diff --git a/open-sse/transformer/responsesTransformer.js b/open-sse/transformer/responsesTransformer.js
index ac84db20..8b77eaf2 100644
--- a/open-sse/transformer/responsesTransformer.js
+++ b/open-sse/transformer/responsesTransformer.js
@@ -333,6 +333,9 @@ export function createResponsesApiTransformStream(logger = null) {
// Regular text content
if (content) {
+ // The answer starts, so thinking is over. Upstreams that send reasoning via
+ // reasoning_content never emit "", so close it here rather than at finish.
+ closeReasoning(controller);
if (!state.msgItemAdded[idx]) {
state.msgItemAdded[idx] = true;
const msgId = `msg_${state.responseId}_${idx}`;
@@ -372,6 +375,7 @@ export function createResponsesApiTransformStream(logger = null) {
// Handle tool_calls
if (delta.tool_calls) {
+ closeReasoning(controller);
closeMessage(controller, idx);
for (const tc of delta.tool_calls) {
diff --git a/open-sse/translator/response/claude-to-openai.js b/open-sse/translator/response/claude-to-openai.js
index 80de2f18..42a82a66 100644
--- a/open-sse/translator/response/claude-to-openai.js
+++ b/open-sse/translator/response/claude-to-openai.js
@@ -59,10 +59,6 @@ export function claudeToOpenAIResponse(chunk, state) {
}
if (block?.type === CLAUDE_BLOCK.TEXT) {
state.textBlockStarted = true;
- } else if (block?.type === CLAUDE_BLOCK.THINKING) {
- state.inThinkingBlock = true;
- state.currentBlockIndex = chunk.index;
- results.push(createChunk(state, { content: "" }));
} else if (block?.type === CLAUDE_BLOCK.TOOL_USE) {
const toolCallIndex = state.toolCallIndex++;
// Restore original tool name from mapping (Claude OAuth)
@@ -89,6 +85,8 @@ export function claudeToOpenAIResponse(chunk, state) {
if (delta?.type === "text_delta" && delta.text) {
results.push(createChunk(state, { content: delta.text }));
} else if (delta?.type === "thinking_delta" && delta.thinking) {
+ // Thinking travels only in reasoning_content. No "" markers in
+ // content: OpenAI-format clients render them as literal text.
results.push(createChunk(state, reasoningDelta(delta.thinking)));
} else if (delta?.type === "input_json_delta" && delta.partial_json) {
const toolCall = state.toolCalls.get(chunk.index);
@@ -112,10 +110,6 @@ export function claudeToOpenAIResponse(chunk, state) {
state.serverToolBlockIndex = -1;
break;
}
- if (state.inThinkingBlock && chunk.index === state.currentBlockIndex) {
- results.push(createChunk(state, { content: "" }));
- state.inThinkingBlock = false;
- }
state.textBlockStarted = false;
state.thinkingBlockStarted = false;
break;
diff --git a/open-sse/translator/response/openai-responses.js b/open-sse/translator/response/openai-responses.js
index c3d16448..80f8a785 100644
--- a/open-sse/translator/response/openai-responses.js
+++ b/open-sse/translator/response/openai-responses.js
@@ -129,12 +129,16 @@ export function openaiToOpenAIResponsesResponse(chunk, state) {
}
if (content) {
+ // The answer starts, so thinking is over. Upstreams that send reasoning via
+ // reasoning_content never emit "", so close it here rather than at finish.
+ closeReasoning(state, emit);
emitTextContent(state, emit, idx, content);
}
}
// Handle tool_calls (empty array is truthy; require a real call)
if (delta.tool_calls && delta.tool_calls.length) {
+ closeReasoning(state, emit);
closeMessage(state, emit, idx);
for (const tc of delta.tool_calls) {
emitToolCall(state, emit, tc);
diff --git a/tests/translator/__snapshots__/golden-response-stream.test.js.snap b/tests/translator/__snapshots__/golden-response-stream.test.js.snap
index 190047fe..c7050947 100644
--- a/tests/translator/__snapshots__/golden-response-stream.test.js.snap
+++ b/tests/translator/__snapshots__/golden-response-stream.test.js.snap
@@ -17,21 +17,6 @@ exports[`GOLDEN response stream: Claude → OpenAI > text + thinking + tool_use
"model": "claude-opus-4-6",
"object": "chat.completion.chunk",
},
- {
- "choices": [
- {
- "delta": {
- "content": "",
- },
- "finish_reason": null,
- "index": 0,
- },
- ],
- "created": 0,
- "id": "chatcmpl-msg_1",
- "model": "claude-opus-4-6",
- "object": "chat.completion.chunk",
- },
{
"choices": [
{
@@ -47,21 +32,6 @@ exports[`GOLDEN response stream: Claude → OpenAI > text + thinking + tool_use
"model": "claude-opus-4-6",
"object": "chat.completion.chunk",
},
- {
- "choices": [
- {
- "delta": {
- "content": "",
- },
- "finish_reason": null,
- "index": 0,
- },
- ],
- "created": 0,
- "id": "chatcmpl-msg_1",
- "model": "claude-opus-4-6",
- "object": "chat.completion.chunk",
- },
{
"choices": [
{
diff --git a/tests/unit/claude-thinking-stream-boundaries.test.js b/tests/unit/claude-thinking-stream-boundaries.test.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..99ab7925
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/unit/claude-thinking-stream-boundaries.test.js
@@ -0,0 +1,175 @@
+// Thinking/answer boundaries across the OpenAI pivot.
