diff --git a/docs/examples/agents/react/react_using_mellea.py b/docs/examples/agents/react/react_using_mellea.py
index 422e8f3e5..aed1884e7 100644
--- a/docs/examples/agents/react/react_using_mellea.py
+++ b/docs/examples/agents/react/react_using_mellea.py
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@
 from langchain_community.tools import DuckDuckGoSearchResults
 
 from mellea.backends.tools import MelleaTool
+from mellea.stdlib import functional as mfuncs
 from mellea.stdlib.context import ChatContext
 from mellea.stdlib.frameworks.react import react
 from mellea.stdlib.session import start_session
@@ -28,15 +29,75 @@ class Email(pydantic.BaseModel):
     body: str
 
 
+class TrueOrFalse(pydantic.BaseModel):
+    """Response indicating whether the ReACT agent has completed its task."""
+
+    answer: bool = pydantic.Field(
+        description="True if you have enough information to answer the user's question, False if you need more tool calls"
+    )
+
+
+async def last_loop_completion_check(
+    goal, context, backend, step, model_options, turn_num, loop_budget
+):
+    """Completion check that asks the model if it has the answer on the last iteration.
+
+    Only checks on the last iteration (when turn_num == loop_budget) to avoid
+    unnecessary LLM calls. Returns False for all other iterations.
+
+    Note: step.value is guaranteed to exist when this is called.
+    """
+    # Only check on last iteration (and not for unlimited budget)
+    if loop_budget == -1 or turn_num < loop_budget:
+        return False
+
+    message, _ = await mfuncs.achat(
+        content=f"Do you know the answer to the user's original query ({goal})? If so, respond with True. If you need to take more actions, then respond False.",
+        context=context,
+        backend=backend,
+        format=TrueOrFalse,
+    )
+    have_answer = TrueOrFalse.model_validate_json(message.content).answer
+
+    return have_answer
+
+
+async def custom_completion_check(
+    goal, context, backend, step, model_options, turn_num, loop_budget
+):
+    """Custom completion check combining keyword detection and fallback to last-loop check.
+
+    This runs every iteration:
+    1. First checks if response contains "final answer" for early termination
+    2. On the last iteration, falls back to asking the model if it has the answer
+
+    Note: step.value is guaranteed to exist when this is called.
+    """
+    # Check every iteration for "final answer" keyword (early termination)
+    if "final answer" in step.value.lower():
+        return True
+
+    # On last iteration, fall back to asking the model if it has the answer
+    if loop_budget != -1 and turn_num >= loop_budget:
+        return await last_loop_completion_check(
+            goal, context, backend, step, model_options, turn_num, loop_budget
+        )
+
+    return False
+
+
 async def main():
     """Example."""
-    # Simple version that just searches for an answer.
+    # Version with custom answer check that terminates early
+    # when the model says "final answer" and queries the LLM
+    # if it reaches the loop_budget.
     out, _ = await react(
         goal="What is the Mellea python library?",
         context=ChatContext(),
         backend=m.backend,
         tools=[search_tool],
         loop_budget=12,
+        answer_check=custom_completion_check,
     )
     print(out)
 
@@ -47,6 +108,7 @@ async def main():
     #     backend=m.backend,
     #     tools=[search_tool],
     #     format=Email,
+    #     answer_check=custom_completion_check,
     #     loop_budget=20,
     # )
     # print(out)
diff --git a/mellea/stdlib/frameworks/react.py b/mellea/stdlib/frameworks/react.py
index c39338990..4fdebbc5c 100644
--- a/mellea/stdlib/frameworks/react.py
+++ b/mellea/stdlib/frameworks/react.py
@@ -7,6 +7,9 @@
 history tracking. Raises ``RuntimeError`` if the loop ends without a final answer.
 """
 
+from collections.abc import Awaitable, Callable
+from typing import Protocol
+
 # from PIL import Image as PILImage
 from mellea.backends.model_options import ModelOption
 from mellea.core.backend import Backend, BaseModelSubclass
@@ -24,6 +27,42 @@
 from mellea.stdlib.context import ChatContext
 
