diff --git a/sgl-model-gateway/src/core/mod.rs b/sgl-model-gateway/src/core/mod.rs
index ada1d2a2e..048262342 100644
--- a/sgl-model-gateway/src/core/mod.rs
+++ b/sgl-model-gateway/src/core/mod.rs
@@ -9,6 +9,12 @@
 //! - Workflow steps for multi-step operations
 //! - Common utilities
 
+/// Default model identifier used when no model is specified.
+///
+/// This constant should be used instead of hardcoded "unknown" strings
+/// throughout the codebase for consistency.
+pub const UNKNOWN_MODEL_ID: &str = "unknown";
+
 pub mod circuit_breaker;
 pub mod error;
 pub mod job_queue;
diff --git a/sgl-model-gateway/src/core/model_card.rs b/sgl-model-gateway/src/core/model_card.rs
index b0da07e82..3699121d6 100644
--- a/sgl-model-gateway/src/core/model_card.rs
+++ b/sgl-model-gateway/src/core/model_card.rs
@@ -9,7 +9,10 @@
 
 use serde::{Deserialize, Serialize};
 
-use super::model_type::{Endpoint, ModelType};
+use super::{
+    model_type::{Endpoint, ModelType},
+    UNKNOWN_MODEL_ID,
+};
 
 /// Provider type for external API transformations.
 ///
@@ -335,7 +338,7 @@ impl ModelCard {
 
 impl Default for ModelCard {
     fn default() -> Self {
-        Self::new("unknown")
+        Self::new(UNKNOWN_MODEL_ID)
     }
 }
 
diff --git a/sgl-model-gateway/src/policies/bucket.rs b/sgl-model-gateway/src/policies/bucket.rs
index 473a20623..bdf64020b 100644
--- a/sgl-model-gateway/src/policies/bucket.rs
+++ b/sgl-model-gateway/src/policies/bucket.rs
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ use rand::Rng;
 use tracing::{debug, error, info, warn};
 use uuid::Uuid;
 
-use super::{get_healthy_worker_indices, BucketConfig, LoadBalancingPolicy};
+use super::{get_healthy_worker_indices, normalize_model_key, BucketConfig, LoadBalancingPolicy};
 use crate::core::Worker;
 
 #[derive(Debug)]
@@ -79,13 +79,7 @@ impl BucketPolicy {
         // Group workers by model
         let mut model_workers: HashMap<String, Vec<&Arc<dyn Worker>>> = HashMap::new();
         for worker in prefill_workers {
-            // Use "unknown" for empty model_ids
-            let model_id = worker.model_id();
-            let model_key = if model_id.is_empty() {
-                "unknown"
-            } else {
-                model_id
-            };
+            let model_key = normalize_model_key(worker.model_id());
             model_workers
                 .entry(model_key.to_string())
                 .or_default()
@@ -118,12 +112,7 @@ impl BucketPolicy {
     }
 
     pub fn add_prefill_url(&self, worker: &dyn Worker) {
-        let model_id = worker.model_id();
-        let model_key = if model_id.is_empty() {
-            "unknown"
-        } else {
-            model_id
-        };
+        let model_key = normalize_model_key(worker.model_id());
         let bucket = self
             .buckets
             .entry(model_key.to_string())
@@ -166,12 +155,7 @@ impl BucketPolicy {
     }
 
     pub fn remove_prefill_url(&self, worker: &dyn Worker) {
-        let model_id = worker.model_id();
-        let model_key = if model_id.is_empty() {
-            "unknown"
-        } else {
-            model_id
-        };
+        let model_key = normalize_model_key(worker.model_id());
 
         if let Some(bucket_entry) = self.buckets.get(model_key) {
             let bucket = bucket_entry.value();
@@ -235,12 +219,7 @@ impl LoadBalancingPolicy for BucketPolicy {
 
