diff --git a/jupyterhub/tests/mocking.py b/jupyterhub/tests/mocking.py
index 792779e5..44119ae7 100644
--- a/jupyterhub/tests/mocking.py
+++ b/jupyterhub/tests/mocking.py
@@ -74,18 +74,20 @@ def mock_open_session(username, service, encoding):
 
 class MockSpawner(LocalProcessSpawner):
     """Base mock spawner
-    
+
     - disables user-switching that we need root permissions to do
     - spawns `jupyterhub.tests.mocksu` instead of a full single-user server
     """
     def make_preexec_fn(self, *a, **kw):
         # skip the setuid stuff
         return
-    
+
     def _set_user_changed(self, name, old, new):
         pass
-    
+
     def user_env(self, env):
+        if self.handler:
+            env['HANDLER_ARGS'] = self.handler.request.query
         return env
 
     @default('cmd')
diff --git a/jupyterhub/tests/mocksu.py b/jupyterhub/tests/mocksu.py
index 817e823d..6c663cfa 100644
--- a/jupyterhub/tests/mocksu.py
+++ b/jupyterhub/tests/mocksu.py
@@ -27,13 +27,13 @@ class ArgsHandler(web.RequestHandler):
         self.write(json.dumps(sys.argv))
 
 def main(args):
-    
+
     app = web.Application([
         (r'.*/args', ArgsHandler),
         (r'.*/env', EnvHandler),
         (r'.*', EchoHandler),
     ])
-    
+
     server = httpserver.HTTPServer(app)
     server.listen(args.port)
     try:
@@ -45,4 +45,4 @@ if __name__ == '__main__':
     parser = argparse.ArgumentParser()
     parser.add_argument('--port', type=int)
     args, extra = parser.parse_known_args()
-    main(args)
\ No newline at end of file
+    main(args)
diff --git a/jupyterhub/tests/test_api.py b/jupyterhub/tests/test_api.py
index e68e5d04..4e8b1875 100644
--- a/jupyterhub/tests/test_api.py
+++ b/jupyterhub/tests/test_api.py
@@ -604,6 +604,32 @@ def test_spawn(app):
     assert app.users.count_active_users()['pending'] == 0
 
 
+@mark.gen_test
+def test_spawn_handler(app):
+    """Test that the requesting Handler is passed to Spawner.handler"""
+    db = app.db
+    name = 'salmon'
+    user = add_user(db, app=app, name=name)
+    app_user = app.users[name]
+
+    # spawn via API with ?foo=bar
+    r = yield api_request(app, 'users', name, 'server', method='post', params={'foo': 'bar'})
+    r.raise_for_status()
+
+    # verify that request params got passed down
+    # implemented in MockSpawner
+    url = public_url(app, user)
+    r = yield async_requests.get(ujoin(url, 'env'))
+    env = r.json()
+    assert 'HANDLER_ARGS' in env
+    assert env['HANDLER_ARGS'] == 'foo=bar'
+    # make user spawner.handler doesn't persist after spawn finishes
+    assert app_user.spawner.handler is None
+
+    r = yield api_request(app, 'users', name, 'server', method='delete')
+    r.raise_for_status()
+
+
 @mark.slow
 @mark.gen_test
 def test_slow_spawn(app, no_patience, slow_spawn):
diff --git a/jupyterhub/tests/test_pages.py b/jupyterhub/tests/test_pages.py
index 18c91e0d..62a74106 100644
--- a/jupyterhub/tests/test_pages.py
+++ b/jupyterhub/tests/test_pages.py
@@ -168,6 +168,31 @@ def test_spawn_redirect(app):
     assert path == ujoin(app.base_url, '/user/%s/' % name)
 
 
+@pytest.mark.gen_test
+def test_spawn_handler_access(app):
+    name = 'winston'
+    cookies = yield app.login_user(name)
+    u = app.users[orm.User.find(app.db, name)]
+
+    status = yield u.spawner.poll()
+    assert status is not None
+
+    # spawn server via browser link with ?arg=value
+    r = yield get_page('spawn', app, cookies=cookies, params={'arg': 'value'})
+    r.raise_for_status()
+
+    # verify that request params got passed down
+    # implemented in MockSpawner
+    r = yield async_requests.get(ujoin(public_url(app, u), 'env'))
+    env = r.json()
+    assert 'HANDLER_ARGS' in env
+    assert env['HANDLER_ARGS'] == 'arg=value'
+
+    # stop server
+    r = yield api_request(app, 'users', name, 'server', method='delete')
+    r.raise_for_status()
+
+
 @pytest.mark.gen_test
 def test_spawn_admin_access(app, admin_access):
     """GET /user/:name as admin with admin-access spawns user's server"""