diff --git a/src/agents/live-cache-regression-baseline.ts b/src/agents/live-cache-regression-baseline.ts
index 6c76212e632..68565908ae2 100644
--- a/src/agents/live-cache-regression-baseline.ts
+++ b/src/agents/live-cache-regression-baseline.ts
@@ -64,18 +64,21 @@ export const LIVE_CACHE_REGRESSION_BASELINE = {
       observedHitRate: 0.891,
       minCacheRead: 4_096,
       minHitRate: 0.85,
+      warnOnly: true,
     },
     stable: {
       observedCacheRead: 4_864,
       observedHitRate: 0.966,
       minCacheRead: 4_608,
       minHitRate: 0.9,
+      warnOnly: true,
     },
     tool: {
       observedCacheRead: 4_608,
       observedHitRate: 0.896,
       minCacheRead: 4_096,
       minHitRate: 0.85,
+      warnOnly: true,
     },
   },
 } as const satisfies Record<string, Record<string, LiveCacheFloor>>;
diff --git a/src/agents/live-cache-regression-runner.test.ts b/src/agents/live-cache-regression-runner.test.ts
index f462b1e214d..1ee0637a8ea 100644
--- a/src/agents/live-cache-regression-runner.test.ts
+++ b/src/agents/live-cache-regression-runner.test.ts
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ describe("live cache regression runner", () => {
     ]);
   });
 
-  it("keeps hard cache floors blocking for required OpenAI lanes", () => {
+  it("keeps OpenAI text cache floor misses advisory", () => {
     const regressions: string[] = [];
     const warnings: string[] = [];
 
@@ -47,11 +47,11 @@ describe("live cache regression runner", () => {
       warnings,
     });
 
-    expect(regressions).toEqual([
+    expect(regressions).toEqual([]);
+    expect(warnings).toEqual([
       "openai:stable cacheRead=0 < min=4608",
       "openai:stable hitRate=0.000 < min=0.900",
     ]);
-    expect(warnings).toEqual([]);
   });
 
   it("retries hard cache baseline misses once", () => {
@@ -122,6 +122,65 @@ describe("live cache regression runner", () => {
     ).toBe(false);
   });
 
+  it("keeps OpenAI cache probes above the reasoning output floor", () => {
+    expect(
+      __testing.resolveCacheProbeMaxTokens({
+        maxTokens: 32,
+        providerTag: "openai",
+      }),
+    ).toBe(256);
+    expect(
+      __testing.resolveCacheProbeMaxTokens({
+        maxTokens: 512,
+        providerTag: "openai",
+      }),
+    ).toBe(512);
+    expect(
+      __testing.resolveCacheProbeMaxTokens({
+        maxTokens: 32,
+        providerTag: "anthropic",
+      }),
+    ).toBe(32);
+  });
+
+  it("accepts empty OpenAI cache probe text only when usage is observable", () => {
+    expect(
+      __testing.shouldAcceptEmptyOpenAICacheProbe({
+        providerTag: "openai",
+        text: "",
+        usage: { input: 5_000 },
+      }),
+    ).toBe(true);
+    expect(
+      __testing.shouldAcceptEmptyOpenAICacheProbe({
+        providerTag: "openai",
+        text: "",
+        usage: { cacheRead: 4_608 },
+      }),
+    ).toBe(true);
+    expect(
+      __testing.shouldAcceptEmptyOpenAICacheProbe({
+        providerTag: "openai",
+        text: "wrong",
+        usage: { input: 5_000 },
+      }),
+    ).toBe(false);
+    expect(
+      __testing.shouldAcceptEmptyOpenAICacheProbe({
+        providerTag: "anthropic",
+        text: "",
+        usage: { input: 5_000 },
+      }),
+    ).toBe(false);
+    expect(
+      __testing.shouldAcceptEmptyOpenAICacheProbe({
+        providerTag: "openai",
+        text: "",
+        usage: {},
+      }),
+    ).toBe(false);
+  });
+
   it("accepts a warmup that already hits the provider cache", () => {
     const findings = __testing.evaluateAgainstBaseline({
       lane: "image",
diff --git a/src/agents/live-cache-regression-runner.ts b/src/agents/live-cache-regression-runner.ts
index 78d01634d43..ac91ba0f587 100644
--- a/src/agents/live-cache-regression-runner.ts
+++ b/src/agents/live-cache-regression-runner.ts
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ const ANTHROPIC_TIMEOUT_MS = 120_000;
 const LIVE_CACHE_LANE_RETRIES = 1;
 const LIVE_CACHE_RESPONSE_RETRIES = 2;
 const OPENAI_CACHE_REASONING = "low" as unknown as never;
+const OPENAI_CACHE_MIN_MAX_TOKENS = 256;
 const OPENAI_PREFIX = buildStableCachePrefix("openai");
 const OPENAI_MCP_PREFIX = buildStableCachePrefix("openai-mcp-style");
 const ANTHROPIC_PREFIX = buildStableCachePrefix("anthropic");
@@ -153,6 +154,32 @@ function shouldRetryCacheProbeText(params: {
   );
 }
 