         // Determine the model for this set of workers (router pre-filters by model)
         // All workers should be from the same model
-        let first_model = workers[healthy_indices[0]].model_id();
-        let model_key = if first_model.is_empty() {
-            "unknown"
-        } else {
-            first_model
-        };
+        let model_key = normalize_model_key(workers[healthy_indices[0]].model_id());
 
         let bucket = self
             .buckets
diff --git a/sgl-model-gateway/src/policies/cache_aware.rs b/sgl-model-gateway/src/policies/cache_aware.rs
index 01b07b063..ba528d8e8 100644
--- a/sgl-model-gateway/src/policies/cache_aware.rs
+++ b/sgl-model-gateway/src/policies/cache_aware.rs
@@ -72,7 +72,10 @@ use dashmap::DashMap;
 use rand::Rng;
 use tracing::debug;
 
-use super::{get_healthy_worker_indices, tree::Tree, CacheAwareConfig, LoadBalancingPolicy};
+use super::{
+    get_healthy_worker_indices, normalize_model_key, tree::Tree, CacheAwareConfig,
+    LoadBalancingPolicy,
+};
 use crate::core::Worker;
 
 /// Cache-aware routing policy
@@ -160,13 +163,7 @@ impl CacheAwarePolicy {
         let mut model_workers: std::collections::HashMap<String, Vec<&Arc<dyn Worker>>> =
             std::collections::HashMap::new();
         for worker in workers {
-            // Use "unknown" for empty model_ids
-            let model_id = worker.model_id();
-            let tree_key = if model_id.is_empty() {
-                "unknown"
-            } else {
-                model_id
-            };
+            let tree_key = normalize_model_key(worker.model_id());
             model_workers
                 .entry(tree_key.to_string())
                 .or_default()
@@ -187,14 +184,7 @@ impl CacheAwarePolicy {
 
     /// Add a single worker to the tree (incremental update)
     pub fn add_worker(&self, worker: &dyn Worker) {
-        // For backward compatibility: if model_id is "unknown" or empty,
-        // use a default tree. This preserves existing behavior for single-model routers.
-        let model_id = worker.model_id();
-        let tree_key = if model_id.is_empty() {
-            "unknown"
-        } else {
-            model_id
-        };
+        let tree_key = normalize_model_key(worker.model_id());
         let tree = self
             .trees
             .entry(tree_key.to_string())
@@ -213,13 +203,7 @@ impl CacheAwarePolicy {
 
     /// Remove a worker from the tree
     pub fn remove_worker(&self, worker: &dyn Worker) {
-        // Use same logic as add_worker for consistency
-        let model_id = worker.model_id();
-        let tree_key = if model_id.is_empty() {
-            "unknown"
-        } else {
-            model_id
-        };
+        let tree_key = normalize_model_key(worker.model_id());
         if let Some(tree) = self.trees.get(tree_key) {
             tree.remove_tenant(worker.url());
         }
@@ -313,12 +297,7 @@ impl LoadBalancingPolicy for CacheAwarePolicy {
 
         // Determine the model for this set of workers (router pre-filters by model)
         // All workers should be from the same model
-        let first_model = workers[healthy_indices[0]].model_id();
-        let model_id = if first_model.is_empty() {
-            "unknown"
-        } else {
-            first_model
-        };
+        let model_id = normalize_model_key(workers[healthy_indices[0]].model_id());
 
         // Get current load statistics - compute min/max in single pass without allocation
         let (min_load, max_load) = workers.iter().fold((usize::MAX, 0usize), |(min, max), w| {
diff --git a/sgl-model-gateway/src/policies/mod.rs b/sgl-model-gateway/src/policies/mod.rs
index f74483d6a..e8ef5fa95 100644
--- a/sgl-model-gateway/src/policies/mod.rs
+++ b/sgl-model-gateway/src/policies/mod.rs
@@ -122,6 +122,19 @@ pub(crate) fn get_healthy_worker_indices(workers: &[Arc<dyn Worker>]) -> Vec<usi
         .collect()
 }
 