+//
+// claude-to-openai used to mark a Claude thinking block with literal "" /
+// "" chunks in delta.content while the thinking text itself went out in
+// reasoning_content. The pair always arrived empty and adjacent, so OpenAI-format
+// clients (opencode, DeepSeek Harness, ...) rendered a bare "" above
+// every answer (#3399, #4199).
+//
+// The Responses translators leaned on that "" marker as their only signal
+// to close the reasoning item before the answer. Dropping the marker therefore
+// requires closing reasoning when the first message text or tool call arrives —
+// which also fixes item ordering for every reasoning_content provider (DeepSeek,
+// GLM, Qwen, Kimi), not just Claude.
+import { describe, it, expect } from "vitest";
+import { claudeToOpenAIResponse } from "../../open-sse/translator/response/claude-to-openai.js";
+import { FORMATS } from "../../open-sse/translator/formats.js";
+import { createSSETransformStreamWithLogger } from "../../open-sse/utils/stream.js";
+import { createResponsesApiTransformStream } from "../../open-sse/transformer/responsesTransformer.js";
+
+const THINKING = "391 factors as 17 times 23, so it's not prime.";
+const ANSWER = "No — 391 = 17 × 23.";
+
+function claudeThinkingStream({ thinkingText = THINKING, answer = ANSWER } = {}) {
+ const thinkingDeltas = thinkingText
+ ? [{ type: "content_block_delta", index: 0, delta: { type: "thinking_delta", thinking: thinkingText } }]
+ : [];
+ return [
+ { type: "message_start", message: { id: "msg_1", model: "claude-opus-5", role: "assistant", content: [], usage: { input_tokens: 10, output_tokens: 0 } } },
+ { type: "content_block_start", index: 0, content_block: { type: "thinking", thinking: "", signature: "" } },
+ ...thinkingDeltas,
+ { type: "content_block_delta", index: 0, delta: { type: "signature_delta", signature: "sig_abc" } },
+ { type: "content_block_stop", index: 0 },
+ { type: "content_block_start", index: 1, content_block: { type: "text", text: "" } },
+ { type: "content_block_delta", index: 1, delta: { type: "text_delta", text: answer } },
+ { type: "content_block_stop", index: 1 },
+ { type: "message_delta", delta: { stop_reason: "end_turn", stop_sequence: null }, usage: { output_tokens: 20 } },
+ { type: "message_stop" },
+ ];
+}
+
+function runClaudeToOpenAI(events) {
+ const state = {};
+ const out = [];
+ for (const ev of events) {
+ const r = claudeToOpenAIResponse(ev, state);
+ if (Array.isArray(r)) out.push(...r);
+ else if (r) out.push(r);
+ }
+ const deltas = out.map((c) => c.choices?.[0]?.delta || {});
+ return {
+ content: deltas.map((d) => d.content || "").join(""),
+ reasoning: deltas.map((d) => d.reasoning_content || "").join(""),
+ contentChunks: deltas.map((d) => d.content).filter((c) => c != null),
+ };
+}
+
+async function drain(stream) {
+ const reader = stream.getReader();
+ const decoder = new TextDecoder();
+ let text = "";
+ for (;;) {
+ const { value, done } = await reader.read();
+ if (done) break;
+ text += typeof value === "string" ? value : decoder.decode(value, { stream: true });
+ }
+ return text + decoder.decode();
+}
+
+function sseStream(chunks) {
+ const encoder = new TextEncoder();
+ const body = chunks.map((c) => `data: ${JSON.stringify(c)}\n\n`).join("") + "data: [DONE]\n\n";
+ return new ReadableStream({
+ start(controller) {
+ controller.enqueue(encoder.encode(body));
+ controller.close();
+ },
+ });
+}
+
+// Upstream speaks `upstream`, client speaks the Responses API.
