diff --git a/litellm/integrations/custom_guardrail.py b/litellm/integrations/custom_guardrail.py
index 47e2564dc0e..164589fa901 100644
--- a/litellm/integrations/custom_guardrail.py
+++ b/litellm/integrations/custom_guardrail.py
@@ -965,10 +965,7 @@ class CustomGuardrail(CustomLogger):
         translation: "BaseTranslation",
     ) -> dict[str, object]:  # mutable-ok: BaseTranslation.process_output_response contract
         """The logged request in OpenAI chat shape, for an output scan whose translation differs from the input's."""
-        context: Final = translation.request_scan_context(
-            dict(scratch_request),  # mutable-ok: BaseTranslation.request_scan_context requires a dict
-            self,
-        )
+        context: Final = translation.request_scan_context(scratch_request, self)
         return {
             **scratch_request,
             "messages": list(context.structured_messages),
diff --git a/litellm/llms/anthropic/chat/guardrail_translation/handler.py b/litellm/llms/anthropic/chat/guardrail_translation/handler.py
index eaa522cdb35..95099924dcf 100644
--- a/litellm/llms/anthropic/chat/guardrail_translation/handler.py
+++ b/litellm/llms/anthropic/chat/guardrail_translation/handler.py
@@ -528,7 +528,9 @@ class AnthropicMessagesHandler(BaseTranslation):
         )
         return result if result else None
 
-    def request_scan_context(self, data: dict, guardrail_to_apply: "CustomGuardrail") -> RequestScanContext:
+    def request_scan_context(
+        self, data: Mapping[str, object], guardrail_to_apply: "CustomGuardrail"
+    ) -> RequestScanContext:
         if data.get("messages") is None:
             return RequestScanContext()
         translated: Final = self._translate_to_openai(
@@ -715,9 +717,7 @@ class AnthropicMessagesHandler(BaseTranslation):
 
         return data
 
-    def _hoisted_top_level_system_message(
-        self, data: dict
-    ) -> AllMessageValues | None:  # mutable-ok: API message payload
+    def _hoisted_top_level_system_message(self, data: Mapping[str, object]) -> AllMessageValues | None:
         """Return the system message produced by translating the top-level prompt."""
         system: Final = data.get("system")
         if not system:
diff --git a/litellm/llms/base_llm/guardrail_translation/base_translation.py b/litellm/llms/base_llm/guardrail_translation/base_translation.py
index a61ff7b9785..3b45f86d144 100644
--- a/litellm/llms/base_llm/guardrail_translation/base_translation.py
+++ b/litellm/llms/base_llm/guardrail_translation/base_translation.py
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 from abc import ABC, abstractmethod
-from collections.abc import Sequence
+from collections.abc import Mapping, Sequence
 from dataclasses import dataclass, field
 from typing import TYPE_CHECKING, Any, ClassVar, Final, Optional
 
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ from litellm.llms.base_llm.guardrail_translation.utils import (
     effective_scan_only_tool_results_for_guardrail,
     effective_skip_system_message_for_guardrail,
     effective_skip_tool_message_for_guardrail,
+    request_tools,
     response_assistant_turn,
     scoped_structured_message_indices,
 )
@@ -301,16 +302,21 @@ class BaseTranslation(ABC):
         """
         return None
 
-    def request_scan_context(self, data: dict, guardrail_to_apply: "CustomGuardrail") -> RequestScanContext:
+    def request_scan_context(
+        self, data: Mapping[str, object], guardrail_to_apply: "CustomGuardrail"
+    ) -> RequestScanContext:
         """Override wherever ``process_input_messages`` scopes or translates the request differently."""
+        structured_messages: Final = self.get_structured_messages(
+            dict(data)  # mutable-ok: get_structured_messages takes the request as a dict
+        )
         return RequestScanContext.scoped(
-            self.get_structured_messages(data) or (), data.get("tools") or (), guardrail_to_apply
+            structured_messages or (), request_tools(data.get("tools")), guardrail_to_apply
         )
 
     def with_response_context(
         self,
         inputs: "GenericGuardrailAPIInputs",
-        request_data: dict | None,
+        request_data: Mapping[str, object] | None,
         guardrail_to_apply: "CustomGuardrail",
     ) -> "GenericGuardrailAPIInputs":
         """``inputs`` plus the scoped request conversation, closed by the scanned reply, and the request tools."""
diff --git a/litellm/llms/base_llm/guardrail_translation/utils.py b/litellm/llms/base_llm/guardrail_translation/utils.py
index 3713c2b2c13..962e0abae8f 100644
--- a/litellm/llms/base_llm/guardrail_translation/utils.py
+++ b/litellm/llms/base_llm/guardrail_translation/utils.py
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ from litellm.types.llms.openai import (
     ChatCompletionTextObject,
     ChatCompletionToolCallChunk,
     ChatCompletionToolCallFunctionChunk,
+    ChatCompletionToolParam,
     ResponseAPIUsage,
 )
 
@@ -331,6 +332,15 @@ def response_assistant_turn(
 ToolT = TypeVar("ToolT")
 
 
+def request_tools(raw_tools: object) -> tuple[ChatCompletionToolParam, ...]:
+    """The request's ``tools`` list, as the chat completion request model already validated it upstream."""
+    if not isinstance(raw_tools, list):
+        return ()
+    return tuple(
+        cast(Sequence[ChatCompletionToolParam], raw_tools)  # cast-ok: the request model validated tools upstream
+    )
+
+
 def openai_tool_name(tool: object) -> str | None:
     if not isinstance(tool, dict):
         return None
diff --git a/litellm/llms/openai/responses/guardrail_translation/handler.py b/litellm/llms/openai/responses/guardrail_translation/handler.py
index cc247b39a8f..982bb137a30 100644
--- a/litellm/llms/openai/responses/guardrail_translation/handler.py
+++ b/litellm/llms/openai/responses/guardrail_translation/handler.py
@@ -452,9 +452,16 @@ class OpenAIResponsesHandler(BaseTranslation):
         )
         return cast(list[AllMessageValues], messages) if messages else None
 
-    def request_scan_context(self, data: dict, guardrail_to_apply: "CustomGuardrail") -> RequestScanContext:
+    def request_scan_context(
+        self, data: Mapping[str, object], guardrail_to_apply: "CustomGuardrail"
+    ) -> RequestScanContext:
         raw_tools: Final = data.get("tools")
-        structured_messages: Final = tuple(self.get_structured_messages(data) or ())
+        structured_messages: Final = tuple(
+            self.get_structured_messages(
+                dict(data)  # mutable-ok: get_structured_messages takes the request as a dict
+            )
+            or ()
+        )
         return RequestScanContext(
             structured_messages=structured_messages,
             tools=tuple(