diff --git a/checker/server/healthcheck.go b/checker/server/healthcheck.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..bb79d22
--- /dev/null
+++ b/checker/server/healthcheck.go
@@ -0,0 +1,81 @@
+// Copyright 2020-2026 The happyDomain Authors
+//
+// Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+// you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+// You may obtain a copy of the License at
+//
+//     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+//
+// Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+// distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+// WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+// See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+// limitations under the License.
+
+package server
+
+import (
+	"context"
+	"flag"
+	"fmt"
+	"net"
+	"net/http"
+	"strings"
+	"time"
+)
+
+// healthcheckMode is registered on the default flag set so any consumer that
+// calls flag.Parse() before ListenAndServe (the standard pattern in our
+// checker mains) gets the behaviour for free. When set, ListenAndServe
+// performs a short-lived HTTP probe against /health on the configured listen
+// address and exits 0/1 instead of starting the server. This lets the same
+// binary act as its own Docker HEALTHCHECK probe for scratch images, where
+// no shell, curl or wget is available.
+var healthcheckMode = flag.Bool(
+	"healthcheck",
+	false,
+	"probe /health on the server's listen address and exit 0 if healthy, 1 "+
+		"otherwise (intended as a Docker HEALTHCHECK for scratch-based images)",
+)
+
+// runHealthcheck performs a GET against http://<addr>/health with a short
+// timeout. Returns nil on a 2xx response, an error otherwise. A bind address
+// like ":8080" or "0.0.0.0:8080" is rewritten to dial the loopback interface
+// so the probe targets the local process.
+func runHealthcheck(addr string) error {
+	host, port, err := net.SplitHostPort(normalizeHealthcheckAddr(addr))
+	if err != nil {
+		return fmt.Errorf("invalid listen addr %q: %w", addr, err)
+	}
+	if host == "" || host == "0.0.0.0" || host == "::" {
+		host = "127.0.0.1"
+	}
+	url := fmt.Sprintf("http://%s/health", net.JoinHostPort(host, port))
+
+	ctx, cancel := context.WithTimeout(context.Background(), 2*time.Second)
+	defer cancel()
+	req, err := http.NewRequestWithContext(ctx, http.MethodGet, url, nil)
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	client := &http.Client{Timeout: 2 * time.Second}
+	resp, err := client.Do(req)
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	defer resp.Body.Close()
+	if resp.StatusCode/100 != 2 {
+		return fmt.Errorf("unhealthy: HTTP %d", resp.StatusCode)
+	}
+	return nil
+}
+
+func normalizeHealthcheckAddr(a string) string {
+	if strings.HasPrefix(a, ":") {
+		return "127.0.0.1" + a
+	}
+	if strings.HasPrefix(a, "[::]:") {
+		return "[::1]:" + strings.TrimPrefix(a, "[::]:")
+	}
+	return a
+}
diff --git a/checker/server/healthcheck_test.go b/checker/server/healthcheck_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..daa4bc5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/checker/server/healthcheck_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,72 @@
+// Copyright 2020-2026 The happyDomain Authors
+//
+// Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+// you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+// You may obtain a copy of the License at
+//
+//     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+//
+// Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+// distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+// WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+// See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+// limitations under the License.
+
+package server
+
+import (
+	"net/http"
+	"net/http/httptest"
+	"strings"
+	"testing"
+)
+
+func TestRunHealthcheck_OK(t *testing.T) {
+	mux := http.NewServeMux()
+	mux.HandleFunc("/health", func(w http.ResponseWriter, _ *http.Request) {
+		w.WriteHeader(http.StatusOK)
+	})
+	srv := httptest.NewServer(mux)
+	defer srv.Close()
+
+	addr := strings.TrimPrefix(srv.URL, "http://")
+	if err := runHealthcheck(addr); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("runHealthcheck(%s) returned error: %v", addr, err)
+	}
+}
+
+func TestRunHealthcheck_NonOK(t *testing.T) {
+	mux := http.NewServeMux()
+	mux.HandleFunc("/health", func(w http.ResponseWriter, _ *http.Request) {
+		w.WriteHeader(http.StatusServiceUnavailable)
+	})
+	srv := httptest.NewServer(mux)
+	defer srv.Close()
+
+	addr := strings.TrimPrefix(srv.URL, "http://")
+	if err := runHealthcheck(addr); err == nil {
+		t.Fatalf("runHealthcheck against 503 returned nil; want error")
+	}
+}
+
+func TestRunHealthcheck_Unreachable(t *testing.T) {
+	// Reserved-for-documentation port on loopback that nothing should bind.
+	if err := runHealthcheck("127.0.0.1:1"); err == nil {
+		t.Fatalf("runHealthcheck against unreachable port returned nil; want error")
+	}
+}
+
+func TestNormalizeHealthcheckAddr(t *testing.T) {
+	cases := map[string]string{
+		":8080":          "127.0.0.1:8080",
+		"127.0.0.1:8080": "127.0.0.1:8080",
+		"0.0.0.0:8080":   "0.0.0.0:8080",
+		"[::1]:8080":     "[::1]:8080",
+		"[::]:8080":      "[::1]:8080",
+	}
+	for in, want := range cases {
+		if got := normalizeHealthcheckAddr(in); got != want {
+			t.Errorf("normalizeHealthcheckAddr(%q) = %q, want %q", in, got, want)
+		}
+	}
+}
diff --git a/checker/server/server.go b/checker/server/server.go
index 26f50ee..caae01f 100644
--- a/checker/server/server.go
+++ b/checker/server/server.go
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@ import (
 	"log"
 	"math"
 	"net/http"
+	"os"
 	"runtime"
 	"strings"
 	"sync"
@@ -170,7 +171,19 @@ func (s *Server) HandleFunc(pattern string, handler func(http.ResponseWriter, *h
 // ListenAndServe does not stop the background load-average sampler on return;
 // call Close to stop it. This is not required for process-scoped usage but is
 // recommended for tests and embedded lifecycles.
+//
+// If the consumer's flag.Parse() set the SDK-registered -healthcheck flag,
+// ListenAndServe never starts the server: it probes /health on addr and calls
+// os.Exit(0) on success or os.Exit(1) on failure. This is what lets a
+// scratch-based Docker image use the binary itself as its HEALTHCHECK probe.
 func (s *Server) ListenAndServe(addr string) error {
+	if *healthcheckMode {
+		if err := runHealthcheck(addr); err != nil {
+			fmt.Fprintln(os.Stderr, "healthcheck failed:", err)
+			os.Exit(1)
+		}
+		os.Exit(0)
+	}
 	log.Printf("checker listening on %s", addr)
 	return http.ListenAndServe(addr, requestLogger(s.mux))
 }