diff --git a/src/proxy/server/messages-route.ts b/src/proxy/server/messages-route.ts
index 5165ae2b..f33ff24f 100644
--- a/src/proxy/server/messages-route.ts
+++ b/src/proxy/server/messages-route.ts
@@ -42,15 +42,93 @@ function isDirectOpenAIReasoningChatModel(
   );
 }
 
+function isMiniMaxOpenAICompatProfile(profile: OpenAICompatProfileConfig): boolean {
+  try {
+    return new URL(profile.baseUrl).hostname.toLowerCase().includes('minimax');
+  } catch {
+    return false;
+  }
+}
+
+function prependTextToContent(
+  content: ProxyOpenAIRequest['messages'][number]['content'],
+  text: string
+): ProxyOpenAIRequest['messages'][number]['content'] {
+  if (Array.isArray(content)) {
+    return [{ type: 'text', text }, ...content];
+  }
+  if (typeof content === 'string') {
+    return `${text}\n\n${content}`;
+  }
+  return text;
+}
+
+function extractTextContent(content: ProxyOpenAIRequest['messages'][number]['content']): string {
+  if (typeof content === 'string') {
+    return content;
+  }
+  if (!Array.isArray(content)) {
+    return '';
+  }
+  return content
+    .filter((part): part is { type: 'text'; text: string } => part.type === 'text')
+    .map((part) => part.text)
+    .join('\n\n');
+}
+
+function shapeMiniMaxChatPayload(payload: ProxyOpenAIRequest): ProxyOpenAIRequest {
+  const systemMessages: string[] = [];
+  let removedSystemMessage = false;
+  const messages = payload.messages.filter((message) => {
+    if (message.role !== 'system') {
+      return true;
+    }
+    removedSystemMessage = true;
+    const systemText = extractTextContent(message.content).trim();
+    if (systemText.length > 0) {
+      systemMessages.push(systemText);
+    }
+    return false;
+  });
+
+  if (!removedSystemMessage) {
+    return payload;
+  }
+
+  if (systemMessages.length === 0) {
+    return { ...payload, messages };
+  }
+
+  const systemPrefix = systemMessages.join('\n\n');
+  const firstUserIndex = messages.findIndex((message) => message.role === 'user');
+
+  if (firstUserIndex >= 0) {
+    messages[firstUserIndex] = {
+      ...messages[firstUserIndex],
+      content: prependTextToContent(messages[firstUserIndex].content, systemPrefix),
+    };
+  } else {
+    messages.unshift({ role: 'user', content: systemPrefix });
+  }
+
+  return { ...payload, messages };
+}
+
 function shapeUpstreamChatPayload(
   payload: ProxyOpenAIRequest,
   profile: OpenAICompatProfileConfig
 ): ProxyOpenAIRequest {
-  if (!isDirectOpenAIReasoningChatModel(profile, payload.model)) {
-    return payload;
+  let shaped = payload;
+
+  if (isMiniMaxOpenAICompatProfile(profile)) {
+    shaped = shapeMiniMaxChatPayload(shaped);
   }
 
-  const shaped = { ...payload };
+  if (!isDirectOpenAIReasoningChatModel(profile, shaped.model)) {
+    return shaped;
+  }
+
+  shaped = { ...shaped };
 
   if (shaped.max_tokens !== undefined) {
     shaped.max_completion_tokens = shaped.max_tokens;
diff --git a/src/proxy/transformers/request-transformer.ts b/src/proxy/transformers/request-transformer.ts
index f1f9346f..d1bfbb2d 100644
--- a/src/proxy/transformers/request-transformer.ts
+++ b/src/proxy/transformers/request-transformer.ts
@@ -40,7 +40,7 @@ type AnthropicContentBlock =
   | { type: string; [key: string]: unknown };
 
 interface AnthropicMessage {
-  role?: 'user' | 'assistant' | string;
+  role?: 'system' | 'user' | 'assistant' | string;
   content?: string | AnthropicContentBlock[];
 }
 
@@ -435,8 +435,8 @@ function transformMessages(messagesValue: unknown): OpenAIMessage[] {
   messagesValue.forEach((message, messageIndex) => {
     const parsedMessage = assertObject(message, `messages[${messageIndex}]`) as AnthropicMessage;
     const role = parsedMessage.role;
-    if (role !== 'user' && role !== 'assistant') {
-      throw new Error(`messages[${messageIndex}].role must be "user" or "assistant"`);
+    if (role !== 'system' && role !== 'user' && role !== 'assistant') {
+      throw new Error(`messages[${messageIndex}].role must be "system", "user", or "assistant"`);
     }
 
     if (pendingToolUseIds && pendingToolUseIds.size > 0 && role !== 'user') {
@@ -446,6 +446,14 @@ function transformMessages(messagesValue: unknown): OpenAIMessage[] {
     }
 