+/// Helper function to normalize model_id to a key for policy lookups.
+///
+/// Returns UNKNOWN_MODEL_ID for empty model_ids to ensure consistent behavior
+/// across single-model and multi-model deployments.
+#[inline]
+pub(crate) fn normalize_model_key(model_id: &str) -> &str {
+    if model_id.is_empty() {
+        crate::core::UNKNOWN_MODEL_ID
+    } else {
+        model_id
+    }
+}
+
 #[cfg(test)]
 mod tests {
     use super::*;
diff --git a/sgl-model-gateway/src/routers/grpc/common/stages/dispatch_metadata.rs b/sgl-model-gateway/src/routers/grpc/common/stages/dispatch_metadata.rs
index ffb51f086..d07c54314 100644
--- a/sgl-model-gateway/src/routers/grpc/common/stages/dispatch_metadata.rs
+++ b/sgl-model-gateway/src/routers/grpc/common/stages/dispatch_metadata.rs
@@ -7,9 +7,12 @@ use axum::response::Response;
 use tracing::error;
 
 use super::PipelineStage;
-use crate::routers::{
-    error,
-    grpc::context::{DispatchMetadata, RequestContext, RequestType, WorkerSelection},
+use crate::{
+    core::UNKNOWN_MODEL_ID,
+    routers::{
+        error,
+        grpc::context::{DispatchMetadata, RequestContext, RequestType, WorkerSelection},
+    },
 };
 
 /// Dispatch metadata stage: Prepare metadata for dispatch
@@ -31,11 +34,11 @@ impl PipelineStage for DispatchMetadataStage {
             RequestType::Chat(req) => req.model.clone(),
             RequestType::Generate(_req) => {
                 // Generate requests don't have a model field
-                // Use model_id from input or unknown
+                // Use model_id from input or UNKNOWN_MODEL_ID
                 ctx.input
                     .model_id
                     .clone()
-                    .unwrap_or_else(|| "unknown".to_string())
+                    .unwrap_or_else(|| UNKNOWN_MODEL_ID.to_string())
             }
             RequestType::Responses(req) => req.model.clone(),
             RequestType::Embedding(req) => req.model.clone(),
diff --git a/sgl-model-gateway/src/routers/grpc/context.rs b/sgl-model-gateway/src/routers/grpc/context.rs
index 23438dd49..a5da72f01 100644
--- a/sgl-model-gateway/src/routers/grpc/context.rs
+++ b/sgl-model-gateway/src/routers/grpc/context.rs
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ use crate::{
         responses::ResponsesRequest,
     },
     reasoning_parser::ParserFactory as ReasoningParserFactory,
-    tokenizer::{stop::StopSequenceDecoder, TokenizerRegistry},
+    tokenizer::{stop::StopSequenceDecoder, traits::Tokenizer, TokenizerRegistry},
     tool_parser::ParserFactory as ToolParserFactory,
 };
 
@@ -66,6 +66,10 @@ pub struct ProcessingState {
     // Stage 1: Preparation outputs
     pub preparation: Option<PreparationOutput>,
 
+    /// Resolved tokenizer (set once in preparation, reused in response processing)
+    /// This avoids redundant registry lookups across pipeline stages.
+    pub tokenizer: Option<Arc<dyn Tokenizer>>,
+
     // Stage 2: Worker selection outputs
     pub workers: Option<WorkerSelection>,
 
