diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 1b88f67..6a98bc8 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -11,6 +11,8 @@ All notable changes to this project will be documented in this file.
   - create docker.command.removeEmptyContinuationLine to remove empty continuation lines in instructions that span multiple lines ([#203](https://github.com/rcjsuen/dockerfile-language-server-nodejs/issues/203))
 - textDocument/documentLink
   - create links to hub.docker.com for base image names in FROM ([#204](https://github.com/rcjsuen/dockerfile-language-server-nodejs/issues/204))
+- textDocument/hover
+  - inspect client's capabilities to decide what content format to use for hovers ([#209](https://github.com/rcjsuen/dockerfile-language-server-nodejs/issues/209))
 - textDocument/publishDiagnostics
   - flag HEALTHCHECK durations that include a hyphen as an error ([rcjsuen/dockerfile-utils#18](https://github.com/rcjsuen/dockerfile-utils/issues/18))
   - warn if ADD has more than two arguments and its last argument is not a directory ([rcjsuen/dockerfile-utils#17](https://github.com/rcjsuen/dockerfile-utils/issues/17))
diff --git a/src/server.ts b/src/server.ts
index d346994..be6e3f4 100644
--- a/src/server.ts
+++ b/src/server.ts
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ import {
 	DocumentFormattingParams, DocumentRangeFormattingParams, DocumentOnTypeFormattingParams, DocumentHighlight,
 	RenameParams, WorkspaceEdit, Location,
 	DidChangeTextDocumentParams, DidOpenTextDocumentParams, DidCloseTextDocumentParams, TextDocumentContentChangeEvent,
-	DidChangeConfigurationNotification, ConfigurationItem, DocumentLinkParams, DocumentLink
+	DidChangeConfigurationNotification, ConfigurationItem, DocumentLinkParams, DocumentLink, MarkupKind
 } from 'vscode-languageserver';
 import { ValidatorSettings, ValidationSeverity } from 'dockerfile-utils';
 import { CommandIds, DockerfileLanguageServiceFactory } from 'dockerfile-language-service';
@@ -56,6 +56,25 @@ function supportsSnippets(capabilities: ClientCapabilities): boolean {
 		&& capabilities.textDocument.completion.completionItem.snippetSupport;
 }
 
+function getHoverContentFormat(capabilities: ClientCapabilities): MarkupKind[] {
+	return capabilities.textDocument
+		&& capabilities.textDocument.hover
+		&& capabilities.textDocument.hover.contentFormat;
+}
+
+function setServiceCapabilities(capabilities: ClientCapabilities): void {
+	service.setCapabilities({
+		completion: {
+			completionItem: {
+				snippetSupport: supportsSnippets(capabilities)
+			}
+		},
+		hover: {
+			contentFormat: getHoverContentFormat(capabilities)
+		}
+	});
+}
+
 connection.onInitialized(() => {
 	if (configurationSupport) {
 		// listen for notification changes if the client supports workspace/configuration
@@ -64,7 +83,7 @@ connection.onInitialized(() => {
 });
 
 connection.onInitialize((params: InitializeParams): InitializeResult => {
-	service.setCapabilities({ completion: { completionItem: { snippetSupport: supportsSnippets(params.capabilities) }}});
+	setServiceCapabilities(params.capabilities);
 	applyEditSupport = params.capabilities.workspace && params.capabilities.workspace.applyEdit === true;
 	configurationSupport = params.capabilities.workspace && params.capabilities.workspace.configuration === true;
 	return {
diff --git a/test/server.test.ts b/test/server.test.ts
index 8a12c35..e61d2ef 100644
--- a/test/server.test.ts
+++ b/test/server.test.ts
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@
 import * as child_process from "child_process";
 import * as assert from "assert";
 
-import { TextDocumentSyncKind } from 'vscode-languageserver';
+import { TextDocumentSyncKind, MarkupKind } from 'vscode-languageserver';
 import { CommandIds } from 'dockerfile-language-service';
 import { ValidationCode } from 'dockerfile-utils';
 
@@ -43,6 +43,9 @@ function initialize(): number {
 					completionItem: {
 						snippetSupport: true
 					}
+				},
+				hover: {
+					contentFormat: [ MarkupKind.PlainText ]
 				}
 			},
 			workspace: {
@@ -129,4 +132,23 @@ describe("Dockerfile LSP Tests", function() {
 		};
 		lspProcess.on("message", executeCommandListener);
 	});
+
+	it("issue #209", function(finished) {
+		this.timeout(5000);
+		let id = sendRequest("textDocument/hover", {
+			textDocument: {
+				uri: "uri://dockerfile/x.txt"
+			},
+			position: {
+				line: 0,
+				character: 1
+			}
+		});
+		lspProcess.on("message", (json) => {
+			if (json.id === id) {
+				assert.equal(json.result.contents.kind, MarkupKind.PlainText);
+				finished();
+			}
+		});
+	});
 });