diff --git a/model/bytepairencoding.go b/model/bytepairencoding.go
index 3d51f70e8..acb58743b 100644
--- a/model/bytepairencoding.go
+++ b/model/bytepairencoding.go
@@ -237,7 +237,7 @@ func (bpe BytePairEncoding) Encode(s string, addSpecial bool) ([]int32, error) {
 		}
 	}
 
-	if addSpecial && len(ids) > 0 {
+	if addSpecial {
 		ids = bpe.vocab.addSpecials(ids)
 	}
 
diff --git a/model/sentencepiece.go b/model/sentencepiece.go
index db07beee9..2c178ec0c 100644
--- a/model/sentencepiece.go
+++ b/model/sentencepiece.go
@@ -181,7 +181,7 @@ func (spm SentencePiece) Encode(s string, addSpecial bool) ([]int32, error) {
 		}
 	}
 
-	if addSpecial && len(ids) > 0 {
+	if addSpecial {
 		ids = spm.vocab.addSpecials(ids)
 	}
 
diff --git a/model/vocabulary.go b/model/vocabulary.go
index 9b7fc789e..d977c4957 100644
--- a/model/vocabulary.go
+++ b/model/vocabulary.go
@@ -45,7 +45,7 @@ func (v *Vocabulary) Is(id int32, special Special) bool {
 
 func (v *Vocabulary) addSpecials(ids []int32) []int32 {
 	if v.AddBOS && len(v.BOS) > 0 {
-		if slices.Contains(v.BOS, ids[0]) {
+		if len(ids) > 0 && slices.Contains(v.BOS, ids[0]) {
 			slog.Warn("adding bos token to prompt which already has it", "id", v.BOS)
 		}
 
@@ -54,7 +54,7 @@ func (v *Vocabulary) addSpecials(ids []int32) []int32 {
 	}
 
 	if v.AddEOS && len(v.EOS) > 0 {
-		if slices.Contains(v.BOS, ids[len(ids)-1]) {
+		if len(ids) > 0 && slices.Contains(v.BOS, ids[len(ids)-1]) {
 			slog.Warn("adding eos token to prompt which already has it", "id", v.EOS)
 		}
 
diff --git a/model/vocabulary_test.go b/model/vocabulary_test.go
index 46f0ead23..ccfc39e69 100644
--- a/model/vocabulary_test.go
+++ b/model/vocabulary_test.go
@@ -1,8 +1,12 @@
 package model
 
-import "testing"
+import (
+	"testing"
 
-func TestVocabulary_SpecialVocabulary(t *testing.T) {
+	"github.com/google/go-cmp/cmp"
+)
+
+func TestSpecialVocabulary(t *testing.T) {
 	vocab := &Vocabulary{
 		Values: []string{"<|startoftext|>", "<|endoftext|>", "<|tool_call_start|>", "<|tool_call_end|>", "hi"},
 		Types:  []int32{TOKEN_TYPE_CONTROL, TOKEN_TYPE_CONTROL, TOKEN_TYPE_USER_DEFINED, TOKEN_TYPE_USER_DEFINED, TOKEN_TYPE_NORMAL},
@@ -14,3 +18,90 @@ func TestVocabulary_SpecialVocabulary(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Errorf("expected 4 special tokens, got %d", len(specialVocab))
 	}
 }
+
+func TestAddSpecialVocabulary(t *testing.T) {
+	cases := []struct {
+		name  string
+		vocab *Vocabulary
+		input []int32
+		want  []int32
+	}{
+		{
+			name: "add bos",
+			vocab: &Vocabulary{
+				BOS:    []int32{0},
+				EOS:    []int32{1},
+				AddBOS: true,
+				AddEOS: false,
+			},
+			input: []int32{2, 3, 4},
+			want:  []int32{0, 2, 3, 4},
+		},
+		{
+			// TODO(mxyng): this is to match previous behaviour
+			name: "add bos when already present",
+			vocab: &Vocabulary{
+				BOS:    []int32{0},
+				EOS:    []int32{1},
+				AddBOS: true,
+				AddEOS: false,
+			},
+			input: []int32{0, 2, 3, 4},
+			want:  []int32{0, 0, 2, 3, 4},
+		},
+		{
+			name: "add eos",
+			vocab: &Vocabulary{
+				BOS:    []int32{0},
+				EOS:    []int32{1},
+				AddBOS: false,
+				AddEOS: true,
+			},
+			input: []int32{2, 3, 4},
+			want:  []int32{2, 3, 4, 1},
+		},
+		{
+			// TODO(mxyng): this is to match previous behaviour
+			name: "add eos when already present",
+			vocab: &Vocabulary{
+				BOS:    []int32{0},
+				EOS:    []int32{1},
+				AddBOS: false,
+				AddEOS: true,
+			},
+			input: []int32{2, 3, 4, 1},
+			want:  []int32{2, 3, 4, 1, 1},
+		},
+		{
+			name: "add both",
+			vocab: &Vocabulary{
+				BOS:    []int32{0},
+				EOS:    []int32{1},
+				AddBOS: true,
+				AddEOS: true,
+			},
+			input: []int32{2, 3, 4},
+			want:  []int32{0, 2, 3, 4, 1},
+		},
+		{
+			name: "add bos to empty inputs",
+			vocab: &Vocabulary{
+				BOS:    []int32{0},
+				EOS:    []int32{1},
+				AddBOS: true,
+				AddEOS: false,
+			},
+			input: []int32{},
+			want:  []int32{0},
+		},
+	}
+
+	for _, tt := range cases {
+		t.Run(tt.name, func(t *testing.T) {
+			got := tt.vocab.addSpecials(tt.input)
+			if diff := cmp.Diff(tt.want, got); diff != "" {
+				t.Errorf("no match (-want +got):\n%s", diff)
+			}
+		})
+	}
+}
diff --git a/model/wordpiece.go b/model/wordpiece.go
index e8d5e848a..ef451c73a 100644
--- a/model/wordpiece.go
+++ b/model/wordpiece.go
@@ -140,7 +140,7 @@ func (wpm WordPiece) Encode(s string, addSpecial bool) ([]int32, error) {
 		}
 	}
 
-	if addSpecial && len(ids) > 0 {
+	if addSpecial {
 		ids = wpm.vocab.addSpecials(ids)
 	}