctly
+                    /* expect_grammar_triggered= */ true,
+                    /* test_grammar_if_triggered= */ true,
+                    COMMON_REASONING_FORMAT_DEEPSEEK);
+
+        // Verify enable_thinking support
+        assert_equals(true, common_chat_templates_support_enable_thinking(tmpls.get()));
+    }
     {
         auto tmpls = read_templates("models/templates/meta-llama-Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct.jinja");
         std::vector<std::string>   end_tokens{ "<|eom_id|>", "<|eot_id|>" };
diff --git a/tools/server/tests/unit/test_tool_call.py b/tools/server/tests/unit/test_tool_call.py
index b8f0f10863fb8..b191840cd2adf 100755
--- a/tools/server/tests/unit/test_tool_call.py
+++ b/tools/server/tests/unit/test_tool_call.py
@@ -623,3 +623,62 @@ def do_test_hello_world(server: ServerProcess, **kwargs):
     code = actual_arguments["code"]
     assert isinstance(code, str), f"Expected code to be a string, got {type(code)}: {json.dumps(code)}"
     assert re.match(r'''print\(("[Hh]ello,? [Ww]orld!?"|'[Hh]ello,? [Ww]orld!?')\)''', re.sub(r'#.*\n?', '', code)), f'Expected hello world, got {code}'
+
+
+
+@pytest.mark.slow
+@pytest.mark.parametrize("stream", [CompletionMode.NORMAL, CompletionMode.STREAMED])
+@pytest.mark.parametrize("tool,hf_repo,template_override,reasoning_format", [
+    (PYTHON_TOOL, "unsloth/Qwen3-0.6B-GGUF:Q4_K_M", None, 'deepseek'),
+    (TEST_TOOL,   "unsloth/Qwen3-0.6B-GGUF:Q4_K_M", None, 'deepseek'),
+])
+def test_required_tool_with_reasoning(tool: dict, hf_repo: str, template_override: str | Tuple[str, str | None] | None, reasoning_format: Literal['deepseek', 'none'], stream: CompletionMode):
+    global server
+    n_predict = 512
+    
+    # Set the reasoning format
+    server.reasoning_format = reasoning_format
+    
+    server.jinja = True
+    server.n_ctx = 8192
+    server.n_predict = n_predict
+    server.model_hf_repo = hf_repo
+    server.model_hf_file = None
+    
+        
+    server.start(timeout_seconds=TIMEOUT_START_SLOW)
+
+    # Make the request with "tool_choice": "required"
+    body = server.make_any_request("POST", "/v1/chat/completions", data={
+        "max_tokens": n_predict,
+        "messages": [
+            {"role": "system", "content": "You are a coding assistant."},
+            {"role": "user", "content": "Write an example"}, # This prompt will force the tool use
+        ],
+        "tool_choice": "required",
+        "tools": [tool],
+        "parallel_tool_calls": False,
+        "stream": stream == CompletionMode.STREAMED,
+        "temperature": 0.0,
+        "top_k": 1,
+        "top_p": 1.0,
+    }, timeout=TIMEOUT_HTTP_REQUEST)
+    
+    choice = body["choices"][0]
+
+
+    reasoning_content:str = choice["message"].get("reasoning_content")
+    assert reasoning_content is not None, 'Expected reasoning content, but got None'
+    assert len(reasoning_content.strip()) > 3, 'Reasoning content is too small to be credible'
+
+    tool_calls = choice["message"].get("tool_calls")
+    assert tool_calls and len(tool_calls) == 1, f'Expected 1 tool call in {choice["message"]}'
+    tool_call = tool_calls[0]
+    expected_function_name = "python" if tool["type"] == "code_interpreter" else tool["function"]["name"]
+    assert expected_function_name == tool_call["function"]["name"]
+    
+    actual_arguments = json.loads(tool_call["function"]["arguments"])
+    if tool is PYTHON_TOOL:
+         assert "code" in actual_arguments, f"tool arguments: {json.dumps(actual_arguments)}, expected: 'code'"
+    elif tool is TEST_TOOL:
+         assert "success" in actual_arguments, f"tool arguments: {json.dumps(actual_arguments)}, expected: 'success'"
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