diff --git a/agent/chat_completion_helpers.py b/agent/chat_completion_helpers.py
index 46411c1a79..cc3d10ae84 100644
--- a/agent/chat_completion_helpers.py
+++ b/agent/chat_completion_helpers.py
@@ -2365,7 +2365,7 @@ def cleanup_task_resources(agent, task_id: str) -> None:
 
 
 def _build_partial_stream_stub(role, full_content, full_reasoning, model_name, usage_obj, *,
-    dropped_tool_names=None, overflow_terminal=False):
+    dropped_tool_names=None, overflow_terminal=False, api_mode=None):
     """Stub for an SSE stream that ended without ``finish_reason`` after
     delivering content. Tagged ``PARTIAL_STREAM_STUB_ID`` + ``FINISH_REASON_LENGTH``
     so the loop enters its continuation/retry path instead of accepting
@@ -2375,7 +2375,26 @@ def _build_partial_stream_stub(role, full_content, full_reasoning, model_name, u
     context-overflow error. Seeding the recovered text as a continuation stub
     would grow every later request into the same overflow (#106260); the loop
     treats the marker as terminal and ends the turn via the recovery contract.
+
+    ``api_mode="anthropic_messages"`` returns a Messages-shaped stub (``content``
+    block list + ``stop_reason="max_tokens"``) so AnthropicTransport validates it
+    and the loop continues instead of entering the invalid-response retry ladder
+    (#45908). Empty content keeps one empty text block: validate_response rejects
+    an empty list for ``max_tokens``.
     """
+    if api_mode == "anthropic_messages":
+        return SimpleNamespace(
+            id=PARTIAL_STREAM_STUB_ID,
+            type="message",
+            role=role,
+            model=model_name,
+            content=[SimpleNamespace(type="text", text=full_content or "")],
+            stop_reason="max_tokens",
+            stop_sequence=None,
+            usage=usage_obj,
+            _dropped_tool_names=dropped_tool_names or None,
+            _overflow_terminal=overflow_terminal,
+        )
     return SimpleNamespace(
         id=PARTIAL_STREAM_STUB_ID,
         model=model_name,
@@ -3825,6 +3844,7 @@ class _StreamingCall(StreamingWaitMonitor):
             return _build_partial_stream_stub(
                 "assistant", None, None, getattr(self.agent, "model", "unknown"), None,
                 dropped_tool_names=_partial_names, overflow_terminal=True,
+                api_mode=getattr(self.agent, "api_mode", None),
             )
         if not _partial_names:
             logger.warning(
@@ -3832,7 +3852,8 @@ class _StreamingCall(StreamingWaitMonitor):
                 "recovered content so the loop can continue from where the stream died: %s",
                 len(_partial_text or ""), error)
         _stub = _build_partial_stream_stub("assistant", _partial_text, None,
-            getattr(self.agent, "model", "unknown"), None, dropped_tool_names=_partial_names)
+            getattr(self.agent, "model", "unknown"), None, dropped_tool_names=_partial_names,
+            api_mode=getattr(self.agent, "api_mode", None))
         if _cls is not None and _cls.reason == FailoverReason.content_policy_blocked:
             _stub._content_filter_terminated = True
         return _stub