diff --git a/packages/rest/src/__tests__/integration/rest.server.integration.ts b/packages/rest/src/__tests__/integration/rest.server.integration.ts
index e2f34bf3c49d..9196c644de4c 100644
--- a/packages/rest/src/__tests__/integration/rest.server.integration.ts
+++ b/packages/rest/src/__tests__/integration/rest.server.integration.ts
@@ -787,9 +787,9 @@ paths:
     });
 
     it('controls server urls', async () => {
-      const response = await createClientForHandler(server.requestHandler).get(
-        '/openapi.json',
-      );
+      const response = await createClientForHandler(server.requestHandler)
+        .get('openapi.json')
+        .expect(200);
       expect(response.body.servers).to.containEql({url: '/api'});
     });
 
diff --git a/packages/rest/src/rest.server.ts b/packages/rest/src/rest.server.ts
index fdea83f6190f..294f4bc9fe96 100644
--- a/packages/rest/src/rest.server.ts
+++ b/packages/rest/src/rest.server.ts
@@ -5,11 +5,11 @@
 
 import {
   Binding,
+  BindingAddress,
+  BindingScope,
   Constructor,
   Context,
   inject,
-  BindingScope,
-  BindingAddress,
 } from '@loopback/context';
 import {Application, CoreBindings, Server} from '@loopback/core';
 import {HttpServer, HttpServerOptions} from '@loopback/http-server';
@@ -26,7 +26,6 @@ import * as express from 'express';
 import {PathParams} from 'express-serve-static-core';
 import {IncomingMessage, ServerResponse} from 'http';
 import {ServerOptions} from 'https';
-import {safeDump} from 'js-yaml';
 import {ServeStaticOptions} from 'serve-static';
 import {BodyParser, REQUEST_BODY_PARSER_TAG} from './body-parsers';
 import {HttpHandler} from './http-handler';
@@ -38,12 +37,13 @@ import {
   ControllerInstance,
   ControllerRoute,
   createControllerFactoryForBinding,
+  ExternalExpressRoutes,
+  RedirectRoute,
   Route,
   RouteEntry,
   RoutingTable,
-  ExternalExpressRoutes,
-  RedirectRoute,
 } from './router';
+import {ServeApiSpecRoute} from './router/serve-api-spec.route';
 import {DefaultSequence, SequenceFunction, SequenceHandler} from './sequence';
 import {
   FindRoute,
@@ -51,9 +51,9 @@ import {
   ParseParams,
   Reject,
   Request,
+  RequestBodyParserOptions,
   Response,
   Send,
-  RequestBodyParserOptions,
 } from './types';
 
 const debug = debugFactory('loopback:rest:server');
@@ -236,21 +236,13 @@ export class RestServer extends Context implements Server, HttpServerLike {
    */
   protected _setupOpenApiSpecEndpoints() {
     if (this.config.openApiSpec.disabled) return;
-    // NOTE(bajtos) Regular routes are handled through Sequence.
-    // IMO, this built-in endpoint should not run through a Sequence,
-    // because it's not part of the application API itself.
-    // E.g. if the app implements access/audit logs, I don't want
-    // this endpoint to trigger a log entry. If the server implements
-    // content-negotiation to support XML clients, I don't want the OpenAPI
-    // spec to be converted into an XML response.
-    const mapping = this.config.openApiSpec.endpointMapping!;
     // Serving OpenAPI spec
+    const mapping = this.config.openApiSpec.endpointMapping!;
     for (const p in mapping) {
-      this._expressApp.get(p, (req, res) =>
-        this._serveOpenApiSpec(req, res, mapping[p]),
-      );
+      this.route(new ServeApiSpecRoute(p, this, mapping[p]));
     }
 
+    // Redirect to externally hosted swagger-ui instance
     const explorerPaths = ['/swagger-ui', '/explorer'];
     this._expressApp.get(explorerPaths, (req, res, next) =>
       this._redirectToSwaggerUI(req, res, next),
@@ -361,45 +353,6 @@ export class RestServer extends Context implements Server, HttpServerLike {
     );
   }
 
