diff --git a/crates/switchyard-translation/src/codecs/anthropic/buffered.rs b/crates/switchyard-translation/src/codecs/anthropic/buffered.rs
index c6cdcfba5..8ba1c5929 100644
--- a/crates/switchyard-translation/src/codecs/anthropic/buffered.rs
+++ b/crates/switchyard-translation/src/codecs/anthropic/buffered.rs
@@ -321,6 +321,17 @@ impl FormatCodec for AnthropicMessagesCodec {
         _policy: &TranslationPolicy,
     ) -> Result<DecodedResponse> {
         let body = crate::util::object(body, "$")?;
+        // 200 with an error object and no content blocks fails the turn.
+        if let Some(error) = body.get("error").filter(|error| error.is_object())
+            && body
+                .get("content")
+                .and_then(Value::as_array)
+                .is_none_or(Vec::is_empty)
+        {
+            return Err(TranslationError::UpstreamFailure {
+                error: error.clone(),
+            });
+        }
         let mut content = Vec::new();
         if let Some(blocks) = body.get("content").and_then(Value::as_array) {
             for (index, block) in blocks.iter().enumerate() {
diff --git a/crates/switchyard-translation/src/codecs/openai_chat/buffered.rs b/crates/switchyard-translation/src/codecs/openai_chat/buffered.rs
index d90423518..16fde0cef 100644
--- a/crates/switchyard-translation/src/codecs/openai_chat/buffered.rs
+++ b/crates/switchyard-translation/src/codecs/openai_chat/buffered.rs
@@ -269,6 +269,21 @@ impl FormatCodec for OpenAiChatCodec {
         _policy: &TranslationPolicy,
     ) -> Result<DecodedResponse> {
         let object = object(body, "$")?;
+        // 200 with no choices, or an object at choices[0].error, fails the turn.
+        // A top-level error beside choices does not.
+        let error = match object
+            .get("choices")
+            .and_then(Value::as_array)
+            .and_then(|choices| choices.first())
+        {
+            Some(choice) => choice.get("error"),
+            None => object.get("error"),
+        };
+        if let Some(error) = error.filter(|error| error.is_object()) {
+            return Err(TranslationError::UpstreamFailure {
+                error: error.clone(),
+            });
+        }
         let mut response = AggLlmResponse {
             id: object
                 .get("id")
diff --git a/crates/switchyard-translation/tests/response_translation.rs b/crates/switchyard-translation/tests/response_translation.rs
index 4280fa3f1..aa8130ce5 100644
--- a/crates/switchyard-translation/tests/response_translation.rs
+++ b/crates/switchyard-translation/tests/response_translation.rs
@@ -1057,6 +1057,49 @@ fn failed_responses_return_upstream_failure_with_provider_message() -> TestResul
     Ok(())
 }
 
+#[test]
+fn error_bodies_return_upstream_failure_with_provider_message() -> TestResult {
+    let engine = TranslationEngine::default();
+    let policy = TranslationPolicy::default();
+    let cases = [
+        (
+            WireFormat::OpenAiChat,
+            json!({"choices": [], "error": {"message": "deterministic upstream failure"}}),
+            json!({"choices": [{"message": {"role": "assistant", "content": "hi"}}], "error": {}}),
+        ),
+        (
+            WireFormat::OpenAiChat,
+            json!({"choices": [{"message": {"role": "assistant", "content": "partial"}, "finish_reason": null, "error": {"message": "deterministic upstream failure"}}]}),
+            json!({"choices": [{"message": {"role": "assistant", "content": "hi"}, "finish_reason": "stop", "error": null}]}),
+        ),
+        (
+            WireFormat::AnthropicMessages,
+            json!({"type": "error", "error": {"type": "api_error", "message": "deterministic upstream failure"}}),
+            json!({"type": "message", "content": [{"type": "text", "text": "hi"}], "error": {}}),
+        ),
+    ];
+    for (source, error_body, output_body) in cases {
+        let error = engine
+            .translate_response(source, WireFormat::OpenAiChat, &error_body, &policy)
+            .err()
+            .ok_or_else(|| format!("error body decoded as a completion: {error_body}"))?;
+        assert_eq!(error.kind(), "UpstreamFailure", "input: {error_body}");
+        assert!(
+            error.to_string().contains("deterministic upstream failure"),
+            "input: {error_body}"
+        );
+
+        let output = engine
+            .translate_response(source, WireFormat::OpenAiChat, &output_body, &policy)?
+            .body;
+        assert_eq!(
+            output["choices"][0]["message"]["content"], "hi",
+            "input: {output_body}"
+        );
+    }
+    Ok(())
+}
+
 // Verifies a moderation stop stays distinguishable from a normal turn in both
 // directions, and that a named refusal category survives re-encoding.
 #[test]