diff --git a/open-sse/executors/kimchi.js b/open-sse/executors/kimchi.js
index 8c6f7687..83fe6a48 100644
--- a/open-sse/executors/kimchi.js
+++ b/open-sse/executors/kimchi.js
@@ -67,6 +67,25 @@ function stripToolArtifacts(body) {
   });
 }
 
+// Strip `reasoning_content` echoed by clients on assistant messages — but
+// only when it's a real thinking block. `DefaultExecutor.transformRequest`
+// runs `injectReasoningContent` first and may inject a 1-char placeholder
+// (" ") for upstream validation; the placeholder is small (no token cost
+// worth stripping) and stripping it would re-trigger upstream to complain
+// about missing reasoning on the next turn. Threshold matches the
+// placeholder length with a safety margin.
+const REASONING_PLACEHOLDER_MAX_LEN = 8;
+
+export function stripReasoningContent(body) {
+  if (!Array.isArray(body?.messages)) return;
+  for (const msg of body.messages) {
+    if (msg && msg.role === "assistant" && typeof msg.reasoning_content === "string"
+        && msg.reasoning_content.length > REASONING_PLACEHOLDER_MAX_LEN) {
+      delete msg.reasoning_content;
+    }
+  }
+}
+
 function isAnthropicBackedKimchiModel(model) {
   const meta = getCachedKimchiModelMetadata(model);
   if (meta?.provider === "anthropic" || meta?.upstreamProvider === "anthropic") return true;
@@ -96,6 +115,7 @@ export class KimchiExecutor extends DefaultExecutor {
 
     stripMessageArtifacts(transformed);
     stripToolArtifacts(transformed);
+    stripReasoningContent(transformed);
     return transformed;
   }
 }
diff --git a/tests/unit/kimchi-strip-reasoning.test.js b/tests/unit/kimchi-strip-reasoning.test.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..0cb55dfb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/unit/kimchi-strip-reasoning.test.js
@@ -0,0 +1,128 @@
+/**
+ * Kimchi executor: strip reasoning_content echoed by clients.
+ *
+ * Background: when 9Router streams a thinking model (deepseek-r1,
+ * minimax-m3) to a client, the response carries `reasoning_content`.
+ * Most OpenAI-compatible SDKs echo the whole history on the next turn,
+ * so Kimchi's upstream counts the scratch block as input tokens.
+ * Multi-turn conversations balloon to 100k+ input tokens and the model
+ * starts returning empty content.
+ *
+ * `stripReasoningContent` is intentionally conservative: it only strips
+ * `reasoning_content` that is clearly a real thinking block. The 1-char
+ * placeholder that `injectReasoningContent` (in `DefaultExecutor`) may
+ * insert for upstream validation is preserved — stripping it would
+ * re-trigger upstream complaints about missing reasoning on the next
+ * turn.
+ */
+import { describe, it } from "node:test";
+import assert from "node:assert/strict";
+
+import KimchiExecutor, { stripReasoningContent } from "../../open-sse/executors/kimchi.js";
+import DefaultExecutor from "../../open-sse/executors/default.js";
+
+describe("kimchi stripReasoningContent", () => {
+  it("removes long reasoning_content from assistant messages but keeps content", () => {
+    const body = {
+      messages: [
+        { role: "user", content: "solve x+5=12" },
+        {
+          role: "assistant",
+          content: "x = 7",
+          reasoning_content: "subtract 5 from both sides ... (long reasoning block)",
+        },
+        { role: "user", content: "now try x+10=20" },
+      ],
+    };
+    stripReasoningContent(body);
+    assert.equal(body.messages[1].reasoning_content, undefined);
+    assert.equal(body.messages[1].content, "x = 7");
+  });
+
+  it("preserves the 1-char placeholder that injectReasoningContent sets", () => {
+    // `injectReasoningContent` may insert " " (single space) on assistant
+    // messages so the upstream's validation doesn't complain about missing
+    // reasoning. Stripping that placeholder would defeat its purpose.
+    const body = {
+      messages: [
+        { role: "user", content: "hi" },
+        { role: "assistant", content: "hello", reasoning_content: " " },
+      ],
+    };
+    stripReasoningContent(body);
+    assert.equal(body.messages[1].reasoning_content, " ");
+    assert.equal(body.messages[1].content, "hello");
+  });
+
+  it("preserves short custom reasoning under the threshold", () => {
+    // Anything ≤8 chars is treated as a placeholder-shaped value, kept
+    // verbatim. Real thinking content from a thinking model is always
+    // well above this threshold.
+    const body = {
+      messages: [
+        { role: "assistant", content: "ok", reasoning_content: "short" },
+      ],
+    };
+    stripReasoningContent(body);
+    assert.equal(body.messages[0].reasoning_content, "short");
+  });
+
+  it("leaves non-assistant messages untouched", () => {
+    const body = {
+      messages: [
+        { role: "user", content: "hi" },
+        { role: "system", content: "be helpful" },
+      ],
+    };
+    stripReasoningContent(body);
+    assert.equal(body.messages[0].content, "hi");
+    assert.equal(body.messages[1].content, "be helpful");
+  });
+
+  it("returns early on missing/empty messages array", () => {
+    assert.doesNotThrow(() => stripReasoningContent({}));
+    assert.doesNotThrow(() => stripReasoningContent({ messages: null }));
+    assert.doesNotThrow(() => stripReasoningContent({ messages: [] }));
+  });
+
+  it("ignores assistant messages that have no reasoning_content", () => {
+    const body = {
+      messages: [
+        { role: "user", content: "hi" },
+        { role: "assistant", content: "hello" },
+      ],
+    };
+    stripReasoningContent(body);
+    assert.deepEqual(body.messages[1], { role: "assistant", content: "hello" });
+  });
+
+  it("handles multi-turn: strips old turns, keeps recent one", () => {
+    const LONG = "x".repeat(1000);
+    const body = {
+      messages: [
+        { role: "user", content: "q1" },
+        { role: "assistant", content: "a1", reasoning_content: LONG },
+        { role: "user", content: "q2" },
+        { role: "assistant", content: "a2", reasoning_content: " " }, // placeholder
+      ],
+    };
+    stripReasoningContent(body);
+    assert.equal(body.messages[1].reasoning_content, undefined);
+    assert.equal(body.messages[3].reasoning_content, " ");
+  });
+});
+
+describe("kimchi executor wiring", () => {
+  it("KimchiExecutor extends DefaultExecutor via prototype chain", () => {
+    const inst = new KimchiExecutor();
+    assert.ok(
+      inst instanceof DefaultExecutor,
+      "KimchiExecutor must extend DefaultExecutor so transformRequest runs through super",
+    );
+  });
+
+  it("default export is KimchiExecutor class", () => {
+    assert.equal(typeof KimchiExecutor, "function");
+    assert.equal(KimchiExecutor.name, "KimchiExecutor");
+  });
+});