diff --git a/.changeset/flat-garlics-knock.md b/.changeset/flat-garlics-knock.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5d3239f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changeset/flat-garlics-knock.md
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+---
+"ai-connector": patch
+---
+
+Implement new start-of-stream newline trimming
diff --git a/packages/core/src/ai-stream.ts b/packages/core/src/ai-stream.ts
index ffeaab7..7fe89dc 100644
--- a/packages/core/src/ai-stream.ts
+++ b/packages/core/src/ai-stream.ts
@@ -11,23 +11,17 @@ export interface AIStreamCallbacks {
   onToken?: (token: string) => Promise<void>
 }
 
-export interface AIStreamParserOptions {
-  data: any
-  counter: number
-}
-
 export interface AIStreamParser {
-  (opts: AIStreamParserOptions): string | void
+  (data: string): string | void
 }
 
 export function createEventStreamTransformer(customParser: AIStreamParser) {
   const decoder = new TextDecoder()
-  let counter = 0
   let parser: EventSourceParser
 
   return new TransformStream<Uint8Array, string>({
     async start(controller): Promise<void> {
-      function onParse(event: ParsedEvent | ReconnectInterval): void {
+      function onParse(event: ParsedEvent | ReconnectInterval) {
         if (event.type === 'event') {
           const data = event.data
           if (data === '[DONE]') {
@@ -35,9 +29,7 @@ export function createEventStreamTransformer(customParser: AIStreamParser) {
             return
           }
 
-          const message = customParser({ data, counter })
-          counter++
-
+          const message = customParser(data)
           if (message) controller.enqueue(message)
         }
       }
@@ -85,6 +77,18 @@ export function createCallbacksTransformer(
   })
 }
 
+// If we're still at the start of the stream, we want to trim the leading
+// `\n\n`. But, after we've seen some text, we no longer want to trim out
+// whitespace.
+export function trimStartOfStreamHelper() {
+  let start = true
+  return (text: string) => {
+    if (start) text = text.trimStart()
+    if (text) start = false
+    return text
+  }
+}
+
 export function AIStream(
   res: Response,
   customParser: AIStreamParser,
diff --git a/packages/core/src/anthropic-stream.ts b/packages/core/src/anthropic-stream.ts
index 8d5aeb2..3fc1471 100644
--- a/packages/core/src/anthropic-stream.ts
+++ b/packages/core/src/anthropic-stream.ts
@@ -1,15 +1,9 @@
-import {
-  AIStream,
-  type AIStreamCallbacks,
-  type AIStreamParserOptions
-} from './ai-stream'
+import { AIStream, type AIStreamCallbacks } from './ai-stream'
 
-function parseAnthropicStream(): ({
-  data
-}: AIStreamParserOptions) => string | void {
+function parseAnthropicStream(): (data: string) => string | void {
   let previous = ''
 
-  return ({ data }) => {
+  return data => {
     const json = JSON.parse(data as string) as {
       completion: string
       stop: string | null
diff --git a/packages/core/src/huggingface-stream.ts b/packages/core/src/huggingface-stream.ts
index d4fcf9f..3456f1b 100644
--- a/packages/core/src/huggingface-stream.ts
+++ b/packages/core/src/huggingface-stream.ts
@@ -1,7 +1,11 @@
-import { type AIStreamCallbacks, createCallbacksTransformer } from './ai-stream'
+import {
+  type AIStreamCallbacks,
+  createCallbacksTransformer,
+  trimStartOfStreamHelper
+} from './ai-stream'
 
 function createParser(res: AsyncGenerator<any>) {
-  let counter = 0
+  const trimStartOfStream = trimStartOfStreamHelper()
   return new ReadableStream<string>({
     async pull(controller): Promise<void> {
       const { value, done } = await res.next()
@@ -10,7 +14,8 @@ function createParser(res: AsyncGenerator<any>) {
         return
       }
 
-      const text: string = value.token?.text ?? ''
+      const text = trimStartOfStream(value.token?.text ?? '')
+      if (!text) return
 
       // some HF models return generated_text instead of a real ending token
       if (value.generated_text != null && value.generated_text.length > 0) {
@@ -20,16 +25,10 @@ function createParser(res: AsyncGenerator<any>) {
 
       // <|endoftext|> is for https://huggingface.co/OpenAssistant/oasst-sft-4-pythia-12b-epoch-3.5
       // </s> is also often last token in the stream depending on the model
-      if (text !== '</s>' && text !== '<|endoftext|>') {
-        // TODO: Is this needed?
-        if (counter < 2 && text.includes('\n')) {
-          return
-        }
-
-        controller.enqueue(text)
-        counter++
-      } else {
+      if (text === '</s>' || text === '<|endoftext|>') {
         controller.close()
+      } else {
+        controller.enqueue(text)
       }
     }
   })
diff --git a/packages/core/src/openai-stream.ts b/packages/core/src/openai-stream.ts
index 7499278..3c117c8 100644
--- a/packages/core/src/openai-stream.ts
+++ b/packages/core/src/openai-stream.ts
@@ -1,30 +1,27 @@
 import {
   AIStream,
-  type AIStreamCallbacks,
-  type AIStreamParserOptions
+  trimStartOfStreamHelper,
+  type AIStreamCallbacks
 } from './ai-stream'
 
-function parseOpenAIStream({
-  data,
-  counter
-}: AIStreamParserOptions): string | void {
-  // TODO: Needs a type
-  const json = JSON.parse(data)
+function parseOpenAIStream(): (data: string) => string | void {
+  const trimStartOfStream = trimStartOfStreamHelper()
+  return data => {
+    // TODO: Needs a type
+    const json = JSON.parse(data)
 
-  // this can be used for either chat or completion models
-  const text = json.choices[0]?.delta?.content ?? json.choices[0]?.text ?? ''
+    // this can be used for either chat or completion models
+    const text = trimStartOfStream(
+      json.choices[0]?.delta?.content ?? json.choices[0]?.text ?? ''
+    )
 
-  // TODO: I don't understand the `counter && has newline`. Should this be `counter < 2 || !has newline?`?
-  if (counter < 2 && text.includes('\n')) {
-    return
+    return text
   }
-
-  return text
 }
 
 export function OpenAIStream(
   res: Response,
   cb?: AIStreamCallbacks
 ): ReadableStream {
-  return AIStream(res, parseOpenAIStream, cb)
+  return AIStream(res, parseOpenAIStream(), cb)
 }