diff --git a/core/providers/anthropic/requestbuilder.go b/core/providers/anthropic/requestbuilder.go
index 877014c21d..9d52c38428 100644
--- a/core/providers/anthropic/requestbuilder.go
+++ b/core/providers/anthropic/requestbuilder.go
@@ -171,11 +171,6 @@ func BuildAnthropicResponsesRequestBody(ctx *schemas.BifrostContext, request *sc
 			return nil, newErr(schemas.ErrProviderRequestMarshal, err, jsonBody)
 		}
 
-		jsonBody, err = StripEmptyThinkingBlocks(jsonBody)
-		if err != nil {
-			return nil, newErr(schemas.ErrProviderRequestMarshal, err, jsonBody)
-		}
-
 		if cfg.RemapToolVersions {
 			// request.Model is the alias-resolved model id; pass it so
 			// computer-use / text-editor / bash tools get normalized to the
@@ -302,6 +297,11 @@ func BuildAnthropicResponsesRequestBody(ctx *schemas.BifrostContext, request *sc
 		}
 	}
 
+	jsonBody, err = StripEmptyThinkingBlocks(jsonBody)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, newErr(schemas.ErrProviderRequestMarshal, err, jsonBody)
+	}
+
 	jsonBody, err = providerUtils.DeleteJSONField(jsonBody, "fallbacks")
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, newErr(schemas.ErrProviderRequestMarshal, err, jsonBody)
diff --git a/core/providers/anthropic/utils.go b/core/providers/anthropic/utils.go
index 1f9c4e1b10..7c8dfd12e4 100644
--- a/core/providers/anthropic/utils.go
+++ b/core/providers/anthropic/utils.go
@@ -1229,8 +1229,11 @@ func doesWebSearchOrFetchAutoInjectCodeExecution(toolType string) bool {
 	return true
 }
 
