diff --git a/packages/ai/src/route/transport/http.ts b/packages/ai/src/route/transport/http.ts
index 5e330f61d5c4..f6f709ea7117 100644
--- a/packages/ai/src/route/transport/http.ts
+++ b/packages/ai/src/route/transport/http.ts
@@ -120,16 +120,17 @@ export const httpJson = <Body, Frame>(input: HttpJsonInput<Body, Frame>): HttpJs
       const http = RequestExecutor.responseHttp(response)
       const remaining = Duration.subtract(total, Duration.millis((yield* Clock.currentTimeMillis) - started))
       return {
-        frames: prepared.framing.frame(
-          RequestExecutor.responseStream(response).pipe(
-            Stream.timeoutOrElse({
-              duration: timeoutDuration(request.http?.chunkTimeout),
-              orElse: () => Stream.fail(timeout("read", "Timed out waiting for response data", http)),
-            }),
-            Stream.interruptWhen(
-              Effect.sleep(remaining).pipe(
-                Effect.andThen(Effect.fail(timeout("read", "Timed out waiting for the response to complete", http))),
-              ),
+        // Bound the stall on framed progress, not raw bytes. Framing drops SSE
+        // comment keepalives (`: keepalive`) and other empty events, so counting
+        // bytes would let a provider hold a stalled generation warm forever.
+        frames: prepared.framing.frame(RequestExecutor.responseStream(response)).pipe(
+          Stream.timeoutOrElse({
+            duration: timeoutDuration(request.http?.chunkTimeout),
+            orElse: () => Stream.fail(timeout("read", "Timed out waiting for response data", http)),
+          }),
+          Stream.interruptWhen(
+            Effect.sleep(remaining).pipe(
+              Effect.andThen(Effect.fail(timeout("read", "Timed out waiting for the response to complete", http))),
             ),
           ),
         ),
diff --git a/packages/ai/test/http-timeout.test.ts b/packages/ai/test/http-timeout.test.ts
index 6b45a8070079..88cf21f4a0f8 100644
--- a/packages/ai/test/http-timeout.test.ts
+++ b/packages/ai/test/http-timeout.test.ts
@@ -49,6 +49,31 @@ const stalledServer = Effect.gen(function* () {
   return { layer, stalled, resume: () => resume() }
 })
 
+// Sends one content chunk, then only what the test asks for. Lets a test prove
+// that bytes framing drops, such as SSE comment keepalives, are not progress.
+const heartbeatServer = Effect.gen(function* () {
+  const started = yield* Deferred.make<void>()
+  const encoder = new TextEncoder()
+  let emit = (_text: string) => {}
+  const layer = dynamicResponse((input) =>
+    Effect.sync(() =>
+      input.respond(
+        new ReadableStream<Uint8Array>({
+          start(controller) {
+            emit = (text) => controller.enqueue(encoder.encode(text))
+            emit(sseRaw(`data: ${JSON.stringify(deltaChunk({ content: "Hi" }))}`))
+          },
+          pull() {
+            Deferred.doneUnsafe(started, Effect.void)
+          },
+        }),
+        SSE,
+      ),
+    ),
+  )
+  return { layer, started, emit: (text: string) => emit(text) }
+})
+
 describe("HTTP transport timeouts", () => {
   it.effect("fails when response headers take longer than five minutes", () =>
     Effect.gen(function* () {
@@ -87,6 +112,31 @@ describe("HTTP transport timeouts", () => {
     }),
   )
 
+  it.effect("ignores SSE comment keepalives when bounding a stalled stream", () =>
+    Effect.gen(function* () {
+      const server = yield* heartbeatServer
+      const fiber = yield* LLMClient.generate(
+        LLM.request({ model, prompt: "Hello", http: { chunkTimeout: 20_000 } }),
+      ).pipe(Effect.provide(server.layer), Effect.flip, Effect.forkChild({ startImmediately: true }))
+      yield* Deferred.await(server.started)
+      yield* Effect.yieldNow
+      // A comment every 10s keeps the socket warm without carrying progress, so
+      // the 20s chunk bound must still fire.
+      yield* TestClock.adjust("10 seconds")
+      server.emit(sseRaw(": keepalive"))
+      yield* Effect.yieldNow
+      yield* TestClock.adjust("10 seconds")
+      const error = yield* Fiber.join(fiber)
+
+      expect(error.reason).toMatchObject({
+        _tag: "Transport",
+        transport: "http",
+        operation: "read",
+        code: "Timeout",
+      })
+    }),
+  )
+
   it.effect("applies a configured header timeout", () =>
     Effect.gen(function* () {
       const fiber = yield* LLMClient.generate(