diff --git a/gpt4all-backend/include/gpt4all-backend/main.h b/gpt4all-backend/include/gpt4all-backend/main.h
index ccf833d1..cd2137a3 100644
--- a/gpt4all-backend/include/gpt4all-backend/main.h
+++ b/gpt4all-backend/include/gpt4all-backend/main.h
@@ -2,23 +2,47 @@
 
 #include <QCoro/QCoroTask> // IWYU pragma: keep
 
+#include <QJsonParseError>
 #include <QNetworkReply>
 #include <QString>
 #include <QUrl>
 
+#include <cassert>
 #include <expected>
 #include <utility>
+#include <variant>
 
 
 namespace gpt4all::backend {
 
-struct NetErr {
-    QNetworkReply::NetworkError error;
-    QString                     errorString;
+struct ResponseError {
+private:
+    using ErrorCode = std::variant<
+        QNetworkReply::NetworkError,
+        QJsonParseError::ParseError
+    >;
+
+public:
+    ErrorCode error;
+    QString   errorString;
+
+    ResponseError(const QNetworkReply *reply)
+        : error(reply->error())
+        , errorString(reply->errorString())
+    {
+        assert(reply->error());
+    }
+
+    ResponseError(const QJsonParseError &err)
+        : error(err.error)
+        , errorString(err.errorString())
+    {
+        assert(err.error);
+    }
 };
 
 template <typename T>
-using DataOrNetErr = std::expected<T, NetErr>;
+using DataOrRespErr = std::expected<T, ResponseError>;
 
 
 class LLMProvider {
@@ -31,7 +55,7 @@ public:
     void getBaseUrl(QUrl value) { m_baseUrl = std::move(value); }
 
     /// Retrieve the Ollama version, e.g. "0.5.1"
-    auto getVersion() const -> QCoro::Task<DataOrNetErr<QString>>;
+    auto getVersion() const -> QCoro::Task<DataOrRespErr<QString>>;
 
 private:
     QUrl m_baseUrl;
diff --git a/gpt4all-backend/src/main.cpp b/gpt4all-backend/src/main.cpp
index 76e138de..1bf3f7a2 100644
--- a/gpt4all-backend/src/main.cpp
+++ b/gpt4all-backend/src/main.cpp
@@ -3,9 +3,11 @@
 #include <QCoro/QCoroNetworkReply> // IWYU pragma: keep
 
 #include <QByteArray>
+#include <QJsonDocument>
 #include <QNetworkAccessManager>
-#include <QNetworkReply>
 #include <QNetworkRequest>
+#include <QJsonObject>
+#include <QJsonValue>
 
 #include <coroutine>
 #include <expected>
@@ -16,15 +18,26 @@ using namespace Qt::Literals::StringLiterals;
 
 namespace gpt4all::backend {
 
-auto LLMProvider::getVersion() const -> QCoro::Task<DataOrNetErr<QString>>
+auto LLMProvider::getVersion() const -> QCoro::Task<DataOrRespErr<QString>>
 {
     QNetworkAccessManager nam;
     std::unique_ptr<QNetworkReply> reply(co_await nam.get(QNetworkRequest(m_baseUrl.resolved(u"/api/version"_s))));
-    if (auto err = reply->error())
-        co_return std::unexpected(NetErr{ err, reply->errorString() });
+    if (reply->error())
+        co_return std::unexpected(reply.get());
 
-    // TODO(jared): parse JSON here instead of just returning the data
-    co_return QString::fromUtf8(reply->readAll());
+    QJsonParseError error;
+    auto doc = QJsonDocument::fromJson(reply->readAll(), &error);
+    if (doc.isNull())
+        co_return std::unexpected(error);
+
+    assert(doc.isObject());
+    auto obj = doc.object();
+
+    auto version = std::as_const(obj).find("version"_L1);
+    assert(version != obj.constEnd());
+
+    assert(version->isString());
+    co_return version->toString();
 }
 
 } // namespace gpt4all::backend