diff --git a/Fluid.xcodeproj/project.pbxproj b/Fluid.xcodeproj/project.pbxproj
index f281dd4c..807b588f 100644
--- a/Fluid.xcodeproj/project.pbxproj
+++ b/Fluid.xcodeproj/project.pbxproj
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@
 		272BFB5CB271489892CAE50C /* TemperatureSupportTests.swift in Sources */ = {isa = PBXBuildFile; fileRef = 980330F3CE464336ADCE3E23 /* TemperatureSupportTests.swift */; };
 		A62300000000000000000002 /* AudioBufferConverterTests.swift in Sources */ = {isa = PBXBuildFile; fileRef = A62300000000000000000001 /* AudioBufferConverterTests.swift */; };
 		D1A600000000000000000202 /* SpeakerTurnMergingTests.swift in Sources */ = {isa = PBXBuildFile; fileRef = D1A600000000000000000201 /* SpeakerTurnMergingTests.swift */; };
+		F1BD00000000000000000002 /* StripThinkingTagsTests.swift in Sources */ = {isa = PBXBuildFile; fileRef = F1BD00000000000000000001 /* StripThinkingTagsTests.swift */; };
 		C0DE63600000000000000002 /* AudioEngineRetirementDrainTests.swift in Sources */ = {isa = PBXBuildFile; fileRef = C0DE63600000000000000001 /* AudioEngineRetirementDrainTests.swift */; };
 		DA7100020000000000000002 /* DirectAudioReliabilityTests.swift in Sources */ = {isa = PBXBuildFile; fileRef = DA7100010000000000000001 /* DirectAudioReliabilityTests.swift */; };
 		7CFA1D0B2F500000C0DEF001 /* TypingServiceTransientPasteboardTests.swift in Sources */ = {isa = PBXBuildFile; fileRef = 7CFA1D0B2F500000C0DEF002 /* TypingServiceTransientPasteboardTests.swift */; };
@@ -57,6 +58,7 @@
 		980330F3CE464336ADCE3E23 /* TemperatureSupportTests.swift */ = {isa = PBXFileReference; lastKnownFileType = sourcecode.swift; path = TemperatureSupportTests.swift; sourceTree = "<group>"; };
 		A62300000000000000000001 /* AudioBufferConverterTests.swift */ = {isa = PBXFileReference; lastKnownFileType = sourcecode.swift; path = AudioBufferConverterTests.swift; sourceTree = "<group>"; };
 		D1A600000000000000000201 /* SpeakerTurnMergingTests.swift */ = {isa = PBXFileReference; lastKnownFileType = sourcecode.swift; path = SpeakerTurnMergingTests.swift; sourceTree = "<group>"; };
+		F1BD00000000000000000001 /* StripThinkingTagsTests.swift */ = {isa = PBXFileReference; lastKnownFileType = sourcecode.swift; path = StripThinkingTagsTests.swift; sourceTree = "<group>"; };
 		C0DE63600000000000000001 /* AudioEngineRetirementDrainTests.swift */ = {isa = PBXFileReference; lastKnownFileType = sourcecode.swift; path = AudioEngineRetirementDrainTests.swift; sourceTree = "<group>"; };
 		DA7100010000000000000001 /* DirectAudioReliabilityTests.swift */ = {isa = PBXFileReference; lastKnownFileType = sourcecode.swift; path = DirectAudioReliabilityTests.swift; sourceTree = "<group>"; };
 		7C078D8F2E3B339200FB7CAC /* FluidVoice Debug.app */ = {isa = PBXFileReference; explicitFileType = wrapper.application; includeInIndex = 0; path = "FluidVoice Debug.app"; sourceTree = BUILT_PRODUCTS_DIR; };
@@ -138,6 +140,7 @@
 				980330F3CE464336ADCE3E23 /* TemperatureSupportTests.swift */,
 				A62300000000000000000001 /* AudioBufferConverterTests.swift */,
 				D1A600000000000000000201 /* SpeakerTurnMergingTests.swift */,
+				F1BD00000000000000000001 /* StripThinkingTagsTests.swift */,
 				C0DE63600000000000000001 /* AudioEngineRetirementDrainTests.swift */,
 				DA7100010000000000000001 /* DirectAudioReliabilityTests.swift */,
 				7CFA1D0B2F500000C0DEF002 /* TypingServiceTransientPasteboardTests.swift */,
@@ -300,6 +303,7 @@
 				272BFB5CB271489892CAE50C /* TemperatureSupportTests.swift in Sources */,
 				A62300000000000000000002 /* AudioBufferConverterTests.swift in Sources */,
 				D1A600000000000000000202 /* SpeakerTurnMergingTests.swift in Sources */,
+				F1BD00000000000000000002 /* StripThinkingTagsTests.swift in Sources */,
 				C0DE63600000000000000002 /* AudioEngineRetirementDrainTests.swift in Sources */,
 				DA7100020000000000000002 /* DirectAudioReliabilityTests.swift in Sources */,
 				7CFA1D0B2F500000C0DEF001 /* TypingServiceTransientPasteboardTests.swift in Sources */,
diff --git a/Sources/Fluid/Services/LLMClient.swift b/Sources/Fluid/Services/LLMClient.swift
index a6603b8f..03982e9d 100644
--- a/Sources/Fluid/Services/LLMClient.swift
+++ b/Sources/Fluid/Services/LLMClient.swift
@@ -897,6 +897,13 @@ final class LLMClient {
         var workingText = text
         var thinking = ""
 
