diff --git a/packages/cli/generators/app/templates/src/controllers/ping.controller.ts.ejs b/packages/cli/generators/app/templates/src/controllers/ping.controller.ts.ejs
index d61347c988f4..fcb0028949ab 100644
--- a/packages/cli/generators/app/templates/src/controllers/ping.controller.ts.ejs
+++ b/packages/cli/generators/app/templates/src/controllers/ping.controller.ts.ejs
@@ -1,6 +1,29 @@
 import {Request, RestBindings, get} from '@loopback/rest';
 import {inject} from '@loopback/context';
 
+const PING_RESPONSE = {
+  description: 'Ping Response',
+  content: {
+    'application/json': {
+      schema: {
+        type: 'object',
+        properties: {
+          greeting: {type: 'string'},
+          date: {type: 'string'},
+          url: {type: 'string'},
+          headers: {
+            type: 'object',
+            patternProperties: {
+              '^.*$': {type: 'string'},
+            },
+            additionalProperties: false,
+          },
+        },
+      },
+    },
+  },
+};
+
 /**
  * A simple controller to bounce back http requests
  */
@@ -8,7 +31,11 @@ export class PingController {
   constructor(@inject(RestBindings.Http.REQUEST) private req: Request) {}
 
   // Map to `GET /ping`
-  @get('/ping')
+  @get('/ping', {
+    responses: {
+      '200': PING_RESPONSE,
+    },
+  })
   ping(): object {
     return {
       greeting: 'Hello from LoopBack',
diff --git a/packages/cli/generators/app/templates/test/acceptance/ping.controller.acceptance.ts.ejs b/packages/cli/generators/app/templates/test/acceptance/ping.controller.acceptance.ts.ejs
index acaf4622bfb3..960a2f67bc20 100644
--- a/packages/cli/generators/app/templates/test/acceptance/ping.controller.acceptance.ts.ejs
+++ b/packages/cli/generators/app/templates/test/acceptance/ping.controller.acceptance.ts.ejs
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ import {
   Client,
   createRestAppClient,
   givenHttpServerConfig,
+  expect,
 } from '@loopback/testlab';
 import {<%= project.applicationName %>} from '../..';
 
@@ -25,7 +26,47 @@ describe('PingController', () => {
   });
 
   it('invokes GET /ping', async () => {
-    await client.get('/ping?msg=world').expect(200);
+    const res = await client.get('/ping?msg=world').expect(200);
+    expect(res.body).to.containEql({greeting: 'Hello from LoopBack'});
+  });
+
+  it('exposes OpenAPI spec at /openapi.json', async () => {
+    const res = await client.get('/openapi.json').expect(200);
+    expect(res.body).to.containDeep({
+      paths: {
+        '/ping': {
+          get: {
+            'x-controller-name': 'PingController',
+            'x-operation-name': 'ping',
+            tags: ['PingController'],
+            responses: {
+              '200': {
+                description: 'Ping Response',
+                content: {
+                  'application/json': {
+                    schema: {
+                      type: 'object',
+                      properties: {
+                        greeting: {type: 'string'},
+                        date: {type: 'string'},
+                        url: {type: 'string'},
+                        headers: {
+                          type: 'object',
+                          patternProperties: {
+                            '^.*$': {type: 'string'},
+                          },
+                          additionalProperties: false,
+                        },
+                      },
+                    },
+                  },
+                },
+              },
+            },
+          },
+        },
+      },
+    });
   });
 
   function givenAnApplication() {
diff --git a/packages/cli/test/integration/generators/app.integration.js b/packages/cli/test/integration/generators/app.integration.js
index 82442bab4980..d8e549f01b22 100644
--- a/packages/cli/test/integration/generators/app.integration.js
+++ b/packages/cli/test/integration/generators/app.integration.js
@@ -52,13 +52,17 @@ describe('app-generator specific files', () => {
     assert.fileContent('src/controllers/ping.controller.ts', /@inject/);
     assert.fileContent(
       'src/controllers/ping.controller.ts',
-      /@get\('\/ping'\)/,
+      /@get\('\/ping'\, \{/,
     );
     assert.fileContent('src/controllers/ping.controller.ts', /ping\(\)/);
     assert.fileContent(
       'src/controllers/ping.controller.ts',
       /\'\@loopback\/rest\'/,
     );
+    assert.fileContent(
+      'test/acceptance/ping.controller.acceptance.ts',
+      /describe\('PingController'/,
+    );
   });
 });