diff --git a/litellm/proxy/pass_through_endpoints/pass_through_endpoints.py b/litellm/proxy/pass_through_endpoints/pass_through_endpoints.py
index 0a29a71cd06..3b0f9ff79bf 100644
--- a/litellm/proxy/pass_through_endpoints/pass_through_endpoints.py
+++ b/litellm/proxy/pass_through_endpoints/pass_through_endpoints.py
@@ -205,6 +205,8 @@ _GUARDRAIL_HEADER_METADATA_FIELDS: Final = frozenset(
 )
 # h11's header field-value grammar: no NUL, line breaks or other whitespace beyond spaces and tabs between characters.
 _SENDABLE_HEADER_VALUE: Final = re.compile(rb"(?:[^\x00\s]+(?:[ \t]+[^\x00\s]+)*)?")
+# Half of the 16 KB response header limit in Node.js, the smallest common client limit, leaving room for the others.
+_GUARDRAIL_HEADERS_MAX_BYTES: Final = 8192
 
 
 def _is_mergeable_client_metadata(key: str, value: object) -> bool:
@@ -244,6 +246,11 @@ def _is_sendable_header_value(value: str) -> bool:
     )
 
 
+def _with_header_in_budget(kept: Mapping[str, str], header: tuple[str, str]) -> Mapping[str, str]:
+    size: Final = sum(len(name) + len(value) for name, value in (*kept.items(), header))
+    return MappingProxyType({**kept, header[0]: header[1]}) if size <= _GUARDRAIL_HEADERS_MAX_BYTES else kept
+
+
 def _guardrail_response_headers(
     parsed_body: object = None, kwargs: object = None, post_call_data: object = None
 ) -> Mapping[str, str]:
@@ -251,7 +258,8 @@ def _guardrail_response_headers(
 
     Pre-call guardrails record on the request body's metadata, which ``init_kwargs_for_pass_through_endpoint`` moves to
     ``kwargs["litellm_params"]``, and post-call guardrails record on ``post_call_data``, so list entries such as the
-    applied guardrail names are combined. A ``litellm_params`` object sent in the request body is never read.
+    applied guardrail names are combined. A ``litellm_params`` object sent in the request body is never read. A header
+    that would take these headers past ``_GUARDRAIL_HEADERS_MAX_BYTES`` is left out.
     """
     scopes: Final = (
         as_str_mapping(parsed_body) or {},
@@ -270,7 +278,9 @@ def _guardrail_response_headers(
         for field, entries in groupby(sorted(recorded, key=lambda entry: entry[0]), key=lambda entry: entry[0])
     }
     headers: Final = _RESPONSE_HEADERS.validate_python(get_logging_caching_headers({"metadata": merged}) or {})
-    return MappingProxyType({name: value for name, value in headers.items() if _is_sendable_header_value(value)})
+    sendable: Final = ((name, value) for name, value in headers.items() if _is_sendable_header_value(value))
+    no_headers: Final[Mapping[str, str]] = MappingProxyType({})
+    return reduce(_with_header_in_budget, sendable, no_headers)
 
 
 class _RegisteredPassThroughRoute(TypedDict):
diff --git a/tests/integration/authorization/test_passthrough_applied_guardrails_header.py b/tests/integration/authorization/test_passthrough_applied_guardrails_header.py
index b4c05f6a1ef..df6fefd26a4 100644
--- a/tests/integration/authorization/test_passthrough_applied_guardrails_header.py
+++ b/tests/integration/authorization/test_passthrough_applied_guardrails_header.py
@@ -292,3 +292,20 @@ def test_header_value_with_a_line_break_is_left_out(rig: HeaderRig, suffix: str)
     assert response.headers.get("x-litellm-applied-policies") == TAG_POLICY
     assert "x-litellm-policy-sources" not in response.headers
     assert "x-injected" not in response.headers
+
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize("stream", [False, True])
+def test_response_to_a_body_naming_thousands_of_guardrails_stays_readable(rig: HeaderRig, stream: bool) -> None:
+    gateway: Final = rig.owned.gateway
+    body: Final[dict[str, JsonValue]] = {
+        **_route_body(OPENAI_ROUTE),
+        "stream": stream,
+        "guardrails": [f"caller-named-{index}" for index in range(10_000)],
+        "metadata": {"tags": [f"{POLICY_TAG_PREFIX}prod"]},
+    }
+    with gateway.scenario() as scenario:
+        response: Final = _send(gateway, scenario, OPENAI_ROUTE, body)
+
+    assert response.status_code == 200, response.text
+    assert HEADER not in response.headers
+    assert response.headers.get("x-litellm-applied-policies") == TAG_POLICY
diff --git a/tests/unit/proxy/pass_through_endpoints/test_pass_through_endpoints.py b/tests/unit/proxy/pass_through_endpoints/test_pass_through_endpoints.py
index 1d9a3be5e2f..5db94e7bcea 100644
--- a/tests/unit/proxy/pass_through_endpoints/test_pass_through_endpoints.py
+++ b/tests/unit/proxy/pass_through_endpoints/test_pass_through_endpoints.py
@@ -12125,3 +12125,18 @@ class TestGuardrailResponseHeaders:
 
         assert headers == {"x-litellm-applied-policies": "tag-policy"}
         assert h11.Response(status_code=200, headers=[*headers.items()]).status_code == 200
+
+    def test_guardrail_headers_past_the_size_budget_are_left_out_so_a_client_can_read_the_response(self):
+        names: Final = [f"caller-named-{index}" for index in range(10_000)]
+        headers: Final = _guardrail_response_headers(
+            {}, {"litellm_params": {"metadata": {"applied_guardrails": names, "applied_policies": ["tag-policy"]}}}
+        )
+        server: Final = h11.Connection(h11.SERVER)
+        server.receive_data(b"GET / HTTP/1.1\r\nhost: proxy\r\n\r\n")
+        server.next_event()
+        client: Final = h11.Connection(h11.CLIENT)
+        client.send(h11.Request(method="GET", target="/", headers=[("host", "proxy")]))
+        client.receive_data(server.send(h11.Response(status_code=200, headers=[*headers.items()])) or b"")
+
+        assert headers == {"x-litellm-applied-policies": "tag-policy"}
+        assert isinstance(client.next_event(), h11.Response)