diff --git a/prober/prober.go b/prober/prober.go
index fec571e61..333661a38 100644
--- a/prober/prober.go
+++ b/prober/prober.go
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ package prober
 import (
 	"container/ring"
 	"context"
+	"encoding/json"
 	"fmt"
 	"hash/fnv"
 	"log"
@@ -449,6 +450,13 @@ func (probe *Probe) probeInfoLocked() ProbeInfo {
 	return inf
 }
 
+// RunHandlerResponse is the JSON response format for the RunHandler.
+type RunHandlerResponse struct {
+	ProbeInfo             ProbeInfo
+	PreviousSuccessRatio  float64
+	PreviousMedianLatency time.Duration
+}
+
 // RunHandler runs a probe by name and returns the result as an HTTP response.
 func (p *Prober) RunHandler(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) error {
 	// Look up prober by name.
@@ -458,16 +466,40 @@ func (p *Prober) RunHandler(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) error {
 	}
 	p.mu.Lock()
 	probe, ok := p.probes[name]
-	prevInfo := probe.probeInfoLocked()
 	p.mu.Unlock()
 	if !ok {
 		return tsweb.Error(http.StatusNotFound, fmt.Sprintf("unknown probe %q", name), nil)
 	}
+
+	probe.mu.Lock()
+	prevInfo := probe.probeInfoLocked()
+	probe.mu.Unlock()
+
 	info, err := probe.run()
+	respStatus := http.StatusOK
+	if err != nil {
+		respStatus = http.StatusFailedDependency
+	}
+
+	// Return serialized JSON response if the client requested JSON
+	if r.Header.Get("Accept") == "application/json" {
+		resp := &RunHandlerResponse{
+			ProbeInfo:             info,
+			PreviousSuccessRatio:  prevInfo.RecentSuccessRatio(),
+			PreviousMedianLatency: prevInfo.RecentMedianLatency(),
+		}
+		w.WriteHeader(respStatus)
+		w.Header().Set("Content-Type", "application/json")
+		if err := json.NewEncoder(w).Encode(resp); err != nil {
+			return tsweb.Error(http.StatusInternalServerError, "error encoding JSON response", err)
+		}
+		return nil
+	}
+
 	stats := fmt.Sprintf("Previous runs: success rate %d%%, median latency %v",
 		int(prevInfo.RecentSuccessRatio()*100), prevInfo.RecentMedianLatency())
 	if err != nil {
-		return tsweb.Error(http.StatusFailedDependency, fmt.Sprintf("Probe failed: %s\n%s", err.Error(), stats), err)
+		return tsweb.Error(respStatus, fmt.Sprintf("Probe failed: %s\n%s", err.Error(), stats), err)
 	}
 	w.WriteHeader(respStatus)
 	w.Write([]byte(fmt.Sprintf("Probe succeeded in %v\n%s", info.Latency, stats)))
diff --git a/prober/prober_test.go b/prober/prober_test.go
index a194e6f5c..742a914b2 100644
--- a/prober/prober_test.go
+++ b/prober/prober_test.go
@@ -5,8 +5,11 @@ package prober
 
 import (
 	"context"
+	"encoding/json"
 	"errors"
 	"fmt"
+	"io"
+	"net/http/httptest"
 	"strings"
 	"sync"
 	"sync/atomic"
@@ -17,6 +20,7 @@ import (
 	"github.com/google/go-cmp/cmp/cmpopts"
 	"github.com/prometheus/client_golang/prometheus/testutil"
 	"tailscale.com/tstest"
+	"tailscale.com/tsweb"
 )
 
 const (
@@ -461,6 +465,87 @@ func TestProbeInfoRecent(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
+func TestProberRunHandler(t *testing.T) {
+	clk := newFakeTime()
+
+	tests := []struct {
+		name                  string
+		probeFunc             func(context.Context) error
+		wantResponseCode      int
+		wantJSONResponse      RunHandlerResponse
+		wantPlaintextResponse string
+	}{
+		{
+			name:             "success",
+			probeFunc:        func(context.Context) error { return nil },
+			wantResponseCode: 200,
+			wantJSONResponse: RunHandlerResponse{
+				ProbeInfo: ProbeInfo{
+					Name:          "success",
+					Interval:      probeInterval,
+					Result:        true,
+					RecentResults: []bool{true, true},
+				},
+				PreviousSuccessRatio: 1,
+			},
+			wantPlaintextResponse: "Probe succeeded",
+		},
+		{
+			name:             "failure",
+			probeFunc:        func(context.Context) error { return fmt.Errorf("error123") },
+			wantResponseCode: 424,
+			wantJSONResponse: RunHandlerResponse{
+				ProbeInfo: ProbeInfo{
+					Name:          "failure",
+					Interval:      probeInterval,
+					Result:        false,
+					Error:         "error123",
+					RecentResults: []bool{false, false},
+				},
+			},
+			wantPlaintextResponse: "Probe failed",
+		},
+	}
+
+	for _, tt := range tests {
+		for _, reqJSON := range []bool{true, false} {
+			t.Run(fmt.Sprintf("%s_json-%v", tt.name, reqJSON), func(t *testing.T) {
+				p := newForTest(clk.Now, clk.NewTicker).WithOnce(true)
+				probe := p.Run(tt.name, probeInterval, nil, FuncProbe(tt.probeFunc))
+				defer probe.Close()
+				<-probe.stopped // wait for the first run.
+
+				w := httptest.NewRecorder()
+
+				req := httptest.NewRequest("GET", "/prober/run/?name="+tt.name, nil)
+				if reqJSON {
+					req.Header.Set("Accept", "application/json")
+				}
+				tsweb.StdHandler(tsweb.ReturnHandlerFunc(p.RunHandler), tsweb.HandlerOptions{}).ServeHTTP(w, req)
+				if w.Result().StatusCode != tt.wantResponseCode {
+					t.Errorf("unexpected response code: got %d, want %d", w.Code, tt.wantResponseCode)
+				}
+
+				if reqJSON {
+					var gotJSON RunHandlerResponse
+					if err := json.Unmarshal(w.Body.Bytes(), &gotJSON); err != nil {
+						t.Fatalf("failed to unmarshal JSON response: %v; body: %s", err, w.Body.String())
+					}
+					if diff := cmp.Diff(tt.wantJSONResponse, gotJSON, cmpopts.IgnoreFields(ProbeInfo{}, "Start", "End", "Labels", "RecentLatencies")); diff != "" {
+						t.Errorf("unexpected JSON response (-want +got):\n%s", diff)
+					}
+				} else {
+					body, _ := io.ReadAll(w.Result().Body)
+					if !strings.Contains(string(body), tt.wantPlaintextResponse) {
+						t.Errorf("unexpected response body: got %q, want to contain %q", body, tt.wantPlaintextResponse)
+					}
+				}
+			})
+		}
+	}
+
+}
+
 type fakeTicker struct {
 	ch       chan time.Time
 	interval time.Duration