diff --git a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/rest/action/main/RestMainAction.java b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/rest/action/main/RestMainAction.java
index d8411226fd235..8972281f53216 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/rest/action/main/RestMainAction.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/rest/action/main/RestMainAction.java
@@ -54,6 +54,9 @@ public RestMainAction(Settings settings, Version version, Client client, RestCon
 
     @Override
     public void handleRequest(final RestRequest request, final RestChannel channel) {
+        if (!request.hasParam("pretty")) {
+            request.params().put("pretty", "true");
+        }
         ClusterStateRequest clusterStateRequest = new ClusterStateRequest();
         clusterStateRequest.listenerThreaded(false);
         clusterStateRequest.masterNodeTimeout(TimeValue.timeValueMillis(0));
@@ -72,7 +75,7 @@ public void onResponse(ClusterStateResponse response) {
                 }
 
                 try {
-                    XContentBuilder builder = RestXContentBuilder.restContentBuilder(request).prettyPrint();
+                    XContentBuilder builder = RestXContentBuilder.restContentBuilder(request);
                     builder.startObject();
                     builder.field("ok", true);
                     builder.field("status", status.getStatus());