diff --git a/src/ai_client.py b/src/ai_client.py
index 215ceeda..028c4b14 100644
--- a/src/ai_client.py
+++ b/src/ai_client.py
@@ -2318,10 +2318,11 @@ def _send_deepseek(md_content: str, user_message: str, base_dir: str,
      _append_comms("IN", "response", {"round": round_idx, "text": "(No choices returned)", "usage": response_data.get("usage", {})})
      break
     choice = choices[0]
-    message = choice.get("message", {})
-    assistant_text = message.get("content", "")
-    tool_calls_raw = message.get("tool_calls", [])
-    reasoning_content = message.get("reasoning_content", "")
+    from src.openai_schemas import ChatMessage as _CM
+    message = _CM.from_dict(choice.get("message", {}))
+    assistant_text = message.content or ""
+    tool_calls_raw = [tc.to_dict() for tc in message.tool_calls] if message.tool_calls else []
+    reasoning_content = choice.get("message", {}).get("reasoning_content", "")
     finish_reason = choice.get("finish_reason", "stop")
     usage = response_data.get("usage", {})
 
@@ -2451,7 +2452,8 @@ def _repair_minimax_history(history: list[Metadata]) -> None:
   elif isinstance(tc, dict) and tc.get("id"): call_ids.append(tc["id"])
  
  for cid in call_ids:
-  already_has = any(m.get("role") == "tool" and m.get("tool_call_id") == cid for m in history[-len(call_ids)-1:])
+  from src.openai_schemas import ChatMessage as _CM
+  already_has = any(_CM.from_dict(m).role == "tool" and _CM.from_dict(m).tool_call_id == cid for m in history[-len(call_ids)-1:])
   if not already_has:
    history.append({
      "role":         "tool",
diff --git a/src/openai_schemas.py b/src/openai_schemas.py
index 7fab91e3..173eec2d 100644
--- a/src/openai_schemas.py
+++ b/src/openai_schemas.py
@@ -78,7 +78,12 @@ class ChatMessage:
   tool_calls = None
   if raw_tool_calls is not None:
    tool_calls = tuple(ToolCall.from_dict(tc) for tc in raw_tool_calls)
-  return cls(**{**_from_dict_filter(cls, data), "tool_calls": tool_calls})
+  filtered = _from_dict_filter(cls, data)
+  if "role" not in filtered:
+   filtered["role"] = "assistant"
+  if "content" not in filtered:
+   filtered["content"] = ""
+  return cls(**{**filtered, "tool_calls": tool_calls})
 
 
 @dataclass(frozen=True)