 
+class AnswerCheckCallable(Protocol):
+    """Protocol for answer validation callbacks in the ReACT loop.
+
+    Called each iteration when no tool calls are made and the model output is non-empty.
+    Allows custom logic to determine if the current output should be accepted as the
+    final answer.
+    """
+
+    async def __call__(
+        self,
+        goal: str,
+        context: ChatContext,
+        backend: Backend,
+        step: ComputedModelOutputThunk[str],
+        model_options: dict | None,
+        turn_num: int,
+        loop_budget: int,
+    ) -> bool:
+        """Validate whether the current step should be accepted as the final answer.
+
+        Args:
+            goal: The original goal or question to accomplish.
+            context: The current conversation context.
+            backend: The backend being used for generation.
+            step: The current model output thunk containing the potential answer.
+            model_options: Model options in effect for this generation.
+            turn_num: Current iteration number (0-indexed).
+            loop_budget: Maximum allowed iterations.
+
+        Returns:
+            True to accept step.value as the final answer and exit the loop;
+            False to continue iterating.
+        """
+        ...
+
+
 async def react(
     goal: str,
     context: ChatContext,
@@ -36,6 +75,7 @@ async def react(
     model_options: dict | None = None,
     tools: list[AbstractMelleaTool] | None,
     loop_budget: int = 10,
+    answer_check: AnswerCheckCallable | None = None,
 ) -> tuple[ComputedModelOutputThunk[str], ChatContext]:
     """Asynchronous ReACT pattern (Think -> Act -> Observe -> Repeat Until Done); attempts to accomplish the provided goal given the provided tools.
 
@@ -47,9 +87,16 @@ async def react(
         model_options: additional model options, which will upsert into the model/backend's defaults.
         tools: the list of tools to use
         loop_budget: the number of steps allowed; use -1 for unlimited
+        answer_check: Optional async callable invoked each iteration when no tool
+            calls are made and ``step.value`` is non-empty. Receives ``goal`` (str),
+            ``step`` (ComputedModelOutputThunk[str]), ``context`` (ChatContext),
+            ``backend`` (Backend), ``model_options`` (dict | None), ``turn_num`` (int),
+            and ``loop_budget`` (int). Return ``True`` to accept ``step.value`` as the
+            final answer, ``False`` to continue. If ``None``, the loop runs until
+            ``final_answer`` is called or ``loop_budget`` is exhausted.
 
     Returns:
-        A (ModelOutputThunk, Context) if `return_sampling_results` is `False`, else returns a `SamplingResult`.
+        Tuple of ``(ComputedModelOutputThunk[str], ChatContext)`` — the final answer thunk and updated context.
 
     Raises:
         RuntimeError: if the loop ends before a final answer is found
@@ -107,9 +154,31 @@ async def react(
                 if tool_res.name == MELLEA_FINALIZER_TOOL:
                     is_final = True
 
+        # Check if the agent has completed its task (runs every iteration if answer_check is provided and there's a value)
+        # The answer_check function can decide when to actually check based on turn_num and loop_budget
+        elif not is_final and answer_check and step.value:
+            have_answer = await answer_check(
+                goal, context, backend, step, model_options, turn_num, loop_budget
+            )
+
+            if have_answer:
+                # Create a synthetic finalizer tool response to be consistent with normal loop
+                finalizer_response = ToolMessage(
+                    role="tool",
+                    content=step.value or "",
+                    tool_output=step.value or "",
+                    name=MELLEA_FINALIZER_TOOL,
+                    args={},
+                    tool=None,  # type: ignore
+                )
+                tool_responses = [finalizer_response]
+                context = context.add(finalizer_response)
+                is_final = True
+
         if is_final:
             assert len(tool_responses) == 1, "multiple tools were called with 'final'"
 
