diff --git a/components/camel-ai/camel-openai/pom.xml b/components/camel-ai/camel-openai/pom.xml
index f63077ac32c35..149b9bc45325d 100644
--- a/components/camel-ai/camel-openai/pom.xml
+++ b/components/camel-ai/camel-openai/pom.xml
@@ -33,6 +33,10 @@
     <name>Camel :: AI :: OpenAI</name>
     <description>Camel OpenAI component for chat completion using OpenAI API</description>
 
+    <properties>
+        <failsafe.rerunFailingTestsCount>3</failsafe.rerunFailingTestsCount>
+    </properties>
+
     <dependencies>
         <dependency>
             <groupId>org.apache.camel</groupId>
@@ -66,5 +70,17 @@
             <artifactId>camel-jackson</artifactId>
             <scope>test</scope>
         </dependency>
+        <dependency>
+            <groupId>org.apache.camel</groupId>
+            <artifactId>camel-test-infra-ollama</artifactId>
+            <version>${project.version}</version>
+            <type>test-jar</type>
+            <scope>test</scope>
+        </dependency>
+        <dependency>
+            <groupId>org.assertj</groupId>
+            <artifactId>assertj-core</artifactId>
+            <scope>test</scope>
+        </dependency>
     </dependencies>
 </project>
diff --git a/components/camel-ai/camel-openai/src/main/java/org/apache/camel/component/openai/OpenAIProducer.java b/components/camel-ai/camel-openai/src/main/java/org/apache/camel/component/openai/OpenAIProducer.java
index 3ccd26bf56118..5cbe1350bbbcf 100644
--- a/components/camel-ai/camel-openai/src/main/java/org/apache/camel/component/openai/OpenAIProducer.java
+++ b/components/camel-ai/camel-openai/src/main/java/org/apache/camel/component/openai/OpenAIProducer.java
@@ -206,7 +206,14 @@ private List<ChatCompletionMessageParam> buildMessages(Exchange exchange, OpenAI
         addConversationHistory(messages, in, config);
 
         ChatCompletionMessageParam userMessage = buildUserMessage(in, config);
-        messages.add(userMessage);
+        if (userMessage != null) {
+            messages.add(userMessage);
+        }
+
+        if (messages.isEmpty()) {
+            throw new IllegalArgumentException(
+                    "No input provided to LLM. At least one message (user, system, or developer) must be provided");
+        }
 
         return messages;
     }
@@ -243,9 +250,8 @@ private ChatCompletionMessageParam buildUserMessage(Message in, OpenAIConfigurat
 
