diff --git a/Sources/SwiftLM/Server.swift b/Sources/SwiftLM/Server.swift
index 52da5c3..a4bb8da 100644
--- a/Sources/SwiftLM/Server.swift
+++ b/Sources/SwiftLM/Server.swift
@@ -2380,13 +2380,16 @@ func handleChatCompletion(
         prefillStepSize: config.prefillSize
     )
     generateParams.prefill.progress = forwardPrefillProgress
+    // ── Seed ──
+    // The samplers draw from their own RandomState, which only `GenerateParameters.seed`
+    // seeds; seeding the global generator alone left the request's `seed` without any
+    // effect (#219). The global generator is still seeded for the paths that call
+    // MLXRandom directly.
+    let seed = samplingSeed(chatReq.seed)
+    generateParams.seed = seed
+    if let seed { MLXRandom.seed(seed) }
     let params = generateParams
 
-    // ── Seed for deterministic generation ──
-    if let seed = chatReq.seed {
-        MLXRandom.seed(UInt64(seed))
-    }
-
     // ── Parse messages with multipart content support (for VLM images) ──
     var chatMessages: [Chat.Message] = []
     var systemPromptText = ""
@@ -3555,12 +3558,12 @@ func handleTextCompletion(
         prefillStepSize: config.prefillSize
     )
     generateParams.prefill.progress = forwardPrefillProgress
+    // Same seeding as the chat path; see the comment there (#219).
+    let seed = samplingSeed(compReq.seed)
+    generateParams.seed = seed
+    if let seed { MLXRandom.seed(seed) }
     let params = generateParams
 
-    if let seed = compReq.seed {
-        MLXRandom.seed(UInt64(seed))
-    }
-
     await semaphore.wait()
     let slot = GenerationSlot(semaphore: semaphore)
     await stats.requestStarted()
@@ -4033,6 +4036,13 @@ func checkStopSequences(_ text: String, stopSequences: [String], lookback: Int?
     return (String(text[text.startIndex..<earliest.index]), earliest.stop)
 }
 
+/// The sampler seed for a request `seed`. OpenAI's `seed` is a plain integer, so negative
+/// values do arrive, and `UInt64(seed)` trapped on them — one such request took the whole
+/// server down (#219). Taking the bit pattern keeps every distinct Int a distinct seed.
+func samplingSeed(_ requested: Int?) -> UInt64? {
+    requested.map { UInt64(bitPattern: Int64($0)) }
+}
+
 /// Characters of already-checked text a streaming stop scan must look back over: the
 /// longest stop string, plus one because a chunk can merge with the previous character
 /// into a single grapheme.
diff --git a/tests/SwiftLMTests/SamplingSeedTests.swift b/tests/SwiftLMTests/SamplingSeedTests.swift
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..efd8fb7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/SwiftLMTests/SamplingSeedTests.swift
@@ -0,0 +1,49 @@
+import XCTest
+import Foundation
+import MLX
+import MLXLMCommon
+@testable import SwiftLM
+
+// MARK: - The `seed` request field
+//
+// Two defects hid behind one line. `MLXRandom.seed(UInt64(seed))` seeded the *global*
+// generator, but the samplers draw from their own `RandomState`, which is only seeded
+// through `GenerateParameters.seed` — so the same seed produced different output on every
+// call. And `UInt64(seed)` traps on a negative value, so `"seed": -1` took the whole
+// server down with "Negative value is not representable".
+final class SamplingSeedTests: XCTestCase {
+
+    func testAbsentSeedStaysAbsent() {
+        XCTAssertNil(samplingSeed(nil), "no seed means entropy-seeded sampling, as before")
+    }
+
+    func testNonNegativeSeedIsPassedThrough() {
+        XCTAssertEqual(samplingSeed(0), 0)
+        XCTAssertEqual(samplingSeed(42), 42)
+        XCTAssertEqual(samplingSeed(Int.max), UInt64(Int.max))
+    }
+
+    /// OpenAI's `seed` is a plain integer, so clients can and do send negative values.
+    /// They must map to *some* seed rather than crash the process.
+    func testNegativeSeedDoesNotTrap() {
+        XCTAssertEqual(samplingSeed(-1), UInt64(bitPattern: -1))
+        XCTAssertEqual(samplingSeed(Int.min), UInt64(bitPattern: Int64(Int.min)))
+        XCTAssertNotEqual(samplingSeed(-1), samplingSeed(-2), "distinct seeds stay distinct")
+    }
+
+    /// The seed must reach the sampler, not just the global generator: two samplers built
+    /// from the same parameters have to agree, and a different seed has to be able to
+    /// disagree. This is the property the server relies on for reproducible requests.
+    func testSeededParametersGiveReproducibleSampling() {
+        func sample(seed: UInt64?, draws: Int = 24) -> [Int] {
+            var params = GenerateParameters(temperature: 1.0, topP: 1.0)
+            params.seed = seed
+            let sampler = params.sampler()
+            // A flat distribution over a handful of tokens, so the draw is all RNG.
+            let logits = MLXArray([Float](repeating: 0, count: 64)).reshaped(1, 64)
+            return (0..<draws).map { _ in sampler.sample(logits: logits).item(Int.self) }
+        }
+        XCTAssertEqual(sample(seed: 42), sample(seed: 42), "same seed, same tokens")
+        XCTAssertNotEqual(sample(seed: 42), sample(seed: 43), "different seed, different tokens")
+    }
+}
diff --git a/tests/test-contract.sh b/tests/test-contract.sh
index 8b8cc55..a550dcd 100755
--- a/tests/test-contract.sh
+++ b/tests/test-contract.sh
@@ -241,6 +241,32 @@ else
     fail "chunk-prefilled prompt returned no content: $(echo "$LONG_RESP" | head -c 120)"
 fi
 
