# Mistral Small: 58 empty replies in 300 tool calls, and the retry loop

Source: [DEV Community: javascript](https://dev.to/grain64/mistral-small-58-empty-replies-in-300-tool-calls-and-the-retry-loop-22gh) · 2026-11-08 · Frontend
Page: https://themorning.dev/story/mistral-small-58-empty-replies-in-300-tool-calls-and-the-retry-loop-6b16772c653ca861
Kind: research · Impact: medium

## In brief

- In 300 public function-calling tasks, Mistral Small (2603) returned an empty reply 58 times, even after two retries.
- That is 19.3% of tasks with nothing to parse.
- The article focuses on the retry loop needed to handle these empty replies.

## Why it matters

If you use Mistral Small for tool calls, a meaningful share of responses may be empty, so your code needs to handle empty replies and retries affect your cost per successful task.

## Versions

- Mistral Small 2603

## Coverage

- [Mistral Small: 58 empty replies in 300 tool calls, and the retry loop](https://dev.to/grain64/mistral-small-58-empty-replies-in-300-tool-calls-and-the-retry-loop-22gh) — DEV Community: javascript, 2026-11-08

Tags: mistral, llm, function-calling, benchmark, tool-use

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Brief generated by AI (claude-haiku-5-5) from the reporting listed under Coverage. Headlines belong to their publishers. The Morning Dev – https://themorning.dev