diff --git a/src/encoding.rs b/src/encoding.rs
index 60257e7..6af13f9 100644
--- a/src/encoding.rs
+++ b/src/encoding.rs
@@ -1329,7 +1329,7 @@ impl StreamableParser {
     /// If `parse_recipient_and_type` is true, tries to parse recipient and content_type from
     /// whitespace-separated tokens (normal header parsing). If false, treats all remaining
     /// text after extracting channel as content (for malformed messages).
-    fn parse_header_from_string(
+    pub(crate) fn parse_header_from_string(
         &self,
         mut header_string: String,
         role: Option<Role>,
@@ -1352,6 +1352,19 @@ impl StreamableParser {
                 new_header.push_str(&header_string[..idx]);
                 new_header.push_str(&after_marker[channel_end..]);
                 header_string = new_header;
+
+                // Trim extraneous channel markers, which are sometimes emittted
+                // with smaller models in multi-turn conversations
+                while let Some(extra_idx) = header_string.find(channel_marker) {
+                    let after = &header_string[extra_idx + channel_marker.len()..];
+                    let end = after
+                        .find(|c: char| c.is_whitespace() || c == '<')
+                        .unwrap_or(after.len());
+                    let mut cleaned = String::new();
+                    cleaned.push_str(&header_string[..extra_idx]);
+                    cleaned.push_str(&after[end..]);
+                    header_string = cleaned;
+                }
             }
         }
 
diff --git a/src/tests.rs b/src/tests.rs
index 7aba934..a518598 100644
--- a/src/tests.rs
+++ b/src/tests.rs
@@ -652,6 +652,10 @@ fn assert_tokens_eq(tokenizer: &CoreBPE, expected: &[Rank], actual: &[Rank]) {
     }
 }
 
+fn parsed_header_to_json(header: &crate::encoding::ParsedHeader) -> serde_json::Value {
+    serde_json::to_value(header).expect("ParsedHeader should be JSON-serializable")
+}
+
 #[test]
 fn test_streamable_parser_tool_call_with_constrain_adjacent() {
     let encoding = load_harmony_encoding(HarmonyEncodingName::HarmonyGptOss).unwrap();
@@ -674,6 +678,131 @@ fn test_streamable_parser_tool_call_with_constrain_adjacent() {
     );
 }
 
+#[test]
+fn test_parse_header_from_string_extracts_channel_recipient_content_type() {
+    let encoding = load_harmony_encoding(HarmonyEncodingName::HarmonyGptOss).unwrap();
+    let parser = StreamableParser::new(encoding, None).unwrap();
+    let header_string =
+        "assistant<|channel|>commentary to=functions.get_weather <|constrain|>json".to_string();
+
+    let (header, remaining) = parser
+        .parse_header_from_string(header_string, None, true)
+        .unwrap();
+
+    assert_eq!(
+        parsed_header_to_json(&header),
+        json!({
+            "author": { "role": "assistant" },
+            "recipient": "functions.get_weather",
+            "channel": "commentary",
+            "content_type": "<|constrain|>json",
+        })
+    );
+    assert_eq!(remaining, None);
+}
+
+#[test]
+fn test_parse_header_from_string_extracts_channel_recipient_content_type_extra_channel() {
+    let encoding = load_harmony_encoding(HarmonyEncodingName::HarmonyGptOss).unwrap();
+    let parser = StreamableParser::new(encoding, None).unwrap();
+    let header_string =
+        "assistant<|channel|>commentary to=functions.get_weather<|channel|>commentary <|constrain|>json".to_string();
+
+    let (header, remaining) = parser
+        .parse_header_from_string(header_string, None, true)
+        .unwrap();
+
+    assert_eq!(
+        parsed_header_to_json(&header),
+        json!({
+            "author": { "role": "assistant" },
+            "recipient": "functions.get_weather",
+            "channel": "commentary",
+            "content_type": "<|constrain|>json",
+        })
+    );
+    assert_eq!(remaining, None);
+}
+
+#[test]
+fn test_parse_header_from_string_extracts_channel_recipient_content_type_extra_channels() {
+    let encoding = load_harmony_encoding(HarmonyEncodingName::HarmonyGptOss).unwrap();
+    let parser = StreamableParser::new(encoding, None).unwrap();
+    let header_string =
+        "assistant<|channel|>commentary to=functions.get_weather<|channel|>analysis <|channel|>commentary <|channel|>final".to_string();
+
+    let (header, remaining) = parser
+        .parse_header_from_string(header_string, None, true)
+        .unwrap();
+
+    assert_eq!(
+        parsed_header_to_json(&header),
+        json!({
+            "author": { "role": "assistant" },
+            "recipient": "functions.get_weather",
+            "channel": "commentary",
+            "content_type": null,
+        })
+    );
+    assert_eq!(remaining, None);
+}
+
+#[test]
+fn test_parse_header_from_string_channel_marker_without_value_errors() {
+    let encoding = load_harmony_encoding(HarmonyEncodingName::HarmonyGptOss).unwrap();
+    let parser = StreamableParser::new(encoding, None).unwrap();
+    let header_string = "assistant<|channel|> to=foo".to_string();
+
+    let result = parser.parse_header_from_string(header_string, None, true);
+
+    assert!(result.is_err());
+}
+
+#[test]
+fn test_parse_header_from_string_extra_channel_no_recipient() {
+    let encoding = load_harmony_encoding(HarmonyEncodingName::HarmonyGptOss).unwrap();
+    let parser = StreamableParser::new(encoding, None).unwrap();
+    let header_string = "assistant<|channel|>commentary<|channel|>analysis".to_string();
+
+    let (header, remaining) = parser
+        .parse_header_from_string(header_string, None, true)
+        .unwrap();
+
+    assert_eq!(
+        parsed_header_to_json(&header),
+        json!({
+            "author": { "role": "assistant" },
+            "recipient": null,
+            "channel": "commentary",
+            "content_type": null,
+        })
+    );
+    assert_eq!(remaining, None);
+}
+
+#[test]
+fn test_parse_header_from_string_extra_channel_adjacent_to_constrain() {
+    let encoding = load_harmony_encoding(HarmonyEncodingName::HarmonyGptOss).unwrap();
+    let parser = StreamableParser::new(encoding, None).unwrap();
+    let header_string =
+        "assistant<|channel|>commentary to=foo<|channel|>analysis<|constrain|>json".to_string();
+
+    let (header, remaining) = parser
+        .parse_header_from_string(header_string, None, true)
+        .unwrap();
+
+    assert_eq!(
+        parsed_header_to_json(&header),
+        json!({
+            "author": { "role": "assistant" },
+            "recipient": "foo",
+            "channel": "commentary",
+            "content_type": "<|constrain|>json",
+        })
+    );
+    assert_eq!(remaining, None);
+}
+
 #[test]
 fn test_missing_message_token_requires_non_strict_mode() {
     let encoding = load_harmony_encoding(HarmonyEncodingName::HarmonyGptOss).unwrap();