diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index 0710224..86f3126 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ build-backend = "setuptools.build_meta"
 
 [project]
 name = "emp-agents"
-version = "0.3.0"
+version = "0.3.1"
 description = "A Python library for building low-code, capable and extensible autonomous agent systems."
 readme = "README.md"
 requires-python = ">=3.10"
diff --git a/src/emp_agents/agents/base.py b/src/emp_agents/agents/base.py
index b300c45..880b5b5 100644
--- a/src/emp_agents/agents/base.py
+++ b/src/emp_agents/agents/base.py
@@ -7,11 +7,13 @@
     ConfigDict,
     Field,
     PrivateAttr,
+    ValidationError,
     computed_field,
     field_validator,
 )
 
 from emp_agents.agents.history import AbstractConversationProvider, ConversationProvider
+from emp_agents.exceptions import ResponseValidationError
 from emp_agents.logger import logger
 from emp_agents.models import (
     AssistantMessage,
@@ -46,7 +48,7 @@ class AgentBase(BaseModel):
         default_factory=ConversationProvider
     )
     sync_tools: bool = Field(
-        True, description="If true, tools will be executed synchronously"
+        default=True, description="If true, tools will be executed synchronously"
     )
 
     # This can be used to modify the conversation before completion, such as RAG
@@ -195,7 +197,12 @@ async def respond(
             max_tokens=max_tokens,
             response_format=response_format,
         )
-        return response_format.model_validate_json(response)
+        try:
+            return response_format.model_validate_json(response)
+        except ValidationError as e:
+            raise ResponseValidationError(
+                f"Error validating agent response to {response_format.__name__}: {response}"
+            ) from e
 
     @overload
     async def complete(
diff --git a/src/emp_agents/exceptions.py b/src/emp_agents/exceptions.py
index 65a3b99..9a06b5d 100644
--- a/src/emp_agents/exceptions.py
+++ b/src/emp_agents/exceptions.py
@@ -4,3 +4,7 @@ class TooManyTriesException(BaseException):
 
 class InvalidModelException(BaseException):
     pass
+
+
+class ResponseValidationError(BaseException):
+    pass