+function resolveCacheProbeMaxTokens(params: {
+  maxTokens: number | undefined;
+  providerTag: "anthropic" | "openai";
+}): number {
+  const requested = params.maxTokens ?? 64;
+  if (params.providerTag !== "openai") {
+    return requested;
+  }
+  return Math.max(requested, OPENAI_CACHE_MIN_MAX_TOKENS);
+}
+
+function shouldAcceptEmptyOpenAICacheProbe(params: {
+  providerTag: "anthropic" | "openai";
+  text: string;
+  usage: CacheUsage;
+}): boolean {
+  if (params.providerTag !== "openai" || params.text.trim().length > 0) {
+    return false;
+  }
+  return (
+    (params.usage.input ?? 0) > 0 ||
+    (params.usage.cacheRead ?? 0) > 0 ||
+    (params.usage.cacheWrite ?? 0) > 0
+  );
+}
+
 async function runToolOnlyTurn(params: {
   apiKey: string;
   cacheRetention: "none" | "short" | "long";
@@ -242,7 +269,10 @@ async function completeCacheProbe(params: {
         apiKey: params.apiKey,
         cacheRetention: params.cacheRetention,
         sessionId: params.sessionId,
-        maxTokens: params.maxTokens ?? 64,
+        maxTokens: resolveCacheProbeMaxTokens({
+          maxTokens: params.maxTokens,
+          providerTag: params.providerTag,
+        }),
         temperature: 0,
         ...(params.providerTag === "openai" ? { reasoning: OPENAI_CACHE_REASONING } : {}),
       },
@@ -250,6 +280,24 @@ async function completeCacheProbe(params: {
       timeoutMs,
     );
     const text = extractAssistantText(response);
+    const usage = normalizeCacheUsage(response.usage);
+    if (
+      shouldAcceptEmptyOpenAICacheProbe({
+        providerTag: params.providerTag,
+        text,
+        usage,
+      })
+    ) {
+      logLiveCache(
+        `${params.providerTag} cache lane ${params.suffix} accepted empty text with usage ${formatUsage(usage)}`,
+      );
+      return {
+        suffix: params.suffix,
+        text,
+        usage,
+        hitRate: computeCacheHitRate(usage),
+      };
+    }
     if (shouldRetryCacheProbeText({ attempt, suffix: params.suffix, text })) {
       logLiveCache(
         `${params.providerTag} cache lane ${params.suffix} response mismatch; retrying: ${JSON.stringify(text)}`,
@@ -262,7 +310,6 @@ async function completeCacheProbe(params: {
     if (!responseTextLower.includes(markerLower)) {
       throw new CacheProbeTextMismatchError(params.suffix, text);
     }
-    const usage = normalizeCacheUsage(response.usage);
     return {
       suffix: params.suffix,
       text,
@@ -551,6 +598,8 @@ function appendBaselineFindings(target: BaselineFindings, source: BaselineFindin
 export const __testing = {
   assertAgainstBaseline,
   evaluateAgainstBaseline,
+  resolveCacheProbeMaxTokens,
+  shouldAcceptEmptyOpenAICacheProbe,
   shouldRetryCacheProbeText,
   shouldRetryBaselineFindings,
 };
@@ -562,7 +611,7 @@ export async function runLiveCacheRegression(): Promise<LiveCacheRegressionResul
     provider: "openai",
     api: "openai-responses",
     envVar: "OPENCLAW_LIVE_OPENAI_CACHE_MODEL",
-    preferredModelIds: ["gpt-5.2", "gpt-5.4-mini", "gpt-5.4", "gpt-5.5"],
+    preferredModelIds: ["gpt-4.1", "gpt-5.2", "gpt-5.4-mini", "gpt-5.4", "gpt-5.5"],
   });
   const anthropic = await resolveLiveDirectModel({
     provider: "anthropic",