@@ -394,6 +398,14 @@ impl RequestContext {
             RequestType::Embedding(_) => false, // Embeddings are never streaming
         }
     }
+
+    /// Get the cached tokenizer, cloning the Arc (cheap 8-byte clone)
+    ///
+    /// Returns None if tokenizer hasn't been resolved yet.
+    /// The tokenizer is resolved once in the preparation stage and cached for reuse.
+    pub fn tokenizer_arc(&self) -> Option<Arc<dyn Tokenizer>> {
+        self.state.tokenizer.clone()
+    }
 }
 
 impl WorkerSelection {
diff --git a/sgl-model-gateway/src/routers/grpc/pipeline.rs b/sgl-model-gateway/src/routers/grpc/pipeline.rs
index 894fee4f0..19b390849 100644
--- a/sgl-model-gateway/src/routers/grpc/pipeline.rs
+++ b/sgl-model-gateway/src/routers/grpc/pipeline.rs
@@ -203,7 +203,6 @@ impl RequestPipeline {
     pub fn new_embeddings(
         worker_registry: Arc<WorkerRegistry>,
         policy_registry: Arc<PolicyRegistry>,
-        _tokenizer: Arc<dyn Tokenizer>,
     ) -> Self {
         let stages: Vec<Box<dyn PipelineStage>> = vec![
             Box::new(EmbeddingPreparationStage::new()),
diff --git a/sgl-model-gateway/src/routers/grpc/regular/stages/chat/preparation.rs b/sgl-model-gateway/src/routers/grpc/regular/stages/chat/preparation.rs
index 9166a7a90..ee951ab64 100644
--- a/sgl-model-gateway/src/routers/grpc/regular/stages/chat/preparation.rs
+++ b/sgl-model-gateway/src/routers/grpc/regular/stages/chat/preparation.rs
@@ -43,23 +43,9 @@ impl ChatPreparationStage {
         ctx: &mut RequestContext,
         request: &ChatCompletionRequest,
     ) -> Result<(), Response> {
-        // Step 0: Resolve tokenizer from registry
-        let model_id = ctx.input.model_id.as_deref().unwrap();
-        let tokenizer = ctx
-            .components
-            .tokenizer_registry
-            .get(model_id)
-            .ok_or_else(|| {
-                error!(
-                    function = "ChatPreparationStage::prepare_chat",
-                    model = %model_id,
-                    "Tokenizer not found for model"
-                );
-                error::internal_error(
-                    "tokenizer_not_found",
-                    format!("Tokenizer not found for model: {}", model_id),
-                )
-            })?;
+        // Step 0: Resolve tokenizer from registry (cached for reuse in response processing)
+        let tokenizer =
+            utils::resolve_tokenizer(ctx, "ChatPreparationStage::prepare_chat").map_err(|e| *e)?;
 
         // Step 1: Filter tools if needed
         let body_ref = utils::filter_chat_request_by_tool_choice(request);
diff --git a/sgl-model-gateway/src/routers/grpc/regular/stages/chat/response_processing.rs b/sgl-model-gateway/src/routers/grpc/regular/stages/chat/response_processing.rs
index fc17f0a6b..2d3001c17 100644
--- a/sgl-model-gateway/src/routers/grpc/regular/stages/chat/response_processing.rs
+++ b/sgl-model-gateway/src/routers/grpc/regular/stages/chat/response_processing.rs
@@ -79,23 +79,17 @@ impl ChatResponseProcessingStage {
             })?
             .clone();
 
-        // Get tokenizer in real time
-        let model_id = ctx.input.model_id.as_deref().unwrap();
-        let tokenizer = ctx
-            .components
-            .tokenizer_registry
-            .get(model_id)
-            .ok_or_else(|| {
-                error!(
-                    function = "ChatPreparationStage::prepare_chat",
-                    model = model_id,
-                    "Tokenizer not found for model"
-                );
-                error::internal_error(
-                    "tokenizer_not_found",
-                    format!("Tokenizer not found for model: {}", model_id),
-                )
-            })?;
+        // Get cached tokenizer (resolved once in preparation stage)
+        let tokenizer = ctx.tokenizer_arc().ok_or_else(|| {
+            error!(
+                function = "ChatResponseProcessingStage::process_chat_response",
+                "Tokenizer not cached in context"
+            );
+            error::internal_error(
+                "tokenizer_not_cached",
+                "Tokenizer not cached in context - preparation stage may have been skipped",
+            )
+        })?;
 
