diff --git a/tests/tools/test_schema_sanitizer.py b/tests/tools/test_schema_sanitizer.py
index 018f621d97..e6b11bea81 100644
--- a/tests/tools/test_schema_sanitizer.py
+++ b/tests/tools/test_schema_sanitizer.py
@@ -156,6 +156,20 @@ def test_required_pruned_to_existing_properties():
     assert out[0]["function"]["parameters"]["required"] == ["name"]
 
 
+def test_empty_required_key_survives_sanitization():
+    """A ``required`` list that is empty (or emptied by pruning) is kept as ``[]`` — strict
+    OpenAI-compatible proxies read a missing key as ``null`` and 400 the whole request."""
+    declared_empty = _tool("t", {"type": "object", "properties": {}, "required": []})
+    all_pruned = _tool("u", {
+        "type": "object",
+        "properties": {"name": {"type": "string"}},
+        "required": ["missing_field"],
+    })
+    out = sanitize_tool_schemas([declared_empty, all_pruned])
+    assert out[0]["function"]["parameters"]["required"] == []
+    assert out[1]["function"]["parameters"]["required"] == []
+
+
 def test_well_formed_schema_unchanged():
     schema = {
         "type": "object",
diff --git a/tools/schema_sanitizer.py b/tools/schema_sanitizer.py
index 644232882e..a8e8d8e627 100644
--- a/tools/schema_sanitizer.py
+++ b/tools/schema_sanitizer.py
@@ -315,11 +315,9 @@ def _sanitize_node(node: Any, path: str) -> Any:
         if not isinstance(out.get("properties"), dict):
             out["properties"] = {}
         if isinstance(out.get("required"), list):
-            valid = [r for r in out["required"] if isinstance(r, str) and r in out["properties"]]
-            if valid:
-                out["required"] = valid
-            else:
-                del out["required"]
+            # Keep the key even when nothing survives: ``required: []`` is valid everywhere,
+            # while a missing key reads as ``null`` on strict OpenAI-compatible proxies.
+            out["required"] = [r for r in out["required"] if isinstance(r, str) and r in out["properties"]]
     return out