diff --git a/lib/grunt.js b/lib/grunt.js
index 072ca24b3..f537af861 100644
--- a/lib/grunt.js
+++ b/lib/grunt.js
@@ -111,10 +111,16 @@ grunt.tasks = function(tasks, options, done) {
   task.init(tasks, options);
 
   verbose.writeln();
-  if (!tasksSpecified) {
-    verbose.writeln('No tasks specified, running default tasks.');
+
+  if (!grunt.cli.options.tasklist) {
+    if (!tasksSpecified) {
+      verbose.writeln('No tasks specified, running default tasks.');
+    }
+    verbose.writeflags(tasks, 'Running tasks');
+  }
+  else {
+    verbose.writeln('Listing registered tasks...\n');
   }
-  verbose.writeflags(tasks, 'Running tasks');
 
   // Handle otherwise unhandleable (probably asynchronous) exceptions.
   var uncaughtHandler = function(e) {
@@ -147,10 +153,16 @@ grunt.tasks = function(tasks, options, done) {
     }
   });
 
-  // Execute all tasks, in order. Passing each task individually in a forEach
-  // allows the error callback to execute multiple times.
-  tasks.forEach(function(name) { task.run(name); });
-  // Run tasks async internally to reduce call-stack, per:
-  // https://github.com/gruntjs/grunt/pull/1026
-  task.start({asyncDone: true});
+  if (!grunt.cli.options.tasklist) {
+    // Execute all tasks, in order. Passing each task individually in a forEach
+    // allows the error callback to execute multiple times.
+    tasks.forEach(function(name) { task.run(name); });
+    // Run tasks async internally to reduce call-stack, per:
+    // https://github.com/gruntjs/grunt/pull/1026
+    task.start({asyncDone: true});
+  }
+  else {
+    // Do not run the registered tasks but just output them as JSON.
+    console.log(grunt.task._tasks);
+  }
 };