diff --git a/public/api/health.php b/public/api/health.php
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..8e0824ba0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/public/api/health.php
@@ -0,0 +1,36 @@
+<?php
+// Health check endpoint - returns number of tables in thetool database
+
+// Define required constants before loading config
+define('FRONKDB_SQLDEBUG', false);
+
+// Load the framework's database configuration
+require_once(__DIR__ . "/../../config/config.php");
+
+// Load the autoloader to get FronkDB class
+require_once(__DIR__ . "/../../lib/autoloader/autoloader.php");
+require_once(__DIR__ . "/../../lib/mvcfronk/mfLog/mfLoghandler.php");
+require_once(__DIR__ . "/../../lib/FronkDB/FronkDB.php");
+
+// Connect to the database using the framework's configuration
+$db = new FronkDB(
+    FRONKDB_DBHOST,
+    FRONKDB_DBUSER,
+    FRONKDB_DBPASS,
+    FRONKDB_DBNAME
+);
+
+// Query to count tables in the thetool database
+$sql = "SELECT COUNT(*) as count FROM information_schema.tables WHERE table_schema = 'thetool'";
+$result = $db->query($sql);
+
+if ($result) {
+    $row = $db->fetch_array($result);
+    $tableCount = (int)$row['count'];
+} else {
+    $tableCount = 0;
+}
+
+// Return JSON response
+header('Content-Type: application/json');
+echo json_encode(['tables' => $tableCount]);