diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index f91846b78..58b1a30a5 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -3071,6 +3071,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "num-traits",
  "serde",
  "serde_derive",
+ "serde_json",
  "solana-define-syscall",
  "solana-frozen-abi",
  "solana-frozen-abi-macro",
diff --git a/instruction/Cargo.toml b/instruction/Cargo.toml
index 199f03fed..4ccc84738 100644
--- a/instruction/Cargo.toml
+++ b/instruction/Cargo.toml
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ frozen-abi = [
     "serde",
     "std",
 ]
-serde = ["dep:serde", "dep:serde_derive", "solana-pubkey/serde"]
+serde = ["dep:serde", "dep:serde_derive", "dep:serde_json", "solana-pubkey/serde"]
 std = []
 syscalls = ["std"]
 
@@ -34,6 +34,7 @@ borsh = { workspace = true, optional = true }
 num-traits = { workspace = true }
 serde = { workspace = true, optional = true }
 serde_derive = { workspace = true, optional = true }
+serde_json = { workspace = true, optional = true }
 solana-frozen-abi = { workspace = true, optional = true }
 solana-frozen-abi-macro = { workspace = true, optional = true }
 solana-pubkey = { workspace = true, default-features = false }
@@ -47,7 +48,7 @@ wasm-bindgen = { workspace = true }
 solana-define-syscall = { workspace = true }
 
 [dev-dependencies]
-solana-instruction = { path = ".", features = ["borsh"] }
+solana-instruction = { path = ".", features = ["borsh", "serde"] }
 
 [lints]
 workspace = true
diff --git a/instruction/src/error.rs b/instruction/src/error.rs
index ea213cd85..f74f9d3fe 100644
--- a/instruction/src/error.rs
+++ b/instruction/src/error.rs
@@ -60,6 +60,7 @@ pub const INCORRECT_AUTHORITY: u64 = to_builtin!(26);
     feature = "serde",
     derive(serde_derive::Serialize, serde_derive::Deserialize)
 )]
+#[cfg_attr(feature = "serde", serde(remote = "InstructionError"))]
 #[derive(Debug, PartialEq, Eq, Clone)]
 pub enum InstructionError {
     /// Deprecated! Use CustomError instead!
@@ -242,6 +243,35 @@ pub enum InstructionError {
     // conversions must also be added
 }
 
+// This is a variant on a hack proposed to get around deserializing a unit
+// variant or a newtype, since there's no way for an enum variant deserializer
+// to work with both a newtype and nothing:
+// https://github.com/serde-rs/serde/issues/1174#issuecomment-372411280
+#[cfg(all(feature = "std", feature = "serde"))]
+impl<'de> serde::de::Deserialize<'de> for InstructionError {
+    fn deserialize<D>(deserializer: D) -> Result<Self, D::Error>
+    where
+        D: serde::de::Deserializer<'de>,
+    {
+        let s = serde_json::Value::deserialize(deserializer)?;
+        if s.as_str().is_some_and(|v| v == "BorshIoError") {
+            Ok(Self::BorshIoError(String::new()))
+        } else {
+            Self::deserialize(s).map_err(serde::de::Error::custom)
+        }
+    }
+}
+
+#[cfg(all(feature = "std", feature = "serde"))]
+impl serde::ser::Serialize for InstructionError {
+    fn serialize<S>(&self, serializer: S) -> Result<S::Ok, S::Error>
+    where
+        S: serde::ser::Serializer,
+    {
+        Self::serialize(self, serializer)
+    }
+}
+
 #[cfg(feature = "std")]
 impl std::error::Error for InstructionError {}
 
@@ -462,3 +492,42 @@ impl From<LamportsError> for InstructionError {
         }
     }
 }
+
+#[cfg(test)]
+#[cfg(feature = "serde")]
+mod tests {
+    use {super::InstructionError, std::string::ToString};
+
+    #[test]
+    fn deserialize() {
+        serde_json::from_str::<InstructionError>(r#""InvalidError2""#).unwrap_err();
+        serde_json::from_str::<InstructionError>(r#"{"InvalidError2": null}"#).unwrap_err();
+        serde_json::from_str::<InstructionError>(r#"{}"#).unwrap_err();
+        serde_json::from_str::<InstructionError>(r#""Custom""#).unwrap_err();
+
+        assert_eq!(
+            InstructionError::BorshIoError("".to_string()),
+            serde_json::from_str::<InstructionError>(r#""BorshIoError""#).unwrap()
+        );
+        assert_eq!(
+            InstructionError::BorshIoError("42".to_string()),
+            serde_json::from_str::<InstructionError>(r#"{"BorshIoError": "42"}"#).unwrap()
+        );
+        assert_eq!(
+            InstructionError::InvalidError,
+            serde_json::from_str::<InstructionError>(r#"{"InvalidError": null}"#).unwrap()
+        );
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn serialize() {
+        assert_eq!(
+            serde_json::to_string(&InstructionError::BorshIoError("42".to_string())).unwrap(),
+            r#"{"BorshIoError":"42"}"#
+        );
+        assert_eq!(
+            serde_json::to_string(&InstructionError::InvalidError).unwrap(),
+            r#""InvalidError""#
+        );
+    }
+}