     private ChatCompletionMessageParam buildTextMessage(Message in, String userPrompt, OpenAIConfiguration config) {
         String prompt = userPrompt != null ? userPrompt : in.getBody(String.class);
-        if (prompt == null || prompt.isEmpty()) {
-            throw new IllegalArgumentException(
-                    "Message body or user message configuration must contain the prompt text");
+        if (prompt == null || prompt.trim().isEmpty()) {
+            return null;
         }
         return createTextMessage(prompt);
     }
diff --git a/components/camel-ai/camel-openai/src/test/java/org/apache/camel/component/openai/integration/OpenAIChatCompletionIT.java b/components/camel-ai/camel-openai/src/test/java/org/apache/camel/component/openai/integration/OpenAIChatCompletionIT.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..194e66ca73549
--- /dev/null
+++ b/components/camel-ai/camel-openai/src/test/java/org/apache/camel/component/openai/integration/OpenAIChatCompletionIT.java
@@ -0,0 +1,79 @@
+/*
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one or more
+ * contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file distributed with
+ * this work for additional information regarding copyright ownership.
+ * The ASF licenses this file to You under the Apache License, Version 2.0
+ * (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with
+ * the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+package org.apache.camel.component.openai.integration;
+
+import org.apache.camel.builder.RouteBuilder;
+import org.apache.camel.component.mock.MockEndpoint;
+import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test;
+import org.junit.jupiter.api.condition.DisabledIfSystemProperty;
+
+import static org.assertj.core.api.Assertions.assertThat;
+import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertThrows;
+
+@DisabledIfSystemProperty(named = "ci.env.name", matches = ".*",
+                          disabledReason = "Requires too much network resources")
+public class OpenAIChatCompletionIT extends OpenAITestSupport {
+
+    @Override
+    protected RouteBuilder createRouteBuilder() {
+        return new RouteBuilder() {
+            @Override
+            public void configure() {
+                // Route for simple message test
+                from("direct:send-simple-message")
+                        .toF("openai:chat-completion?apiKey=%s&baseUrl=%s&model=%s", apiKey, baseUrl, model)
+                        .to("mock:response");
+            }
+        };
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void testSendSimpleStringMessage() throws Exception {
+        // Setup mock endpoint expectations
+        MockEndpoint mockResponse = getMockEndpoint("mock:response");
+        mockResponse.expectedMessageCount(1);
+
+        // Send a test message to the OpenAI endpoint
+        String response = template.requestBody("direct:send-simple-message",
+                "What is Apache Camel?",
+                String.class);
+
+        // Verify the mock endpoint received the message
+        mockResponse.assertIsSatisfied();
+
+        // Verify response is not null and contains meaningful content
+        assertThat(response).isNotNull();
+        assertThat(response).isNotEmpty();
+        assertThat(response.length()).isGreaterThan(10);
+
+        assertThat(response).contains("Camel");
+        assertThat(response).contains("Apache");
+        assertThat(response).contains("integration");
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void testEmptyMessageThrowsException() {
+        // Verify that empty messages result in an IllegalArgumentException
+        Exception exception = assertThrows(Exception.class, () -> {
+            template.requestBody("direct:send-simple-message", "", String.class);
+        });
+
+        // Verify the exception is an IllegalArgumentException about empty input
+        assertThat(exception.getCause()).isInstanceOf(IllegalArgumentException.class);
+        assertThat(exception.getCause().getMessage()).contains("No input provided to LLM");
+    }
+}
diff --git a/components/camel-ai/camel-openai/src/test/java/org/apache/camel/component/openai/integration/OpenAITestSupport.java b/components/camel-ai/camel-openai/src/test/java/org/apache/camel/component/openai/integration/OpenAITestSupport.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..0f4da0e4d0ac3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/components/camel-ai/camel-openai/src/test/java/org/apache/camel/component/openai/integration/OpenAITestSupport.java
@@ -0,0 +1,54 @@
+/*
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one or more
+ * contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file distributed with
+ * this work for additional information regarding copyright ownership.
+ * The ASF licenses this file to You under the Apache License, Version 2.0
+ * (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with
+ * the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+package org.apache.camel.component.openai.integration;
+
+import org.apache.camel.test.infra.ollama.services.OllamaService;
+import org.apache.camel.test.infra.ollama.services.OllamaServiceFactory;
+import org.apache.camel.test.junit5.CamelTestSupport;
+
+public class OpenAITestSupport extends CamelTestSupport {
+
+    protected String apiKey;
+    protected String baseUrl;
+    protected String model;
+
+    static OllamaService OLLAMA = hasEnvironmentConfiguration()
+            ? null
+            : OllamaServiceFactory.createSingletonService();
+
+    @Override
+    protected void setupResources() throws Exception {
+        super.setupResources();
+
+        if (OLLAMA != null) {
+            // Use Ollama service
+            baseUrl = OLLAMA.baseUrlV1();
+            model = OLLAMA.modelName();
+            apiKey = "dummy"; // Ollama doesn't require API key
+        } else {
+            // Use environment variables
+            apiKey = System.getenv("OPENAI_API_KEY");
+            baseUrl = System.getenv("OPENAI_BASE_URL"); // Optional
+            model = System.getenv("OPENAI_MODEL"); // Optional
+        }
+    }
+
+    protected static boolean hasEnvironmentConfiguration() {
+        String apiKey = System.getenv("OPENAI_API_KEY");
+        return apiKey != null && !apiKey.trim().isEmpty();
+    }
+}
diff --git a/components/camel-ai/camel-openai/test_execution.md b/components/camel-ai/camel-openai/test_execution.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..65f8d672b93bd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/components/camel-ai/camel-openai/test_execution.md
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+## Test execution
+
+### MacOS or Linux without nvidia graphic card
+If ollama is already installed on the system execute the test with
+
+```bash
+mvn verify -Dollama.endpoint=http://localhost:11434/ -Dollama.model=granite4:3b -Dollama.instance.type=remote
+```
+
+The Ollama docker image is really slow on macbook without nvidia hardware acceleration
+
+### Linux with Nvidia graphic card
+The hardware acceleration can be used, and the test can be executed with
+
+```bash
+mvn verify -Dollama.container.enable.gpu=enabled
+```
\ No newline at end of file