         if is_streaming {
             // Streaming: Use StreamingProcessor and return SSE response
diff --git a/sgl-model-gateway/src/routers/grpc/regular/stages/embedding/preparation.rs b/sgl-model-gateway/src/routers/grpc/regular/stages/embedding/preparation.rs
index b3c77a837..fae235a3d 100644
--- a/sgl-model-gateway/src/routers/grpc/regular/stages/embedding/preparation.rs
+++ b/sgl-model-gateway/src/routers/grpc/regular/stages/embedding/preparation.rs
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ use crate::{
         grpc::{
             common::stages::PipelineStage,
             context::{PreparationOutput, RequestContext, RequestType},
+            utils,
         },
     },
 };
@@ -55,10 +56,12 @@ impl PipelineStage for EmbeddingPreparationStage {
             ));
         }
 
+        // Resolve tokenizer from registry (cached for potential reuse)
+        let tokenizer =
+            utils::resolve_tokenizer(ctx, "EmbeddingPreparationStage::execute").map_err(|e| *e)?;
+
         // Tokenize
-        let token_ids = ctx
-            .components
-            .tokenizer
+        let token_ids = tokenizer
             .encode(&text)
             .map_err(|e| {
                 error!(
diff --git a/sgl-model-gateway/src/routers/grpc/regular/stages/generate/preparation.rs b/sgl-model-gateway/src/routers/grpc/regular/stages/generate/preparation.rs
index a9d46d140..d1aea48cb 100644
--- a/sgl-model-gateway/src/routers/grpc/regular/stages/generate/preparation.rs
+++ b/sgl-model-gateway/src/routers/grpc/regular/stages/generate/preparation.rs
@@ -44,24 +44,9 @@ impl GeneratePreparationStage {
         ctx: &mut RequestContext,
         request: &GenerateRequest,
     ) -> Result<(), Response> {
-        // Get model_id from context (normalized by router_manager)
-        let model_id = ctx.input.model_id.as_deref().unwrap();
-
-        let tokenizer = ctx
-            .components
-            .tokenizer_registry
-            .get(model_id)
-            .ok_or_else(|| {
-                error!(
-                    function = "GeneratePreparationStage::execute",
-                    model = %model_id,
-                    "Tokenizer not found for model"
-                );
-                error::internal_error(
-                    "tokenizer_not_found",
-                    format!("Tokenizer not found for model: {}", model_id),
-                )
-            })?;
+        // Resolve tokenizer from registry (cached for reuse in response processing)
+        let tokenizer = utils::resolve_tokenizer(ctx, "GeneratePreparationStage::prepare_generate")
+            .map_err(|e| *e)?;
 
         let (original_text, token_ids) = match self.resolve_generate_input(request, &tokenizer) {
             Ok(res) => res,
diff --git a/sgl-model-gateway/src/routers/grpc/regular/stages/generate/response_processing.rs b/sgl-model-gateway/src/routers/grpc/regular/stages/generate/response_processing.rs
index e6b6012e3..b214e9cf4 100644
--- a/sgl-model-gateway/src/routers/grpc/regular/stages/generate/response_processing.rs
+++ b/sgl-model-gateway/src/routers/grpc/regular/stages/generate/response_processing.rs
@@ -77,24 +77,17 @@ impl GenerateResponseProcessingStage {
             })?
             .clone();
 
