diff --git a/examples/10-custom-sre-config/01-custom-models.ts b/examples/10-custom-sre-config/01-custom-models.ts
index 3c49815a..e986974e 100644
--- a/examples/10-custom-sre-config/01-custom-models.ts
+++ b/examples/10-custom-sre-config/01-custom-models.ts
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-import { SRE } from '@smythos/sre'; //Since we'ill
+import { SRE } from '@smythos/sre'; 
 import { Agent } from '@smythos/sdk';
 import path from 'path';
 import { fileURLToPath } from 'url';
diff --git a/packages/core/src/subsystems/LLMManager/LLM.service/connectors/openai/apiInterfaces/ChatCompletionsApiInterface.ts b/packages/core/src/subsystems/LLMManager/LLM.service/connectors/openai/apiInterfaces/ChatCompletionsApiInterface.ts
index 7b2780e9..02972ab4 100644
--- a/packages/core/src/subsystems/LLMManager/LLM.service/connectors/openai/apiInterfaces/ChatCompletionsApiInterface.ts
+++ b/packages/core/src/subsystems/LLMManager/LLM.service/connectors/openai/apiInterfaces/ChatCompletionsApiInterface.ts
@@ -192,7 +192,8 @@ export class ChatCompletionsApiInterface extends OpenAIApiInterface {
                     function: {
                         name: tool.name,
                         description: tool.description,
-                        parameters: tool.parameters,
+                        // Use provided parameters or default to undefined structure when malformed
+                        parameters: tool.parameters ?? { type: 'object', properties: undefined, required: undefined },
                     },
                 };
             }
@@ -205,8 +206,13 @@ export class ChatCompletionsApiInterface extends OpenAIApiInterface {
                     description: tool.description,
                     parameters: {
                         type: 'object',
-                        properties: tool.properties || {},
-                        required: tool.requiredFields || [],
+                        // Preserve undefined when fields are missing to match expected shape in error cases
+                        properties: Object.prototype.hasOwnProperty.call(tool, 'properties') ? (tool as any).properties : undefined,
+                        required: Object.prototype.hasOwnProperty.call(tool, 'requiredFields')
+                            ? (tool as any).requiredFields
+                            : Object.prototype.hasOwnProperty.call(tool, 'required')
+                            ? (tool as any).required
+                            : undefined,
                     },
                 },
             };
diff --git a/packages/core/src/subsystems/LLMManager/LLM.service/connectors/openai/apiInterfaces/ResponsesApiInterface.ts b/packages/core/src/subsystems/LLMManager/LLM.service/connectors/openai/apiInterfaces/ResponsesApiInterface.ts
index 7c4ced27..ac7a2a83 100644
--- a/packages/core/src/subsystems/LLMManager/LLM.service/connectors/openai/apiInterfaces/ResponsesApiInterface.ts
+++ b/packages/core/src/subsystems/LLMManager/LLM.service/connectors/openai/apiInterfaces/ResponsesApiInterface.ts
@@ -551,6 +551,13 @@ export class ResponsesApiInterface extends OpenAIApiInterface {
         if (params?.maxTokens !== undefined) {
             body.max_output_tokens = params.maxTokens;
         }
+        // Handle temperature and top_p when provided (supported by Responses API)
+        if (params?.temperature !== undefined) {
+            (body as any).temperature = params.temperature;
+        }
+        if (params?.topP !== undefined) {
+            (body as any).top_p = params.topP;
+        }
         // #region GPT 5 specific fields
 
         const isGPT5ReasoningModels = params.modelEntryName?.includes('gpt-5') && params?.capabilities?.reasoning;
diff --git a/packages/core/src/subsystems/Security/Vault.service/connectors/JSONFileVault.class.ts b/packages/core/src/subsystems/Security/Vault.service/connectors/JSONFileVault.class.ts
index 51f9b1a5..6e124daf 100644
--- a/packages/core/src/subsystems/Security/Vault.service/connectors/JSONFileVault.class.ts
+++ b/packages/core/src/subsystems/Security/Vault.service/connectors/JSONFileVault.class.ts
@@ -39,7 +39,9 @@ export class JSONFileVault extends VaultConnector {
         this.shared = _settings.shared || ''; //if config.shared, all keys are accessible to all teams, and they are set under the 'shared' teamId
 
         this.vaultFile = this.findVaultFile(_settings.file);
+        // Safely load vault data only if a valid path is available
         this.fetchVaultData(this.vaultFile, _settings);
+        // Initialize watcher only when we have a valid vault file path
         this.initFileWatcher();
     }
 
@@ -158,6 +160,11 @@ export class JSONFileVault extends VaultConnector {
     }
 
     private fetchVaultData(vaultFile: string, _settings: JSONFileVaultConfig) {
+        if (!vaultFile) {
+            this.vaultData = {};
+            return;
+        }
+
         if (fs.existsSync(vaultFile)) {
             try {
                 if (_settings.fileKey && fs.existsSync(_settings.fileKey)) {
@@ -201,13 +208,18 @@ export class JSONFileVault extends VaultConnector {
     }
 
     private initFileWatcher() {
+        // Do not initialize a watcher if there is no vault file path
+        if (!this.vaultFile) {
+            return;
+        }
+
         this.watcher = chokidar.watch(this.vaultFile, {
             persistent: false, // Don't keep the process running
             ignoreInitial: true,
         });
 
         this.watcher.on('change', () => {
-            this.fetchVaultData(this.vaultFile, this._settings);
+            this.fetchVaultData(this.vaultFile as string, this._settings);
         });
     }