diff --git a/regress/json.sh b/regress/json.sh
new file mode 100755
index 000000000..7a924d1e9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/regress/json.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,137 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+
+# Test parsing and printing JSON with display-message -j.
+
+PATH=/bin:/usr/bin
+TERM=screen
+
+[ -z "$TEST_TMUX" ] && TEST_TMUX=$(readlink -f ../tmux)
+TMUX="$TEST_TMUX -LtestA$$ -f/dev/null"
+$TMUX kill-server 2>/dev/null
+
+fail()
+{
+	echo "$1"
+	$TMUX kill-server 2>/dev/null
+	exit 1
+}
+
+check()
+{
+	actual=$($TMUX display-message -plj "$1" 2>&1) ||
+	    fail "JSON was rejected: $1: $actual"
+	[ "$actual" = "$2" ] ||
+	    fail "JSON output mismatch: $1: expected $2, got $actual"
+}
+
+check_fail()
+{
+	if $TMUX display-message -plj "$1" >/dev/null 2>&1; then
+		fail "invalid JSON was accepted: $1"
+	fi
+}
+
+$TMUX new-session -d || exit 1
+
+check '{}' '{}'
+check ' { "z":true, "a":-9223372036854775808, "m":[{}, {"x":false}] } ' \
+    '{"a":-9223372036854775808,"m":[{},{"x":false}],"z":true}'
+check '{"max":9223372036854775807,"min":-9223372036854775808}' \
+    '{"max":9223372036854775807,"min":-9223372036854775808}'
+check '{" key":" value","{key":"[value"}' \
+    '{" key":" value","{key":"[value"}'
+check '{"brace":"{value","bracket":"[value","colon":":value",'\
+'"comma":",value","space":" value"}' \
+    '{"brace":"{value","bracket":"[value","colon":":value",'\
+'"comma":",value","space":" value"}'
+check '{"esc":"\"\\\/\b\f\n\r\t\u0041"}' \
+    '{"esc":"\"\\\/\b\f\n\r\t\u0041"}'
+check '{"unicode":"\u0123\uabcd\uABCD"}' \
+    '{"unicode":"\u0123\uabcd\uABCD"}'
+
+actual=$($TMUX display-message -palj '{}' 2>&1) ||
+    fail "display-message -aj rejected JSON: $actual"
+[ "$actual" = '{}' ] ||
+    fail "display-message -aj did not ignore -a: got $actual"
+actual=$($TMUX display-message -pIlj '{}' 2>&1) ||
+    fail "display-message -Ij rejected JSON: $actual"
+[ "$actual" = '{}' ] ||
+    fail "display-message -Ij did not ignore -I: got $actual"
+
+check_fail ''
+check_fail '   '
+check_fail '[]'
+check_fail 'true'
+check_fail '1'
+check_fail '"string"'
+check_fail '{}{}'
+
+check_fail '{'
+check_fail '{x:1}'
+check_fail '{"":1}'
+check_fail '{"x" 1}'
+check_fail '{"x",1}'
+check_fail '{"x":}'
+check_fail '{"x":,}'
+check_fail '{"x":1'
+check_fail '{"x":1 "y":2}'
+check_fail '{"x":1,,"y":2}'
+check_fail '{"x":1,}'
+check_fail '{"x":1,"x":2}'
+check_fail '{"x":{}}{}'
+check_fail '{"x":{}} trailing'
+check_fail '{"x":{'
+check_fail '{"x":{}'
+
+check_fail '{"x":['
+check_fail '{"x":[}'
+check_fail '{"x":[{}'
+check_fail '{"x":[{},}'
+check_fail '{"x":[{},]}'
+check_fail '{"x":[{}{}]}'
+check_fail '{"x":[{},,{}]}'
+check_fail '{"x":[{"y":}]}'
+check_fail '{"x":""}'
+check_fail '{"x":null}'
+check_fail '{"x":[null]}'
+check_fail '{"x":[true]}'
+check_fail '{"x":["string"]}'
+check_fail '{"x":[[]]}'
+check_fail '{"x":1.0}'
+check_fail '{"x":1e2}'
+check_fail '{"x":+1}'
+check_fail '{"x":-}'
+check_fail '{"x":0x10}'
+check_fail '{"x":01}'
+check_fail '{"x":-01}'
+check_fail '{"x":[1]}'
+check_fail '{"x":9223372036854775808}'
+check_fail '{"x":-9223372036854775809}'
+check_fail '{"x":tru}'
+check_fail '{"x":True}'
+check_fail '{"x":falsee}'
+check_fail '{"x":"bad\q"}'
+check_fail '{"x":"bad\x20"}'
+check_fail '{"x":"bad\u123"}'
+check_fail '{"x":"bad\u12x4"}'
+check_fail '{"x":"unterminated}'
+check_fail '{"x":"escaped quote\"}'
+check_fail '{"x":"line
+break"}'
+
+# The maximum object nesting depth is 200.
+json='{}'
+n=1
+while [ "$n" -lt 200 ]; do
+	json='{"x":'"$json"'}'
+	n=$((n + 1))
+done
+check "$json" "$json"
+check_fail '{"x":'"$json"'}'
+
+if $TMUX display-message -pj >/dev/null 2>&1; then
+	fail "display-message -j accepted a missing message"
+fi
+
+$TMUX kill-server 2>/dev/null
+exit 0