+        // Models that emit a proper <think>…</think> block may still leak a stray
+        // </think> later in their answer. Detect up front whether an opening tag was
+        // ever present so the orphan pass below is only applied to the no-opening-tag
+        // case it is meant for (e.g. Nemotron's "thoughts</think>response").
+        let hasOpeningThinkTag = text.range(of: "<think>") != nil
+            || text.range(of: "<thinking>") != nil
+
         // First, handle proper <think>...</think> pairs
         if let regex = try? NSRegularExpression(pattern: Self.thinkingTagPattern, options: []) {
             let range = NSRange(workingText.startIndex..., in: workingText)
@@ -912,8 +919,15 @@ final class LLMClient {
         }
 
         // Second, handle orphan closing tags (content before </think> without opening tag)
-        // This handles cases like "We have a request...</think>Hello!"
-        if let orphanRegex = try? NSRegularExpression(pattern: Self.orphanThinkingPattern, options: []) {
+        // This handles cases like "We have a request...</think>Hello!" (Nemotron-style output
+        // that begins with thinking and uses </think> as the separator, with no opening tag).
+        // Skip this when an opening tag was present: there the thinking section was already
+        // removed above, so any remaining </think> is stray markup and is stripped below
+        // rather than reclassifying the preceding answer text as thinking (which dropped the
+        // text between the real close and the stray close from the visible response).
+        if !hasOpeningThinkTag,
+           let orphanRegex = try? NSRegularExpression(pattern: Self.orphanThinkingPattern, options: [])
+        {
             let range = NSRange(workingText.startIndex..., in: workingText)
             let matches = orphanRegex.matches(in: workingText, options: [], range: range)
 
diff --git a/Tests/FluidDictationIntegrationTests/StripThinkingTagsTests.swift b/Tests/FluidDictationIntegrationTests/StripThinkingTagsTests.swift
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..04fd50bd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Tests/FluidDictationIntegrationTests/StripThinkingTagsTests.swift
@@ -0,0 +1,61 @@
+@testable import FluidVoice_Debug
+import XCTest
+
+// Regression tests for `LLMClient.stripThinkingTags`.
+//
+// Models that emit a proper <think>…</think> block can still leak a stray </think>
+// later in their answer. The orphan pass (meant for Nemotron's no-opening-tag
+// "thoughts</think>response" output) used to reclassify every character between the
+// real close and the stray close as thinking, dropping it from the visible response.
+
+@MainActor
+final class StripThinkingTagsTests: XCTestCase {
+    private let client = LLMClient.shared
+
+    /// A stray closing tag after a real <think>…</think> block must not eat the
+    /// answer text that precedes it. Previously "The literal " was moved into
+    /// thinking and removed from the response.
+    func testStrayCloseAfterRealThinkBlockKeepsContent() {
+        let result = self.client.stripThinkingTags(
+            "<think>reasoning here</think>The literal </think> tag is stray."
+        )
+
+        XCTAssertEqual(result.thinking, "reasoning here", "only the real think block is thinking")
+        XCTAssertTrue(result.content.contains("The literal"), "content before the stray close must stay visible")
+        XCTAssertTrue(result.content.contains("tag is stray"), "content after the stray close must stay visible")
+    }
+
+    /// Nemotron-style output has no opening tag and uses </think> as the separator:
+    /// everything before it is thinking, everything after is content. This must keep
+    /// working (the orphan pass is still applied when no opening tag was present).
+    func testOrphanCloseWithoutOpeningTagStillSplits() {
+        let result = self.client.stripThinkingTags("reasoning here</think>Hello world.")
+
+        XCTAssertEqual(result.thinking, "reasoning here")
+        XCTAssertEqual(result.content, "Hello world.")
+    }
+
+    /// The `<thinking>` variant of the Nemotron separator is handled the same way.
+    func testOrphanCloseWithoutOpeningTagSupportsLongFormTag() {
+        let result = self.client.stripThinkingTags("thoughts</thinking>response")
+
+        XCTAssertEqual(result.thinking, "thoughts")
+        XCTAssertEqual(result.content, "response")
+    }
+
+    /// A normal, well-formed <think>…</think> block is unchanged.
+    func testProperThinkBlockIsUnchanged() {
+        let result = self.client.stripThinkingTags("<think>reasoning here</think>Hello world.")
+
+        XCTAssertEqual(result.thinking, "reasoning here")
+        XCTAssertEqual(result.content, "Hello world.")
+    }
+
+    /// Plain content with no thinking tags at all is returned verbatim.
+    func testPlainContentWithNoTagsIsUnchanged() {
+        let result = self.client.stripThinkingTags("Just a normal response with no tags at all.")
+
+        XCTAssertEqual(result.thinking, "")
+        XCTAssertEqual(result.content, "Just a normal response with no tags at all.")
+    }
+}