diff --git a/crates/gateway/src/v1/mod.rs b/crates/gateway/src/v1/mod.rs
index ca18487..cba16a2 100644
--- a/crates/gateway/src/v1/mod.rs
+++ b/crates/gateway/src/v1/mod.rs
@@ -68,6 +68,14 @@ pub struct ChatRequest {
     /// Phase 39+ wires real streaming.
     #[serde(default)]
     pub stream: Option<bool>,
+    /// Non-OpenAI extension. Passes through to the provider's thinking
+    /// toggle. Default: **false** — hot-path discipline for thinking
+    /// models (qwen3.5, qwen3, gpt-oss) that otherwise burn the token
+    /// budget on hidden reasoning before visible output starts,
+    /// producing empty responses. Set true explicitly when calling an
+    /// overseer / reasoning-heavy path.
+    #[serde(default)]
+    pub think: Option<bool>,
 }
 
 #[derive(Serialize)]
diff --git a/crates/gateway/src/v1/ollama.rs b/crates/gateway/src/v1/ollama.rs
index c768960..d7a5e4d 100644
--- a/crates/gateway/src/v1/ollama.rs
+++ b/crates/gateway/src/v1/ollama.rs
@@ -20,11 +20,14 @@ pub async fn chat(client: &AiClient, req: &ChatRequest) -> Result<ChatResponse,
         system: if system.is_empty() { None } else { Some(system) },
         temperature: req.temperature,
         max_tokens: req.max_tokens,
-        // Phase 38 default: leave thinking behavior to the model's
-        // default (None). Phase 21's `think:false` discipline is a
-        // call-site concern for hot-path JSON emitters — Phase 40's
-        // routing engine can set it per task class.
-        think: None,
+        // Phase 38 default: think=false. Hot-path discipline for
+        // thinking models (qwen3.5, qwen3, gpt-oss) which otherwise
+        // burn the max_tokens budget on hidden reasoning before any
+        // visible output, producing empty responses. Callers that
+        // actually want reasoning (overseers, T3+ tiers) opt in via
+        // the `think: true` extension field. Phase 40 routing engine
+        // flips this per task class.
+        think: Some(req.think.unwrap_or(false)),
     };
 
     let t0 = std::time::Instant::now();