+            # Apply format if requested
             if format is not None:
                 step, next_context = await mfuncs.aact(
                     action=ReactThought(),
diff --git a/test/stdlib/frameworks/test_react_direct_answer.py b/test/stdlib/frameworks/test_react_direct_answer.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..0024afd25
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/stdlib/frameworks/test_react_direct_answer.py
@@ -0,0 +1,107 @@
+"""Test ReACT framework handling of direct answers without tool calls."""
+
+import pydantic
+import pytest
+
+from mellea.backends.tools import tool
+from mellea.stdlib import functional as mfuncs
+from mellea.stdlib.context import ChatContext
+from mellea.stdlib.frameworks.react import react
+from mellea.stdlib.session import start_session
+
+
+class TrueOrFalse(pydantic.BaseModel):
+    """Response indicating whether the ReACT agent has completed its task."""
+
+    answer: bool = pydantic.Field(
+        description="True if you have enough information to answer the user's question, False if you need more tool calls"
+    )
+
+
+async def last_loop_completion_check(
+    goal, context, backend, step, model_options, turn_num, loop_budget
+):
+    """Completion check that asks the model if it has the answer on the last iteration.
+
+    Note: step.value is guaranteed to exist when this is called.
+    """
+    # Only check on last iteration (and not for unlimited budget)
+    if loop_budget == -1 or turn_num < loop_budget:
+        return False
+
+    content = mfuncs.chat(
+        content=f"Do you know the answer to the user's original query ({goal})? If so, respond with True. If you need to take more actions, then respond False.",
+        context=context,
+        backend=backend,
+        format=TrueOrFalse,
+    )[0].content
+    have_answer = TrueOrFalse.model_validate_json(content).answer
+    return have_answer
+
+
+@pytest.mark.ollama
+@pytest.mark.e2e
+@pytest.mark.qualitative
+async def test_react_direct_answer_without_tools():
+    """Test that ReACT handles direct answers when model doesn't call tools.
+
+    This tests the case where the model provides a direct answer in step.value
+    without making any tool calls. The fix ensures the loop terminates properly
+    instead of continuing until loop_budget is exhausted.
+    """
+    m = start_session()
+
+    # Ask a simple question that doesn't require tools
+    # The model should provide a direct answer without calling any tools
+    out, _ = await react(
+        goal="What is 2 + 2?",
+        context=ChatContext(),
+        backend=m.backend,
+        tools=[],  # No tools provided
+        loop_budget=3,  # Should complete in 1 iteration, not exhaust budget
+        answer_check=last_loop_completion_check,
+    )
+
+    # Verify we got an answer
+    assert out.value is not None
+    assert len(out.value) > 0
+
+    # The answer should contain "4" or "four"
+    answer_lower = out.value.lower()
+    assert "4" in answer_lower or "four" in answer_lower
+
+
+@pytest.mark.ollama
+@pytest.mark.e2e
+@pytest.mark.qualitative
+async def test_react_direct_answer_with_unused_tools():
+    """Test that ReACT handles direct answers even when tools are available.
+
+    This tests the case where tools are provided but the model chooses to
+    answer directly without using them.
+    """
+    m = start_session()
+
+    # Create a dummy tool that won't be needed
+    @tool
+    def search_web(query: str) -> str:
+        """Search the web for information."""
+        return "Search results"
+
+    # Ask a question that doesn't need the tool
+    out, _ = await react(
+        goal="What is the capital of France?",
+        context=ChatContext(),
+        backend=m.backend,
+        tools=[search_web],
+        loop_budget=3,
+        answer_check=last_loop_completion_check,
+    )
+
+    # Verify we got an answer
+    assert out.value is not None
+    assert len(out.value) > 0
+
+    # The answer should mention Paris
+    answer_lower = out.value.lower()
+    assert "paris" in answer_lower
diff --git a/test/stdlib/frameworks/test_react_framework.py b/test/stdlib/frameworks/test_react_framework.py
index e121a91f5..ab3d47022 100644
--- a/test/stdlib/frameworks/test_react_framework.py
+++ b/test/stdlib/frameworks/test_react_framework.py
@@ -231,5 +231,64 @@ async def test_react_rejects_non_chat_context():
         await react(goal="g", context=Mock(), backend=Mock(), tools=None)
 
 
+@pytest.mark.asyncio
+async def test_react_answer_check_terminates_on_direct_response():
+    """answer_check returning True on a no-tool-call turn exits the loop."""
+    backend = ScriptedBackend([_ScriptedTurn(value="42")])
+
+    async def always_done(
+        goal, context, backend, step, model_options, turn_num, loop_budget
+    ):
+        return True
+
+    result, _ = await react(
+        goal="answer",
+        context=ChatContext(),
+        backend=backend,
+        tools=None,
+        loop_budget=5,
+        answer_check=always_done,
+    )
+    assert result.value == "42"
+
+
+@pytest.mark.asyncio
+async def test_react_answer_check_continues_when_false():
+    """answer_check returning False on a no-tool-call turn continues the loop."""
+    backend = ScriptedBackend(
+        [
+            _ScriptedTurn(
+                value="thinking..."
+            ),  # First turn, answer_check returns False
+            _final_answer_call("42"),  # Second turn, model calls final_answer
+        ]
+    )
+
+    call_count = 0
+
+    async def check_on_second_call(
+        goal, context, backend, step, model_options, turn_num, loop_budget
+    ):
+        nonlocal call_count
+        call_count += 1
+        # Return False on first call to test the continue branch
+        # On second call, model will use final_answer tool instead
+        return False
+
+    result, _ = await react(
+        goal="answer",
+        context=ChatContext(),
+        backend=backend,
+        tools=None,
+        loop_budget=5,
+        answer_check=check_on_second_call,
+    )
+
+    # Verify answer_check was called once (returned False, loop continued)
+    assert call_count == 1
+    # Verify we got the final answer from the second turn
+    assert result.value == "42"
+
+
 if __name__ == "__main__":
     pytest.main([__file__])