-  private async _serveOpenApiSpec(
-    request: Request,
-    response: Response,
-    specForm?: OpenApiSpecForm,
-  ) {
-    const requestContext = new RequestContext(
-      request,
-      response,
-      this,
-      this.config,
-    );
-
-    specForm = specForm || {version: '3.0.0', format: 'json'};
-    let specObj = this.getApiSpec();
-    if (this.config.openApiSpec.setServersFromRequest) {
-      specObj = Object.assign({}, specObj);
-      specObj.servers = [{url: requestContext.requestedBaseUrl}];
-    }
-
-    const basePath = requestContext.basePath;
-    if (specObj.servers && basePath) {
-      for (const s of specObj.servers) {
-        // Update the default server url to honor `basePath`
-        if (s.url === '/') {
-          s.url = basePath;
-        }
-      }
-    }
-
-    if (specForm.format === 'json') {
-      const spec = JSON.stringify(specObj, null, 2);
-      response.setHeader('content-type', 'application/json; charset=utf-8');
-      response.end(spec, 'utf-8');
-    } else {
-      const yaml = safeDump(specObj, {});
-      response.setHeader('content-type', 'text/yaml; charset=utf-8');
-      response.end(yaml, 'utf-8');
-    }
-  }
   private async _redirectToSwaggerUI(
     request: Request,
     response: Response,
diff --git a/packages/rest/src/router/serve-api-spec.route.ts b/packages/rest/src/router/serve-api-spec.route.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..3cd904a0b747
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/rest/src/router/serve-api-spec.route.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,69 @@
+// Copyright IBM Corp. 2017, 2018. All Rights Reserved.
+// Node module: @loopback/rest
+// This file is licensed under the MIT License.
+// License text available at https://opensource.org/licenses/MIT
+
+import {OperationObject} from '@loopback/openapi-v3-types';
+import {safeDump} from 'js-yaml';
+import {RouteEntry} from '.';
+import {RequestContext} from '../request-context';
+import {OpenApiSpecForm, RestServer} from '../rest.server';
+import {OperationArgs, OperationRetval} from '../types';
+
+export class ServeApiSpecRoute implements RouteEntry {
+  readonly verb: string = 'get';
+  readonly spec: OperationObject = {
+    description: 'LoopBack route serving OpenAPI spec',
+    'x-visibility': 'undocumented',
+    responses: {},
+  };
+
+  constructor(
+    public readonly path: string,
+    private readonly server: RestServer,
+    private readonly specForm: OpenApiSpecForm = {
+      version: '3.0.0',
+      format: 'json',
+    },
+  ) {}
+
+  async invokeHandler(
+    requestContext: RequestContext,
+    args: OperationArgs,
+  ): Promise<OperationRetval> {
+    const {response, requestedBaseUrl, basePath} = requestContext;
+    console.log('requested url %s basePath %s', requestedBaseUrl, basePath);
+    let specObj = this.server.getApiSpec();
+    if (requestContext.serverConfig.openApiSpec.setServersFromRequest) {
+      specObj = Object.assign({}, specObj);
+      specObj.servers = [{url: requestedBaseUrl}];
+    }
+
+    if (specObj.servers && basePath) {
+      for (const s of specObj.servers) {
+        // Update the default server url to honor `basePath`
+        if (s.url === '/') {
+          s.url = basePath;
+        }
+      }
+    }
+
+    if (this.specForm.format === 'json') {
+      const spec = JSON.stringify(specObj, null, 2);
+      response.setHeader('content-type', 'application/json; charset=utf-8');
+      response.end(spec, 'utf-8');
+    } else {
+      const yaml = safeDump(specObj, {});
+      response.setHeader('content-type', 'text/yaml; charset=utf-8');
+      response.end(yaml, 'utf-8');
+    }
+  }
+
+  updateBindings(requestContext: RequestContext) {
+    // no-op
+  }
+
+  describe(): string {
+    return `${this.spec.description} at ${this.path}`;
+  }
+}