diff --git a/src/viewer/index.html b/src/viewer/index.html
index 305397e93..6ed864f3f 100644
--- a/src/viewer/index.html
+++ b/src/viewer/index.html
@@ -1248,7 +1248,17 @@ <h1>agentmemory</h1>
         if (!res.ok) {
           if (res.status === 401) showViewerAuthPrompt();
           console.warn('[viewer] API ' + (fetchOpts.method || 'GET') + ' ' + path + ' returned ' + res.status);
-          return null;
+          // Some endpoints (e.g. health) intentionally respond with a non-2xx
+          // status while still returning a valid JSON body describing the
+          // degraded state (see #1019). Surface that body instead of
+          // discarding it as null, which used to make a "critical" health
+          // response render as "unknown".
+          try {
+            return await res.json();
+          } catch (parseErr) {
+            console.debug('[viewer] API ' + path + ' non-2xx body was not JSON:', parseErr);
+            return null;
+          }
         }
         hideViewerAuthPrompt();
         return await res.json();