diff --git a/lib/api/v3/string_objects/string_objects_api.rb b/lib/api/v3/string_objects/string_objects_api.rb
index 0fe8479228..8a28b19026 100644
--- a/lib/api/v3/string_objects/string_objects_api.rb
+++ b/lib/api/v3/string_objects/string_objects_api.rb
@@ -33,13 +33,19 @@ module API
       class StringObjectsAPI < Grape::API
         resources :string_objects do
 
-          namespace ':value' do
+          params do
+            requires :value, type: String
+          end
+
+          # N.B. we are specifying our own requirements to allow arbitrary strings as value
+          # as of today values like '.foo' or 'foo.' would not be possible otherwise
+          route_param :value, requirements: { value: /.+/ } do
             get do
               StringObjectRepresenter.new(params[:value])
             end
           end
 
-          # answer requests for empty strings too
+          # we need to explicitly cover the empty case because of the way route matching works
           get do
             StringObjectRepresenter.new('')
           end
diff --git a/spec/requests/api/v3/string_objects_resource_spec.rb b/spec/requests/api/v3/string_objects_resource_spec.rb
index 8b078a778b..ec2291a50f 100644
--- a/spec/requests/api/v3/string_objects_resource_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/requests/api/v3/string_objects_resource_spec.rb
@@ -48,5 +48,30 @@ describe 'API v3 String Objects resource' do
     it 'returns the value' do
       expect(subject.body).to be_json_eql('foo bar'.to_json).at_path('value')
     end
+
+    context 'empty string' do
+      let(:path) { '/api/v3/string_objects/' }
+
+      it 'is successful' do
+        expect(subject.status).to eql(200)
+      end
+
+      it 'returns the value' do
+        expect(subject.body).to be_json_eql(''.to_json).at_path('value')
+      end
+    end
+
+    # values starting with a dot is a known limitation of grapes default route matching
+    context 'beginning with .' do
+      let(:path) { '/api/v3/string_objects/.foo' }
+
+      it 'is successful' do
+        expect(subject.status).to eql(200)
+      end
+
+      it 'returns the value' do
+        expect(subject.body).to be_json_eql('.foo'.to_json).at_path('value')
+      end
+    end
   end
 end