     const content = parsedMessage.content;
+    if (role === 'system') {
+      translatedMessages.push({
+        role: 'system',
+        content: flattenTextContent(content, `messages[${messageIndex}].content`),
+      });
+      return;
+    }
+
     if (typeof content === 'string') {
       if (pendingToolUseIds && pendingToolUseIds.size > 0) {
         throw new Error(
diff --git a/tests/unit/proxy/messages-route.test.ts b/tests/unit/proxy/messages-route.test.ts
index b4fcbbe9..bcf4a031 100644
--- a/tests/unit/proxy/messages-route.test.ts
+++ b/tests/unit/proxy/messages-route.test.ts
@@ -97,6 +97,12 @@ beforeEach(() => {
       ANTHROPIC_MODEL: 'sonar-pro',
       CCS_DROID_PROVIDER: 'generic-chat-completion-api',
     }),
+    mm: writeSettings('mm', {
+      ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL: 'https://api.minimax.io/v1',
+      ANTHROPIC_AUTH_TOKEN: 'minimax_token',
+      ANTHROPIC_MODEL: 'MiniMax-M2.7',
+      CCS_DROID_PROVIDER: 'openai',
+    }),
   };
 
   fs.writeFileSync(
@@ -242,4 +248,102 @@ describe('handleProxyMessagesRequest', () => {
     expect(closeCalls).toBe(0);
     expect(res.statusCode).toBe(502);
   });
+
+  it('moves system messages into the first user message for MiniMax OpenAI-compatible upstreams', async () => {
+    const activeProfile = buildProfile('mm');
+    let capturedBody: unknown;
+
+    globalThis.fetch = (async (_input: RequestInfo | URL, init?: RequestInit) => {
+      capturedBody = JSON.parse(String(init?.body));
+      return new Response(
+        JSON.stringify({
+          id: 'chatcmpl_1',
+          object: 'chat.completion',
+          created: 1,
+          model: 'MiniMax-M2.7',
+          choices: [{ index: 0, message: { role: 'assistant', content: 'ok' } }],
+        }),
+        { status: 200, headers: { 'content-type': 'application/json' } }
+      );
+    }) as typeof globalThis.fetch;
+
+    const req = new FakeRequest({
+      'x-api-key': 'local-token',
+    });
+    const res = new FakeResponse();
+    const pending = handleProxyMessagesRequest(
+      req as never,
+      res as never,
+      activeProfile,
+      'local-token'
+    );
+    req.end(
+      JSON.stringify({
+        model: 'MiniMax-M2.7',
+        stream: false,
+        messages: [
+          { role: 'system', content: 'Use Turkish.' },
+          { role: 'user', content: 'bu hangi model' },
+        ],
+      })
+    );
+    await pending;
+
+    expect(capturedBody).toMatchObject({
+      model: 'MiniMax-M2.7',
+      messages: [{ role: 'user', content: 'Use Turkish.\n\nbu hangi model' }],
+    });
+    expect((capturedBody as { messages: Array<{ role: string }> }).messages).not.toContainEqual(
+      expect.objectContaining({ role: 'system' })
+    );
+  });
+
+  it('strips blank system messages for MiniMax OpenAI-compatible upstreams', async () => {
+    const activeProfile = buildProfile('mm');
+    let capturedBody: unknown;
+
+    globalThis.fetch = (async (_input: RequestInfo | URL, init?: RequestInit) => {
+      capturedBody = JSON.parse(String(init?.body));
+      return new Response(
+        JSON.stringify({
+          id: 'chatcmpl_1',
+          object: 'chat.completion',
+          created: 1,
+          model: 'MiniMax-M2.7',
+          choices: [{ index: 0, message: { role: 'assistant', content: 'ok' } }],
+        }),
+        { status: 200, headers: { 'content-type': 'application/json' } }
+      );
+    }) as typeof globalThis.fetch;
+
+    const req = new FakeRequest({
+      'x-api-key': 'local-token',
+    });
+    const res = new FakeResponse();
+    const pending = handleProxyMessagesRequest(
+      req as never,
+      res as never,
+      activeProfile,
+      'local-token'
+    );
+    req.end(
+      JSON.stringify({
+        model: 'MiniMax-M2.7',
+        stream: false,
+        messages: [
+          { role: 'system', content: [{ type: 'text', text: '' }] },
+          { role: 'user', content: 'bu hangi model' },
+        ],
+      })
+    );
+    await pending;
+
+    expect(capturedBody).toMatchObject({
+      model: 'MiniMax-M2.7',
+      messages: [{ role: 'user', content: 'bu hangi model' }],
+    });
+    expect((capturedBody as { messages: Array<{ role: string }> }).messages).not.toContainEqual(
+      expect.objectContaining({ role: 'system' })
+    );
+  });
 });
diff --git a/tests/unit/proxy/transformers/request-transformer.test.ts b/tests/unit/proxy/transformers/request-transformer.test.ts
index 543361a1..1047c2b1 100644
--- a/tests/unit/proxy/transformers/request-transformer.test.ts
+++ b/tests/unit/proxy/transformers/request-transformer.test.ts
@@ -43,6 +43,23 @@ describe('ProxyRequestTransformer', () => {
     });
   });
 
+  it('accepts Claude Code system messages in the messages array', () => {
+    const transformer = new ProxyRequestTransformer();
+    const result = transformer.transform({
+      messages: [
+        { role: 'user', content: 'hello' },
+        { role: 'system', content: [{ type: 'text', text: 'answer tersely' }] },
+        { role: 'user', content: 'which model is this?' },
+      ],
+    });
+
+    expect(result.messages).toEqual([
+      { role: 'user', content: 'hello' },
+      { role: 'system', content: 'answer tersely' },
+      { role: 'user', content: 'which model is this?' },
+    ]);
+  });
+
   it('translates base64 image blocks into OpenAI image_url parts', () => {
     const transformer = new ProxyRequestTransformer();
     const result = transformer.transform({