diff --git a/crates/tinyinference-llm/src/providers/openai/test.rs b/crates/tinyinference-llm/src/providers/openai/test.rs
index 93013d20..9bc68946 100644
--- a/crates/tinyinference-llm/src/providers/openai/test.rs
+++ b/crates/tinyinference-llm/src/providers/openai/test.rs
@@ -583,6 +583,7 @@ fn parse_error_body_classifies_retryability_by_http_status() {
     let unauthorized = m.parse_error_body(
         401,
         r#"{"error":{"message":"Incorrect API key provided","type":"invalid_request_error","code":"invalid_api_key"}}"#,
+        None,
     );
     assert_eq!(unauthorized.status, Some(401));
     assert!(!unauthorized.retryable, "401 must not be retryable");
@@ -590,14 +591,39 @@ fn parse_error_body_classifies_retryability_by_http_status() {
     let rate_limited = m.parse_error_body(
         429,
         r#"{"error":{"message":"Rate limit reached","type":"requests","code":"rate_limit_exceeded"}}"#,
+        None,
     );
     assert_eq!(rate_limited.status, Some(429));
     assert!(rate_limited.retryable, "429 must be retryable");
 
-    let server_error = m.parse_error_body(500, r#"{"error":{"message":"internal error"}}"#);
+    let server_error = m.parse_error_body(500, r#"{"error":{"message":"internal error"}}"#, None);
     assert!(server_error.retryable, "5xx must be retryable");
 }
 
+#[test]
+fn parse_error_body_carries_retry_after_into_the_structured_error() {
+    // A 429 usually says how long to wait. The retry layer prefers
+    // `retry_after_ms` over its own backoff curve, and the Anthropic
+    // transport already fills it from the same header; this transport used
+    // to hardcode `None`, so a server-supplied wait was never honoured on
+    // OpenAI-compatible endpoints (including the managed backend).
+    let m = model();
+    let body = r#"{"error":{"message":"Upstream rate limit exceeded for model 'x'. Please retry shortly.","type":"rate_limit_error"}}"#;
+
+    let with_header = m.parse_error_body(429, body, Some("7"));
+    assert_eq!(with_header.status, Some(429));
+    assert!(with_header.retryable);
+    assert_eq!(with_header.retry_after_ms, Some(7_000));
+
+    // Without the header there is still no number in the message to fall
+    // back on, so the field stays empty rather than guessing.
+    let without_header = m.parse_error_body(429, body, None);
+    assert_eq!(without_header.retry_after_ms, None);
+
+    let unparseable = m.parse_error_body(429, body, Some("soon"));
+    assert_eq!(unparseable.retry_after_ms, None);
+}
+
 #[test]
 fn reasoning_tag_extraction_defaults_off_for_hosted_openai_only() {
     // Hosted OpenAI never emits inline `<think>` reasoning; unconditional
diff --git a/crates/tinyinference-llm/src/providers/openai/transport.rs b/crates/tinyinference-llm/src/providers/openai/transport.rs
index cf177892..a1970355 100644
--- a/crates/tinyinference-llm/src/providers/openai/transport.rs
+++ b/crates/tinyinference-llm/src/providers/openai/transport.rs
@@ -1491,15 +1491,27 @@ impl OpenAiModel {
         url: &str,
     ) -> Result<reqwest::Response> {
         let response = builder.send().await.map_err(|e| {
-            let error =
-                self.provider_error(format!("{what} to {url} failed: {e}"), None, None, None);
+            let error = self.provider_error(
+                format!("{what} to {url} failed: {e}"),
+                None,
+                None,
+                None,
+                None,
+            );
             Error::Provider(Box::new(error))
         })?;
 
         let status = response.status();
         if !status.is_success() {
+            // Read the header before `text()` consumes the response: a 429's
+            // `Retry-After` is the one wait the retry layer cannot guess.
+            let retry_after = response
+                .headers()
+                .get(reqwest::header::RETRY_AFTER)
+                .and_then(|value| value.to_str().ok())
+                .map(str::to_string);
             let text = response.text().await.unwrap_or_default();
-            let error = self.parse_error_body(status.as_u16(), &text);
+            let error = self.parse_error_body(status.as_u16(), &text, retry_after.as_deref());
             return Err(Error::Provider(Box::new(error)));
         }
         Ok(response)
@@ -1595,6 +1607,7 @@ impl OpenAiModel {
         status: Option<u16>,
         code: Option<String>,
         raw: Option<Value>,
+        retry_after: Option<&str>,
     ) -> ProviderError {
         let message = message.into();
         let retryable =
@@ -1608,13 +1621,18 @@ impl OpenAiModel {
             message,
             retryable,
             raw,
-            retry_after_ms: None,
+            retry_after_ms: tinyinference_core::parse_retry_after_ms(retry_after),
             partial_message: None,
             stop_reason: None,
         }
     }
 
-    pub(super) fn parse_error_body(&self, status: u16, text: &str) -> ProviderError {
+    pub(super) fn parse_error_body(
+        &self,
+        status: u16,
+        text: &str,
+        retry_after: Option<&str>,
+    ) -> ProviderError {
         let raw = serde_json::from_str::<Value>(text).ok();
         let error_obj = raw.as_ref().and_then(|value| value.get("error"));
         let message = error_obj
@@ -1643,7 +1661,7 @@ impl OpenAiModel {
                 missing_model_remediation(kind, status, &message, &self.model, &self.base_url)
             })
             .unwrap_or(message);
-        self.provider_error(message, Some(status), code, raw)
+        self.provider_error(message, Some(status), code, raw, retry_after)
     }
 }
 
@@ -2077,7 +2095,7 @@ fn responses_sse_failure(body: &str, model: &OpenAiModel) -> Option<ProviderErro
             .or_else(|| detail.get("type"))
             .and_then(Value::as_str)
             .map(str::to_string);
-        return Some(model.provider_error(message, None, code, Some(event)));
+        return Some(model.provider_error(message, None, code, Some(event), None));
     }
     None
 }