diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 517d138..fc04a8e 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ sudo make install
 ## Usage
 
 ```sh
-sbotc [-j] [-T] [-l] [-r]
+sbotc [-j] [-T] [-l] [-r] [-e]
       [ -n | [-c <cap>] [-k <key>] [-K <keypair_seed>] ]
       [ [-s <host>] [-p <port>] [ -4 | -6 ] | [-u <socket_path>] ]
       [ -a | [-t <type>] <method> [<argument>...] ]
diff --git a/sbotc.1 b/sbotc.1
index 1c12004..00e7178 100644
--- a/sbotc.1
+++ b/sbotc.1
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@
 .Op Fl l
 .Op Fl r
 .Op Fl T
+.Op Fl e
 .Op Fl a
 .
 .Oo
@@ -52,6 +53,8 @@ Don't output newlines after string or JSON packets.
 .It Fl r
 Raw mode. Disables stdin line buffering/editing and echoing. Implies
 .Fl l .
+.It Fl e
+Encode arguments as strings, rather than expecting them to be JSON-encoded.
 .It Fl T
 Test using shs1-testsuite protocol. Instead of connecting to a server and running
 a command, connect to stdio. On successful handshake, output concatenation of
@@ -104,7 +107,9 @@ Default is to look up the method in
 .It Ar method
 Method name.
 .It Op Ar argument ...
-Arguments to pass to the method call. Each argument must be JSON-encoded.
+Arguments to pass to the method call. Each argument must be JSON-encoded, unless the
+.Fl e
+option is used, in which the arguments are treated as strings.
 .El
 .Sh ENVIRONMENT
 .Bl -tag
diff --git a/sbotc.c b/sbotc.c
index 5e5cc31..c364800 100644
--- a/sbotc.c
+++ b/sbotc.c
@@ -112,7 +112,7 @@ static void reset_termios() {
 }
 
 static void usage() {
-	fputs("usage: sbotc [-j] [-T] [-l] [-r]\n"
+	fputs("usage: sbotc [-j] [-T] [-l] [-r] [-e]\n"
 	      "             [ -n | [-c <cap>] [-k <key>] [-K <keypair_seed>] ]\n"
 	      "             [ [-s <host>] [-p <port>] [ -4 | -6 ] | [-u <socket_path>] ]\n"
 	      "             [ -a | [-t <type>] <method> [<argument>...] ]\n", stderr);
@@ -916,25 +916,54 @@ static int method_to_json(char *out, size_t outlen, const char *str) {
 	return i;
 }
 
-static int args_to_json_length(int argc, char *argv[]) {
+static int args_to_json_length(int argc, char *argv[], bool encode_strings) {
 	int i = 0;
 	int len = 3; // "[]\0"
-	for (i = 0; i < argc; i++)
-		len += strlen(argv[i])+1;
+	for (i = 0; i < argc; i++) {
+		if (!encode_strings) {
+			len += strlen(argv[i])+1;
+		} else {
+			len += 3; // "\"\","
+			char *arg = argv[i], c;
+			while ((c = *arg++)) switch (c) {
+				case '"': len += 2; break;
+				case '\\': len += 2; break;
+				default: len++;
+			}
+		}
+	}
 	return len;
 }
 
-static int args_to_json(char *out, size_t outlen, unsigned int argc, char *argv[]) {
+static int args_to_json(char *out, size_t outlen, unsigned int argc, char *argv[], bool encode_strings) {
 	size_t i = 0;
 	size_t j;
 	if (i+1 > outlen) return -1;
 	out[i++] = '[';
 	for (j = 0; j < argc; j++) {
-		size_t len = strlen(argv[j]);
-		if (j > 0) out[i++] = ',';
-		if (i+len > outlen) return -1;
-		strncpy(out+i, argv[j], len);
-		i += len;
+		if (!encode_strings) {
+			size_t len = strlen(argv[j]);
+			if (j > 0) out[i++] = ',';
+			if (i+len > outlen) return -1;
+			strncpy(out+i, argv[j], len);
+			i += len;
+		} else {
+			char *arg = argv[j];
+			char c;
+			if (j > 0) {
+				if (i+1 > outlen) return -1;
+				out[i++] = ',';
+			}
+			if (i+1 > outlen) return -1;
+			out[i++] = '"';
+			while ((c = *arg++)) {
+				if (i+2 > outlen) return -1;
+				if (c == '"' || c == '\\') out[i++] = '\\';
+				out[i++] = c;
+			}
+			if (i+1 > outlen) return -1;
+			out[i++] = '"';
+		}
 	}
 	if (i+2 > outlen) return -1;
 	out[i++] = ']';
@@ -972,6 +1001,7 @@ int main(int argc, char *argv[]) {
 	bool ipv4_arg = false;
 	bool ipv6_arg = false;
 	bool passthrough = false;
+	bool strings = false;
 	enum ip_family ip_family;
 
 	get_app_dir(app_dir, sizeof(app_dir));
@@ -1008,6 +1038,7 @@ int main(int argc, char *argv[]) {
 			case 'a': passthrough = true; break;
 			case 'l': no_newline = true; break;
 			case 'r': raw = true; no_newline = true; break;
+			case 'e': strings = true; break;
 			default: usage();
 		}
 	}
@@ -1027,7 +1058,7 @@ int main(int argc, char *argv[]) {
 		memcpy(shs_cap_key, ssb_cap, 32);
 	}
 
-	argument_len = test ? 0 : args_to_json_length(argc-i, argv+i);
+	argument_len = test ? 0 : args_to_json_length(argc-i, argv+i, strings);
 	char argument[argument_len];
 
 	if (passthrough) {
@@ -1037,7 +1068,7 @@ int main(int argc, char *argv[]) {
 		if (test) errx(1, "-a option conflicts with -T test");
 
 	} else if (!test) {
-		rc = args_to_json(argument, sizeof(argument), argc-i, argv+i);
+		rc = args_to_json(argument, sizeof(argument), argc-i, argv+i, strings);
 		if (rc < 0) errx(1, "unable to collect arguments");
 
 		char manifest_buf[8192];