diff --git a/crates/tinytools-std/src/network/gate.rs b/crates/tinytools-std/src/network/gate.rs
index 201366b..696148a 100644
--- a/crates/tinytools-std/src/network/gate.rs
+++ b/crates/tinytools-std/src/network/gate.rs
@@ -207,6 +207,27 @@ pub(crate) fn host_of(url: &str) -> String {
         .unwrap_or_else(|| "unknown".to_string())
 }
 
+/// Reads at most `cap + 1` bytes of `response`'s body, so a caller can tell
+/// a body over the cap from one exactly at it without reading the rest.
+///
+/// # Errors
+///
+/// Returns the transport error if a chunk fails to arrive.
+pub(super) async fn read_body_capped(
+    mut response: reqwest::Response,
+    cap: usize,
+) -> reqwest::Result<Vec<u8>> {
+    let limit = cap.saturating_add(1);
+    let mut body = Vec::new();
+    while body.len() < limit
+        && let Some(chunk) = response.chunk().await?
+    {
+        let take = chunk.len().min(limit - body.len());
+        body.extend_from_slice(&chunk[..take]);
+    }
+    Ok(body)
+}
+
 /// Response-size and timeout limits a tool falls back to when it is
 /// constructed with a `0` (or absent) value.
 ///
diff --git a/crates/tinytools-std/src/network/http_request.rs b/crates/tinytools-std/src/network/http_request.rs
index a29074a..c6edb27 100644
--- a/crates/tinytools-std/src/network/http_request.rs
+++ b/crates/tinytools-std/src/network/http_request.rs
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-use super::gate::{HttpLimits, NetGate, host_of};
+use super::gate::{HttpLimits, NetGate, host_of, read_body_capped};
 use async_trait::async_trait;
 use serde_json::json;
 use std::sync::Arc;
@@ -300,8 +300,8 @@ impl HttpRequestTool {
             .collect::<Vec<_>>()
             .join(", ");
 
-        let response_text = match response.text().await {
-            Ok(text) => self.truncate_response(&text),
+        let response_text = match read_body_capped(response, self.max_response_size).await {
+            Ok(body) => self.truncate_response(&String::from_utf8_lossy(&body)),
             Err(e) => format!("[Failed to read response body: {e}]"),
         };
 
diff --git a/crates/tinytools-std/src/network/http_request_tests.rs b/crates/tinytools-std/src/network/http_request_tests.rs
index e395663..a9458dc 100644
--- a/crates/tinytools-std/src/network/http_request_tests.rs
+++ b/crates/tinytools-std/src/network/http_request_tests.rs
@@ -704,3 +704,35 @@ fn truncate_response_caps_bytes_not_chars() {
     let marker = "\n\n... [Response truncated due to size limit] ...";
     assert!(out.len() <= 10 + marker.len(), "{} bytes", out.len());
 }
+
+// A body larger than the cap is read only up to the cap, not to its end:
+// this server never stops sending, so an unbounded read never returns.
+#[tokio::test]
+async fn an_endless_body_is_read_only_up_to_the_cap() {
+    use tokio::io::{AsyncReadExt, AsyncWriteExt};
+    let listener = tokio::net::TcpListener::bind("127.0.0.1:0").await.unwrap();
+    let addr = listener.local_addr().unwrap();
+    tokio::spawn(async move {
+        let (mut socket, _) = listener.accept().await.unwrap();
+        let _ = socket.read(&mut [0u8; 8192]).await;
+        let _ = socket
+            .write_all(b"HTTP/1.1 200 OK\r\nConnection: close\r\n\r\n")
+            .await;
+        let chunk = vec![b'x'; 65536];
+        while socket.write_all(&chunk).await.is_ok() {}
+    });
+    let tool = HttpRequestTool::new(TestNetGate::supervised(), vec![], 1000, 30, DEFAULT_LIMITS);
+    let target = pinned_to_local(&format!("http://{addr}/big"));
+    let output = tokio::time::timeout(std::time::Duration::from_secs(5), async {
+        let response = tool
+            .execute_request(&target, reqwest::Method::GET, vec![], None)
+            .await
+            .unwrap();
+        tool.format_response(response).await.unwrap().output()
+    })
+    .await;
+    assert!(output.is_ok(), "the body read did not stop at the cap");
+    let output = output.unwrap();
+    assert!(output.contains("[Response truncated due to size limit]"));
+    assert!(!output.contains(&"x".repeat(1001)));
+}