-        // Get model_id from context
-        let model_id = ctx.input.model_id.as_deref().unwrap();
-
-        let tokenizer = ctx
-            .components
-            .tokenizer_registry
-            .get(model_id)
-            .ok_or_else(|| {
-                error!(
-                    function = "GeneratePreparationStage::execute",
-                    model = %model_id,
-                    "Tokenizer not found for model"
-                );
-                error::internal_error(
-                    "tokenizer_not_found",
-                    format!("Tokenizer not found for model: {}", model_id),
-                )
-            })?;
+        // Get cached tokenizer (resolved once in preparation stage)
+        let tokenizer = ctx.tokenizer_arc().ok_or_else(|| {
+            error!(
+                function = "GenerateResponseProcessingStage::process_generate_response",
+                "Tokenizer not cached in context"
+            );
+            error::internal_error(
+                "tokenizer_not_cached",
+                "Tokenizer not cached in context - preparation stage may have been skipped",
+            )
+        })?;
 
         if is_streaming {
             // Streaming: Use StreamingProcessor and return SSE response
diff --git a/sgl-model-gateway/src/routers/grpc/router.rs b/sgl-model-gateway/src/routers/grpc/router.rs
index 31adff8b6..fc8831f98 100644
--- a/sgl-model-gateway/src/routers/grpc/router.rs
+++ b/sgl-model-gateway/src/routers/grpc/router.rs
@@ -96,11 +96,8 @@ impl GrpcRouter {
         );
 
         // Create Embedding pipeline
-        let embedding_pipeline = RequestPipeline::new_embeddings(
-            worker_registry.clone(),
-            _policy_registry.clone(),
-            tokenizer.clone(),
-        );
+        let embedding_pipeline =
+            RequestPipeline::new_embeddings(worker_registry.clone(), _policy_registry.clone());
 
         // Extract shared dependencies for responses contexts
         let mcp_manager = ctx
diff --git a/sgl-model-gateway/src/routers/grpc/utils.rs b/sgl-model-gateway/src/routers/grpc/utils.rs
index 3f0770ca0..83e3d11b4 100644
--- a/sgl-model-gateway/src/routers/grpc/utils.rs
+++ b/sgl-model-gateway/src/routers/grpc/utils.rs
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ use uuid::Uuid;
 
 use super::{
     client::GrpcClient,
+    context::RequestContext,
     proto_wrapper::{ProtoGenerateComplete, ProtoStream},
     ProcessedMessages,
 };
@@ -42,6 +43,49 @@ use crate::{
     },
 };
 
+/// Resolve tokenizer from registry and cache it in request context.
+///
+/// This is a helper to avoid duplicating tokenizer resolution logic across
+/// preparation stages (chat, generate, embedding).
+///
+/// Returns the tokenizer Arc, which is also cached in `ctx.state.tokenizer`.
+pub fn resolve_tokenizer(
+    ctx: &mut RequestContext,
+    stage_name: &str,
+) -> Result<Arc<dyn Tokenizer>, Box<Response>> {
+    let model_id = ctx.input.model_id.as_deref().ok_or_else(|| {
+        error!(
+            function = %stage_name,
+            "model_id not set in request context"
+        );
+        Box::new(error::internal_error(
+            "model_id_not_set",
+            "model_id not set in request context - this is a bug in request routing",
+        ))
+    })?;
+
+    let tokenizer = ctx
+        .components
+        .tokenizer_registry
+        .get(model_id)
+        .ok_or_else(|| {
+            error!(
+                function = %stage_name,
+                model = %model_id,
+                "Tokenizer not found for model"
+            );
+            Box::new(error::internal_error(
+                "tokenizer_not_found",
+                format!("Tokenizer not found for model: {}", model_id),
+            ))
+        })?;
+
+    // Cache tokenizer in context for reuse in response processing stage
+    ctx.state.tokenizer = Some(tokenizer.clone());
+
+    Ok(tokenizer)
+}
+
 /// Get gRPC client from worker, returning appropriate error response on failure
 pub async fn get_grpc_client_from_worker(worker: &Arc<dyn Worker>) -> Result<GrpcClient, Response> {
     // Get cached client from worker (or create one if not cached yet)