diff --git a/feature/routecheck/routecheck.go b/feature/routecheck/routecheck.go
index 888e9bbfa..c22332f81 100644
--- a/feature/routecheck/routecheck.go
+++ b/feature/routecheck/routecheck.go
@@ -53,6 +53,10 @@ func (e *Extension) Name() string {
 
 // Init implements the [ipnext.Extension.Init] interface method.
 func (e *Extension) Init(h ipnext.Host) error {
+	if routecheck.DebugForceClientSideReachabilityRoutecheck().EqualBool(false) {
+		return ipnext.SkipExtension
+	}
+
 	e.nb = nodeBackender{h}
 
 	nm, ok := e.backend.(routecheck.NetMapper)
diff --git a/net/routecheck/routecheck.go b/net/routecheck/routecheck.go
index fb57b5fa2..5c562c6c4 100644
--- a/net/routecheck/routecheck.go
+++ b/net/routecheck/routecheck.go
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ import (
 	"sync/atomic"
 	"time"
 
+	"tailscale.com/envknob"
 	"tailscale.com/ipn/ipnstate"
 	"tailscale.com/tailcfg"
 	"tailscale.com/types/logger"
@@ -23,6 +24,26 @@ var (
 	metricRefresh = clientmetric.NewCounter("routecheck_refresh")
 )
 
+// DebugForceClientSideReachabilityRoutecheck reports whether routecheck should be forced on or off.
+// If the TS_DEBUG_FORCE_CLIENT_SIDE_REACHABILITY_ROUTECHECK environment variable is true,
+// then routecheck is forced on. If it is false, then routecheck is forced off.
+// If unset, then the client respects the client-side-reachability and
+// client-side-reachability-routecheck node attributes.
+var DebugForceClientSideReachabilityRoutecheck = envknob.RegisterOptBool("TS_DEBUG_FORCE_CLIENT_SIDE_REACHABILITY_ROUTECHECK")
+
+// IsEnabled reports whether routecheck probing has been enabled for this client.
+func IsEnabled(self tailcfg.NodeView) bool {
+	if v, ok := DebugForceClientSideReachabilityRoutecheck().Get(); ok {
+		return v // forced
+	}
+	if !self.Valid() {
+		return false
+	}
+	// TODO(sfllaw): We intend to eventually enable this behaviour by default.
+	return self.HasCap(tailcfg.NodeAttrClientSideReachability) &&
+		self.HasCap(tailcfg.NodeAttrClientSideReachabilityRouteCheck)
+}
+
 // Client generates Reports describing the result of both passive and active
 // reachability probing.
 type Client struct {
diff --git a/tailcfg/tailcfg.go b/tailcfg/tailcfg.go
index 66cf23fee..55df5938f 100644
--- a/tailcfg/tailcfg.go
+++ b/tailcfg/tailcfg.go
@@ -2756,7 +2756,17 @@ const (
 	// reachability itself when choosing connectors. When absent, the
 	// default behavior is to trust the control plane when it claims that a
 	// node is no longer online, but that is not a reliable signal.
-	NodeAttrClientSideReachability = "client-side-reachability"
+	//
+	// It is temporary and will be ignored once its behaviour becomes the default.
+	NodeAttrClientSideReachability NodeCapability = "client-side-reachability"
+
+	// NodeAttrClientSideReachabilityRouteCheck configures the node to use
+	// the routecheck subsystem to determine reachability when choosing
+	// connectors. This relies on [NodeAttrClientSideReachability] being set.
+	// See tailscale/tailscale#17367.
+	//
+	// It is temporary and will be ignored once its behaviour becomes the default.
+	NodeAttrClientSideReachabilityRouteCheck NodeCapability = "client-side-reachability-routecheck"
 
 	// NodeAttrDefaultAutoUpdate advertises the default node auto-update setting
 	// for this tailnet. The node is free to opt-in or out locally regardless of