diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 5abbb5d07..4eb774f67 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -588,6 +588,7 @@ except AuthException as e:
 - When enabled, only the **most recent** HTTP response is stored
 - `get_last_response()` returns `None` when verbose mode is disabled
 - The response object provides dict-like access to JSON data while also exposing HTTP metadata
+- A response object is always truthy, including when the body is empty or not JSON, so `if response:` is a safe presence check
 
 **Available metadata on response objects:**
 - `response.headers` - HTTP response headers (dict-like object)
@@ -595,7 +596,9 @@ except AuthException as e:
 - `response.text` - Raw response body as text (str)
 - `response.url` - Request URL (str)
 - `response.ok` - Whether status code is < 400 (bool)
-- `response.json()` - Parsed JSON response (dict/list)
+- `response.json()` - Parsed JSON response (dict/list), raises if the body is not JSON
+- `response.is_json` - Whether the body can be parsed as JSON (bool)
+- `response.raw` - The underlying `httpx.Response`
 - `response["key"]` - Dict-like access to JSON data (for backward compatibility)
 
 For a complete example, see [samples/verbose_mode_example.py](https://github.com/descope/python-sdk/blob/main/samples/verbose_mode_example.py).
diff --git a/descope/_http_client_base.py b/descope/_http_client_base.py
index 5e2a1a9df..432181a08 100644
--- a/descope/_http_client_base.py
+++ b/descope/_http_client_base.py
@@ -30,6 +30,9 @@ def sdk_version():
     return version("descope")
 
 
+# Longest non-JSON body echoed into str()/repr() of a response
+_MAX_TEXT_PREVIEW = 200
+
 # HTTP status codes that should trigger automatic retries
 _RETRY_STATUS_CODES = {503, 520, 521, 522, 524, 530}
 # Delays in seconds between retries: first retry after 100ms, subsequent retries after 5s
@@ -50,6 +53,12 @@ class DescopeResponse:
 
     This allows backward compatibility (acting like a dict) while exposing
     HTTP metadata like cf-ray headers for debugging.
+
+    Members that need the parsed body (``json()``, ``__getitem__``, ``get``,
+    ``keys``, ``values``, ``items``, ``__len__``, ``__iter__``, ``__contains__``)
+    raise on a non-JSON body. Inspecting the response itself never does:
+    ``bool()`` is always True, and ``str()``/``repr()`` fall back to the raw
+    text, so a response is always loggable. Use ``is_json`` to check first.
     """
 
     def __init__(self, response: httpx.Response):
@@ -62,6 +71,15 @@ def json(self):
             self._json_data = self.raw.json()
         return self._json_data
 
+    @property
+    def is_json(self) -> bool:
+        """True if the response body can be parsed as JSON."""
+        try:
+            self.json()
+        except ValueError:
+            return False
+        return True
+
     # Dict-like interface for backward compatibility
     def __getitem__(self, key):
         return self.json()[key]
@@ -81,22 +99,43 @@ def items(self):
     def get(self, key, default=None):
         return self.json().get(key, default)
 
+    def _text_preview(self):
+        """Bounded view of a non-JSON body: its size is upstream-controlled."""
+        text = self.raw.text
+        if len(text) <= _MAX_TEXT_PREVIEW:
+            return text
+        return f"{text[:_MAX_TEXT_PREVIEW]}... ({len(text)} chars, use .text for the full body)"
+
+    # Inspection dunders never parse-fail: a non-JSON body (an nginx 502 HTML
+    # page, for example) must still be loggable and truthy as a response object.
     def __str__(self):
-        return str(self.json())
+        try:
+            return str(self.json())
+        except ValueError:
+            return self._text_preview()
 
     def __repr__(self):
-        return f"DescopeResponse({repr(self.json())})"
+        try:
+            return f"DescopeResponse({repr(self.json())})"
+        except ValueError:
+            return f"DescopeResponse(status_code={self.raw.status_code}, text={self._text_preview()!r})"
 
     def __bool__(self):
-        return bool(self.json())
+        # A response object is always truthy: truthiness answers "did I get a
+        # response", not "is the body non-empty". Must stay explicit — without
+        # it Python falls back to __len__, which parses the body.
+        return True
 
     def __len__(self):
         return len(self.json())
 
     def __eq__(self, other):
-        if isinstance(other, DescopeResponse):
-            return self.json() == other.json()
-        return self.json() == other
+        try:
+            if isinstance(other, DescopeResponse):
+                return self.json() == other.json()
+            return self.json() == other
+        except ValueError:
+            return self is other
 
