diff --git a/.github/workflows/build-and-test.yml b/.github/workflows/build-and-test.yml
index 1bf0a4c08..432648dc8 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/build-and-test.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/build-and-test.yml
@@ -145,7 +145,11 @@ jobs:
           SLACK_WEBHOOK_MODS: ${{ secrets.SLACK_WEBHOOK_MODS }}
       - name: integration tests
         if: ${{ env.SCRATCH_SHOULD_DEPLOY == 'true' }}
-        run: JEST_JUNIT_OUTPUT_NAME=integration-jest-results.xml npm run test:integration:remote -- --reporters=jest-junit
+        run: |
+          # if the health test fails, there's no point in trying to run the integration tests
+          npm run test:health
+          # health test succeeded, so proceed with integration tests
+          JEST_JUNIT_OUTPUT_NAME=integration-jest-results.xml npm run test:integration -- --reporters=jest-junit
         env:
           ROOT_URL: ${{ secrets.ROOT_URL }}
 
@@ -155,6 +159,7 @@ jobs:
           CIRCLE_BUILD_NUM: ${{ github.run_id }} # TODO
           SAUCE_ACCESS_KEY: ${{ secrets.SAUCE_ACCESS_KEY }}
           SAUCE_USERNAME: ${{ secrets.SAUCE_USERNAME }}
+          SMOKE_REMOTE: "true" # use Sauce Labs
 
           # test/integration/*
           SMOKE_USERNAME: ${{ secrets.SMOKE_USERNAME }}
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index ac4a9a47f..1aa6ec928 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -7,8 +7,8 @@
     "test": "npm run test:lint && npm run build && npm run test:unit",
     "test:lint": "eslint . --ext .js,.jsx,.json",
     "test:lint:ci": "eslint . --ext .js,.jsx,.json --format junit -o ./test/results/lint-results.xml",
+    "test:health": "jest ./test/health/*.test.js",
     "test:integration": "jest ./test/integration/*.test.js --reporters=default --maxWorkers=5",
-    "test:integration:remote": "SMOKE_REMOTE=true jest ./test/integration/*.test.js --reporters=default --maxWorkers=5",
     "test:unit": "npm run test:unit:jest && npm run test:unit:tap",
     "test:unit:jest": "npm run test:unit:jest:unit && npm run test:unit:jest:localization",
     "test:unit:jest:unit": "jest ./test/unit/ --reporters=default",
diff --git a/test/health/server-health.test.js b/test/health/server-health.test.js
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..19233b01d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/health/server-health.test.js
@@ -0,0 +1,51 @@
+/* eslint-disable no-console */
+
+// this basic server health check is meant to be run before integration tests
+// it should be run with the same environment variables as the integration tests
+// and operate in the same way as the integration tests
+
+const SeleniumHelper = require('../integration/selenium-helpers.js');
+
+const rootUrl = process.env.ROOT_URL || (() => {
+    const ROOT_URL_DEFAULT = 'https://scratch.ly';
+    console.warn(`ROOT_URL not set, defaulting to ${ROOT_URL_DEFAULT}`);
+    return ROOT_URL_DEFAULT;
+})();
+
+jest.setTimeout(60000);
+
+describe('www server health check', () => {
+    /** @type {import('selenium-webdriver').ThenableWebDriver} */
+    let driver;
+
+    /** @type {SeleniumHelper} */
+    let seleniumHelper;
+
+    beforeAll(() => {
+        seleniumHelper = new SeleniumHelper();
+        driver = seleniumHelper.buildDriver('www server health check');
+    });
+
+    afterAll(() => driver.quit());
+
+    test('server is healthy', async () => {
+        const healthUrl = new URL('health/', rootUrl);
+        await driver.get(healthUrl.toString());
+
+        // Note: driver.getPageSource() will return the pretty HTML form of the JSON
+        const pageText = await driver.executeScript('return document.body.innerText');
+
+        let healthObject;
+        let serverReturnedValidJson = false;
+
+        try {
+            healthObject = JSON.parse(pageText);
+            serverReturnedValidJson = true;
+        } catch (_e) {
+            // ignore
+        }
+
+        expect(serverReturnedValidJson).toBe(true);
+        expect(healthObject).toHaveProperty('healthy', true);
+    });
+});