+# ── 9. `seed` makes sampling reproducible, and a negative one is harmless ────
+# Issue #219: the request seed only reached MLX's global generator, which the samplers
+# don't draw from, so the same seed sampled differently every time; and UInt64(seed)
+# trapped on a negative value, taking the whole server down with one request.
+log "Test 9: the same seed samples the same answer"
+SEEDED='{"model":"x","messages":[{"role":"user","content":"Pick a random animal and say only its name."}],"max_tokens":12,"temperature":1.0,"seed":4242}'
+# The first call also fills the prompt cache; comparing two cache-hit calls keeps the
+# assertion about the sampler rather than about prefill numerics.
+chat "$SEEDED" >/dev/null
+seeded_message() { chat "$SEEDED" | python3 -c 'import json,sys; print(json.dumps(json.load(sys.stdin)["choices"][0]["message"], sort_keys=True))'; }
+S1=$(seeded_message); S2=$(seeded_message)
+if [ -n "$S1" ] && [ "$S1" = "$S2" ]; then
+    pass "seeded sampling is reproducible ($(echo "$S1" | head -c 60))"
+else
+    fail "same seed gave different output: $(echo "$S1" | head -c 60) vs $(echo "$S2" | head -c 60)"
+fi
+
+log "Test 9b: a negative seed is accepted and the server survives it"
+NEG_CODE=$(curl -s -o /dev/null -w '%{http_code}' "$URL/v1/chat/completions" -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
+    -d '{"model":"x","messages":[{"role":"user","content":"hi"}],"max_tokens":3,"seed":-1}')
+if [ "$NEG_CODE" = "200" ] && curl -sf "$URL/health" >/dev/null 2>&1; then
+    pass "negative seed answered 200 and /health still responds"
+else
+    fail "negative seed: HTTP $NEG_CODE (000 = connection dropped), server alive: $(curl -sf "$URL/health" >/dev/null 2>&1 && echo yes || echo no)"
+fi
+
 log "═══════════════════════════════════════"
 log "Results: $PASS passed, $FAIL failed, $SKIP skipped, $TOTAL total"
 log "═══════════════════════════════════════"