+async function viaResponsesTranslator(chunks, upstream, provider, model) {
+ const out = sseStream(chunks).pipeThrough(
+ createSSETransformStreamWithLogger(upstream, FORMATS.OPENAI_RESPONSES, provider, null, null, model),
+ );
+ return parseEvents(await drain(out));
+}
+
+async function viaResponsesTransformer(chunks) {
+ return parseEvents(await drain(sseStream(chunks).pipeThrough(createResponsesApiTransformStream(null))));
+}
+
+function parseEvents(text) {
+ return text
+ .split("\n")
+ .filter((l) => l.startsWith("data: ") && l.slice(6).trim() !== "[DONE]")
+ .map((l) => {
+ try { return JSON.parse(l.slice(6)); } catch { return null; }
+ })
+ .filter(Boolean);
+}
+
+// Index of the event announcing/finishing an output item of the given type.
+function itemEventIndex(events, eventType, itemType) {
+ return events.findIndex((e) => e.type === eventType && e.item?.type === itemType);
+}
+
+function expectReasoningClosedBefore(events, nextItemType) {
+ const reasoningDone = itemEventIndex(events, "response.output_item.done", "reasoning");
+ const nextAdded = itemEventIndex(events, "response.output_item.added", nextItemType);
+ expect(reasoningDone).toBeGreaterThanOrEqual(0);
+ expect(nextAdded).toBeGreaterThanOrEqual(0);
+ expect(reasoningDone).toBeLessThan(nextAdded);
+}
+
+describe("claude-to-openai: thinking never leaks markers into content", () => {
+ it("summarized thinking goes to reasoning_content, answer to content, no text", () => {
+ const { content, reasoning, contentChunks } = runClaudeToOpenAI(claudeThinkingStream());
+ expect(reasoning).toBe(THINKING);
+ expect(content).toBe(ANSWER);
+ expect(contentChunks.some((c) => c.includes("") || c.includes(""))).toBe(false);
+ });
+
+ it("signature-only (redacted) thinking yields no stray markers", () => {
+ const { content, reasoning } = runClaudeToOpenAI(claudeThinkingStream({ thinkingText: "" }));
+ expect(reasoning).toBe("");
+ expect(content).toBe(ANSWER);
+ });
+});
+
+describe("Responses translator: reasoning closes before the answer", () => {
+ it("Claude upstream: reasoning item is done before the message item opens", async () => {
+ const events = await viaResponsesTranslator(claudeThinkingStream(), FORMATS.CLAUDE, "claude", "claude-opus-5");
+ expectReasoningClosedBefore(events, "message");
+ const summary = events.find((e) => e.type === "response.reasoning_summary_text.done");
+ expect(summary?.text).toBe(THINKING);
+ });
+
+ it("reasoning_content upstream: reasoning item is done before the message item opens", async () => {
+ const events = await viaResponsesTranslator([
+ { id: "c1", choices: [{ index: 0, delta: { role: "assistant", reasoning_content: THINKING } }] },
+ { id: "c1", choices: [{ index: 0, delta: { content: ANSWER } }] },
+ { id: "c1", choices: [{ index: 0, delta: {}, finish_reason: "stop" }] },
+ ], FORMATS.OPENAI, "deepseek", "deepseek-flash");
+ expectReasoningClosedBefore(events, "message");
+ });
+
+ it("reasoning_content upstream: reasoning item is done before a tool call opens", async () => {
+ const events = await viaResponsesTranslator([
+ { id: "c2", choices: [{ index: 0, delta: { role: "assistant", reasoning_content: THINKING } }] },
+ { id: "c2", choices: [{ index: 0, delta: { tool_calls: [{ index: 0, id: "call_1", type: "function", function: { name: "lookup", arguments: "{}" } }] } }] },
+ { id: "c2", choices: [{ index: 0, delta: {}, finish_reason: "tool_calls" }] },
+ ], FORMATS.OPENAI, "deepseek", "deepseek-flash");
+ expectReasoningClosedBefore(events, "function_call");
+ });
+});
+
+describe("responsesTransformer (/v1/responses handler): reasoning closes before the answer", () => {
+ it("reasoning item is done before the message item opens", async () => {
+ const events = await viaResponsesTransformer([
+ { id: "c3", choices: [{ index: 0, delta: { role: "assistant", reasoning_content: THINKING } }] },
+ { id: "c3", choices: [{ index: 0, delta: { content: ANSWER } }] },
+ { id: "c3", choices: [{ index: 0, delta: {}, finish_reason: "stop" }] },
+ ]);
+ expectReasoningClosedBefore(events, "message");
+ });
+
+ it("reasoning item is done before a tool call opens", async () => {
+ const events = await viaResponsesTransformer([
+ { id: "c4", choices: [{ index: 0, delta: { role: "assistant", reasoning_content: THINKING } }] },
+ { id: "c4", choices: [{ index: 0, delta: { tool_calls: [{ index: 0, id: "call_2", type: "function", function: { name: "lookup", arguments: "{}" } }] } }] },
+ { id: "c4", choices: [{ index: 0, delta: {}, finish_reason: "tool_calls" }] },
+ ]);
+ expectReasoningClosedBefore(events, "function_call");
+ });
+});