-// StripEmptyThinkingBlocks removes thinking content blocks where
-// "thinking" is an empty string. Anthropic rejects such blocks with a 400.
+// StripEmptyThinkingBlocks removes thinking content blocks that would be
+// rejected by Anthropic: those with an empty "thinking" field, or those
+// with an empty "signature" field. An empty signature means the block came
+// from a non-Anthropic upstream (OpenAI never emits signatures; Anthropic
+// always does), so it is unsafe to replay to Anthropic.
 func StripEmptyThinkingBlocks(jsonBody []byte) ([]byte, error) {
 	messagesResult := providerUtils.GetJSONField(jsonBody, "messages")
 	if !messagesResult.Exists() || !messagesResult.IsArray() {
@@ -1244,7 +1247,8 @@ func StripEmptyThinkingBlocks(jsonBody []byte) ([]byte, error) {
 		}
 		var toStrip []int
 		for ci, block := range contentResult.Array() {
-			if block.Get("type").String() == "thinking" && block.Get("thinking").String() == "" {
+			if block.Get("type").String() == "thinking" &&
+				(block.Get("thinking").String() == "" || block.Get("signature").String() == "") {
 				toStrip = append(toStrip, ci)
 			}
 		}
@@ -1254,7 +1258,6 @@ func StripEmptyThinkingBlocks(jsonBody []byte) ([]byte, error) {
 			if err != nil {
 				return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to strip empty thinking block at %s: %w", path, err)
 			}
-
 		}
 	}
 	return jsonBody, nil
diff --git a/core/providers/anthropic/utils_test.go b/core/providers/anthropic/utils_test.go
index 340711d803..af6c20150a 100644
--- a/core/providers/anthropic/utils_test.go
+++ b/core/providers/anthropic/utils_test.go
@@ -2999,3 +2999,110 @@ func TestBudgetTokensMaxEffortCapsBelowMaxTokens(t *testing.T) {
 		})
 	}
 }
+
+func TestStripEmptyThinkingBlocks(t *testing.T) {
+	tests := []struct {
+		name          string
+		input         string
+		wantUnchanged bool
+		wantMsgConts  []int // expected content-array length per message; -1 = string content, skip
+	}{
+		{
+			name:         "strips block with empty thinking and empty signature",
+			input:        `{"messages":[{"role":"assistant","content":[{"type":"thinking","thinking":"","signature":""}]}]}`,
+			wantMsgConts: []int{0},
+		},
+		{
+			name:         "strips block with non-empty thinking but empty signature (OpenAI/Gemini cross-provider replay)",
+			input:        `{"messages":[{"role":"assistant","content":[{"type":"thinking","thinking":"I need to solve this step by step","signature":""}]}]}`,
+			wantMsgConts: []int{0},
+		},
+		{
+			name:         "keeps valid Anthropic block with non-empty thinking and signature",
+			input:        `{"messages":[{"role":"assistant","content":[{"type":"thinking","thinking":"I am reasoning about the answer","signature":"abc123"}]}]}`,
+			wantMsgConts: []int{1},
+		},
+		{
+			// Blocks where thinking="" are also stripped — Anthropic rejects them with
+			// "each thinking block must contain thinking", even if the signature is valid.
+			name:         "strips block with empty thinking even if signature is non-empty",
+			input:        `{"messages":[{"role":"assistant","content":[{"type":"thinking","thinking":"","signature":"abc123"}]}]}`,
+			wantMsgConts: []int{0},
+		},
+		{
+			name:          "no thinking blocks, body returned unchanged",
+			input:         `{"messages":[{"role":"user","content":[{"type":"text","text":"hello"}]}]}`,
+			wantUnchanged: true,
+			wantMsgConts:  []int{1},
+		},
+		{
+			name:         "mixed: strips invalid, keeps valid thinking and text blocks",
+			input:        `{"messages":[{"role":"assistant","content":[{"type":"thinking","thinking":"some reasoning","signature":""},{"type":"thinking","thinking":"valid","signature":"sig1"},{"type":"text","text":"answer"}]}]}`,
+			wantMsgConts: []int{2},
+		},
+		{
+			name:          "redacted_thinking type is not affected",
+			input:         `{"messages":[{"role":"assistant","content":[{"type":"redacted_thinking","data":"opaque"}]}]}`,
+			wantUnchanged: true,
+			wantMsgConts:  []int{1},
+		},
+		{
+			name: "multiple messages: strips invalid in first, keeps valid in second",
+			input: `{"messages":[` +
+				`{"role":"assistant","content":[{"type":"thinking","thinking":"reason","signature":""}]},` +
+				`{"role":"assistant","content":[{"type":"thinking","thinking":"valid","signature":"sig1"},{"type":"text","text":"hi"}]}` +
+				`]}`,
+			wantMsgConts: []int{0, 2},
+		},
+		{
+			name:          "no messages field, body returned unchanged",
+			input:         `{"model":"claude-opus-4-8","max_tokens":1024}`,
+			wantUnchanged: true,
+		},
+		{
+			name:         "string content (not array) is skipped without error",
+			input:        `{"messages":[{"role":"user","content":"hello world"}]}`,
+			wantMsgConts: []int{-1},
+		},
+	}
+
+	for _, tt := range tests {
+		t.Run(tt.name, func(t *testing.T) {
+			out, err := StripEmptyThinkingBlocks([]byte(tt.input))
+			if err != nil {
+				t.Fatalf("unexpected error: %v", err)
+			}
+			if tt.wantUnchanged && string(out) != tt.input {
+				t.Errorf("expected body unchanged\ngot:  %s\nwant: %s", string(out), tt.input)
+			}
+			if tt.wantMsgConts == nil {
+				return
+			}
+
+			var result struct {
+				Messages []struct {
+					Content json.RawMessage `json:"content"`
+				} `json:"messages"`
+			}
+			if jsonErr := json.Unmarshal(out, &result); jsonErr != nil {
+				t.Fatalf("output is not valid JSON: %v", jsonErr)
+			}
+			for mi, wantLen := range tt.wantMsgConts {
+				if mi >= len(result.Messages) {
+					t.Fatalf("message index %d out of range (%d messages in output)", mi, len(result.Messages))
+				}
+				if wantLen == -1 {
+					continue
+				}
+				var blocks []json.RawMessage
+				if jsonErr := json.Unmarshal(result.Messages[mi].Content, &blocks); jsonErr != nil {
+					t.Fatalf("messages[%d].content is not a JSON array: %v", mi, jsonErr)
+				}
+				if len(blocks) != wantLen {
+					t.Errorf("messages[%d] content block count: got %d, want %d\noutput: %s",
+						mi, len(blocks), wantLen, string(out))
+				}
+			}
+		})
+	}
+}
diff --git a/core/schemas/responses.go b/core/schemas/responses.go
index 93daa3989b..006c21567e 100644
--- a/core/schemas/responses.go
+++ b/core/schemas/responses.go
@@ -2634,6 +2634,10 @@ func (resp *BifrostResponsesStreamResponse) WithDefaults() *BifrostResponsesStre
 
 	// Copy nested response (applies defaults)
 	result.Response = resp.Response.WithDefaults()
+	// OpenAI Responses API requires usage=null on response.created; final usage is on response.completed only
+	if resp.Type == ResponsesStreamResponseTypeCreated && result.Response != nil {
+		result.Response.Usage = nil
+	}
 
 	// Copy all streaming-specific fields
 	result.OutputIndex = resp.OutputIndex