diff --git a/src/types.ts b/src/types.ts
index 8e641cd1c..7a4f42248 100644
--- a/src/types.ts
+++ b/src/types.ts
@@ -244,9 +244,13 @@ export interface CompletedBody {
     /**
      * The contents of the response, decoded, parsed as UTF-8 string, and
      * then parsed a JSON. The response is decoded and returned asynchronously
-     * as a Promise.
+     * as a Promise. This returns undefined if the body can't be decoded or
+     * isn't valid JSON.
+     *
+     * The result covers any JSON value by default, or you can pass a type
+     * argument to set the type you expect.
      */
-    getJson(): Promise<object | undefined>;
+    getJson<R = object | string | number | boolean | null>(): Promise<R | undefined>;
 
     /**
      * The contents of the response, decoded, and then parsed automatically as
diff --git a/src/util/request-utils.ts b/src/util/request-utils.ts
index 947b76dab..2eaa540a8 100644
--- a/src/util/request-utils.ts
+++ b/src/util/request-utils.ts
@@ -230,9 +230,9 @@ export const buildBodyReader = (
                 (await this.getDecodedBuffer())!.toString()
             );
         },
-        async getJson() {
+        async getJson<R>() {
             return runAsyncOrUndefined(async () =>
-                JSON.parse((await completedBody.getText())!)
+                JSON.parse((await completedBody.getText())!) as R
             )
         },
         async getUrlEncodedFormData() {
diff --git a/test/request-utils.spec.ts b/test/request-utils.spec.ts
index 25090306e..ac114772a 100644
--- a/test/request-utils.spec.ts
+++ b/test/request-utils.spec.ts
@@ -89,6 +89,44 @@ nodeOnly(() => {
             });
         });
 
+        describe(".json", () => {
+            it('parses JSON objects', async () => {
+                const body = buildBodyReader(Buffer.from('{"a":1}'), {});
+                expect(await body.getJson()).to.deep.equal({ a: 1 });
+            });
+
+            it('parses JSON arrays', async () => {
+                const body = buildBodyReader(Buffer.from('[1,2]'), {});
+                expect(await body.getJson()).to.deep.equal([1, 2]);
+            });
+
+            it('parses JSON primitives', async () => {
+                const numberBody = buildBodyReader(Buffer.from('42'), {});
+                expect(await numberBody.getJson()).to.equal(42);
+
+                const nullBody = buildBodyReader(Buffer.from('null'), {});
+                expect(await nullBody.getJson()).to.equal(null);
+            });
+
+            it('can return an explicitly typed result', async () => {
+                const body = buildBodyReader(Buffer.from('{"a":1}'), {});
+                const json = await body.getJson<{ a: number }>();
+                expect(json?.a).to.equal(1);
+            });
+
+            it('is undefined for invalid JSON', async () => {
+                const body = buildBodyReader(Buffer.from('{oops'), {});
+                expect(await body.getJson()).to.equal(undefined);
+            });
+
+            it('is undefined for unknown encodings', async () => {
+                const body = buildBodyReader(Buffer.from('{"a":1}'), {
+                    'content-encoding': 'randomized'
+                });
+                expect(await body.getJson()).to.equal(undefined);
+            });
+        });
+
     });
 
     describe("preprocessRequest", () => {