     def __ne__(self, other):
         return not self.__eq__(other)
diff --git a/tests/test_descope_client.py b/tests/test_descope_client.py
index 9fa791213..8406b3497 100644
--- a/tests/test_descope_client.py
+++ b/tests/test_descope_client.py
@@ -839,3 +839,33 @@ async def test_verbose_mode_captures_mgmt_response(self, client_factory):
         assert last_resp["user"]["id"] == "u1"
         assert last_resp.headers.get("cf-ray") == "mgmt-ray-123"
         assert last_resp.status_code == 200
+
+    async def test_verbose_mode_returns_response_on_non_json_body(self, client_factory):
+        """get_last_response() must not parse the body: a 502 HTML page is still returned."""
+        html = "<html><head><title>502 Bad Gateway</title></head></html>"
+        mock_response = mock.Mock()
+        mock_response.is_success = False
+        mock_response.status_code = 502
+        mock_response.text = html
+        mock_response.headers = {"cf-ray": "mgmt-ray-502"}
+        mock_response.json.side_effect = json.JSONDecodeError("Expecting value", html, 0)
+
+        client = client_factory.make(
+            PROJECT_ID,
+            public_key=PUBLIC_KEY_DICT,
+            management_key="test-mgmt-key",
+            verbose=True,
+        )
+        if client_factory.mode == "async":
+            client._raw._license_attempted = True
+
+        with client.mock_mgmt_post(mock_response):
+            with pytest.raises(AuthException):
+                await client.invoke(client.mgmt.user.create(login_id="test@example.com"))
+
+        last_resp = client.get_last_response()
+        assert last_resp is not None
+        assert last_resp.status_code == 502
+        assert last_resp.text == html
+        assert last_resp.headers.get("cf-ray") == "mgmt-ray-502"
+        assert last_resp.is_json is False
diff --git a/tests/test_http_client.py b/tests/test_http_client.py
index ac497b59f..ab48302d5 100644
--- a/tests/test_http_client.py
+++ b/tests/test_http_client.py
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+import json
 import os
 import unittest
 from unittest.mock import Mock, patch
@@ -124,6 +125,65 @@ def test_cookies_and_content(self):
         assert resp.cookies.get("session") == "abc123"
         assert resp.content == b'{"data":"test"}'
 
+    def test_non_json_body_is_inspectable(self):
+        """A non-JSON body (e.g. an nginx 502 HTML page) must not break inspection."""
+        html = "<html><head><title>502 Bad Gateway</title></head></html>"
+        mock_response = Mock()
+        mock_response.json.side_effect = json.JSONDecodeError("Expecting value", html, 0)
+        mock_response.status_code = 502
+        mock_response.text = html
+        mock_response.headers = {"cf-ray": "abc123"}
+        mock_response.is_success = False
+
+        resp = DescopeResponse(mock_response)
+
+        assert bool(resp) is True
+        assert str(resp) == html
+        assert "502" in repr(resp)
+        assert resp.is_json is False
+        assert resp.status_code == 502
+        assert resp.text == html
+        assert resp.headers.get("cf-ray") == "abc123"
+        assert resp.ok is False
+        # Equality falls back to identity rather than raising
+        assert (resp == DescopeResponse(mock_response)) is False
+
+        # Explicit JSON access still raises
+        with self.assertRaises(json.JSONDecodeError):
+            resp.json()
+        with self.assertRaises(json.JSONDecodeError):
+            resp.__getitem__("errorCode")
+
+    def test_long_non_json_body_is_truncated_in_str_and_repr(self):
+        """Body size is upstream-controlled, so logging must not echo it unbounded."""
+        body = "x" * 5000
+        mock_response = Mock()
+        mock_response.json.side_effect = json.JSONDecodeError("Expecting value", body, 0)
+        mock_response.status_code = 502
+        mock_response.text = body
+
+        resp = DescopeResponse(mock_response)
+
+        assert len(str(resp)) < 300
+        assert "5000 chars" in str(resp)
+        assert len(repr(resp)) < 300
+        assert resp.text == body  # full body still reachable
+
+    def test_is_json_true_for_json_body(self):
+        mock_response = Mock()
+        mock_response.json.return_value = {"data": "test"}
+        assert DescopeResponse(mock_response).is_json is True
+
+    def test_empty_json_body_is_truthy(self):
+        """Truthiness means "a response exists", not "the body is non-empty"."""
+        mock_response = Mock()
+        mock_response.json.return_value = {}
+        resp = DescopeResponse(mock_response)
+
+        assert bool(resp) is True
+        mock_response.json.assert_not_called()  # truthiness must not parse the body
+        assert len(resp) == 0
+
     @patch("httpx.get")
     def test_verbose_mode_captures_response_before_error(self, mock_get):
         """Test that verbose mode captures response even when errors are raised.