diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index b947077..5b3ce88 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -1,2 +1,3 @@
 node_modules/
 dist/
+cypress/screenshots
diff --git a/cypress/plugins/index.js b/cypress/plugins/index.js
index 6d70bd9..48a69fa 100644
--- a/cypress/plugins/index.js
+++ b/cypress/plugins/index.js
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@
 
 // This function is called when a project is opened or re-opened (e.g. due to
 // the project's config changing)
+const percyHealthCheck = require("../../dist/task");
 
 module.exports = (on, config) => {
   // `on` is used to hook into various events Cypress emits
@@ -17,10 +18,11 @@ module.exports = (on, config) => {
 
   // Make it possible to log things to stdout by calling 'cy.task('log', 'some message to log').
   // Useful for development and debugging.
-  on('task', {
-    log (message) {
-      console.log(message)
-      return null
+  on("task", {
+    log(message) {
+      console.log(message);
+      return null;
     }
-  })
-}
+  });
+  on("task", percyHealthCheck);
+};
diff --git a/lib/index.ts b/lib/index.ts
index 49a7732..bd6dabb 100644
--- a/lib/index.ts
+++ b/lib/index.ts
@@ -5,43 +5,33 @@ declare const Cypress: any
 declare const cy: any
 
 Cypress.Commands.add('percySnapshot', (name: string, options: any = {}) => {
-  const percyAgentClient = new PercyAgent({
-    handleAgentCommunication: false,
-    domTransformation: options.domTransformation
-  })
-
-  // Use cy.exec(...) to check if percy agent is running. Ideally this would be
-  // done using something like cy.request(...), but that's not currently possible,
-  // for details, see: https://github.com/cypress-io/cypress/issues/3161
-  const healthcheckCmd = `percy health-check -p ${percyAgentClient.port}`
-  cy.exec(healthcheckCmd, { failOnNonZeroExit: false }).then(({ stderr }: any) => {
-    if (stderr) {
-      // Percy server not available
-      cy.log('[percy] Percy agent is not running. Skipping snapshots')
-      cy.log(stderr)
-
-      return
-    }
+  cy.task('percyHealthCheck').then((percyIsRunning: boolean) => {
+    if (percyIsRunning) {
+      const percyAgentClient = new PercyAgent({
+        handleAgentCommunication: false,
+        domTransformation: options.domTransformation
+      })
 
-    name = name || cy.state('runnable').fullTitle()
+      name = name || cy.state('runnable').fullTitle()
 
-    cy.document().then((doc: Document) => {
-      options.document = doc
-      const domSnapshot = percyAgentClient.snapshot(name, options)
-      return cy.request({
-        method: 'POST',
-        url: `http://localhost:${percyAgentClient.port}/percy/snapshot`,
-        failOnStatusCode: false,
-        body: {
-          name,
-          url: doc.URL,
-          enableJavaScript: options.enableJavaScript,
-          widths: options.widths,
-          clientInfo: clientInfo(),
-          environmentInfo: environmentInfo(),
-          domSnapshot
-        }
+      cy.document().then((doc: Document) => {
+        options.document = doc
+        const domSnapshot = percyAgentClient.snapshot(name, options)
+        return cy.request({
+          method: 'POST',
+          url: `http://localhost:${percyAgentClient.port}/percy/snapshot`,
+          failOnStatusCode: false,
+          body: {
+            name,
+            url: doc.URL,
+            enableJavaScript: options.enableJavaScript,
+            widths: options.widths,
+            clientInfo: clientInfo(),
+            environmentInfo: environmentInfo(),
+            domSnapshot
+          }
+        })
       })
-    })
+    }
   })
 })
diff --git a/lib/task.ts b/lib/task.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3cc5c07
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/task.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+import Axios from 'axios'
+
+export function percyHealthCheck() {
+  return Axios
+    .get('http://localhost:5338/percy/healthcheck')
+    .then(() =>  true)
+    .catch(() =>  false)
+}
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 3bbbd5c..7a57576 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -41,7 +41,8 @@
     "typescript": "^3.0.3"
   },
   "dependencies": {
-    "@percy/agent": "~0"
+    "@percy/agent": "~0",
+    "axios": "^0.18.1"
   },
   "release": {
     "plugins": [