Responding with a JSON object in Node.js (converting object/array to JSON string)

You have to use the JSON.stringify() function included with the V8 engine that node uses.

var objToJson = { ... };
response.write(JSON.stringify(objToJson));

Edit: As far as I know, IANA has officially registered a MIME type for JSON as application/json in RFC4627. It is also is listed in the Internet Media Type list here.

var objToJson = { };
objToJson.response = response;
response.write(JSON.stringify(objToJson));

If you alert(JSON.stringify(objToJson)) you will get {"response":"value"}

Using res.json with Express:

function random(response) {
  console.log("response.json sets the appropriate header and performs JSON.stringify");
  response.json({ 
    anObject: { item1: "item1val", item2: "item2val" }, 
    anArray: ["item1", "item2"], 
    another: "item"
  });
}

Alternatively:

function random(response) {
  console.log("Request handler random was called.");
  response.writeHead(200, {"Content-Type": "application/json"});
  var otherArray = ["item1", "item2"];
  var otherObject = { item1: "item1val", item2: "item2val" };
  var json = JSON.stringify({ 
    anObject: otherObject, 
    anArray: otherArray, 
    another: "item"
  });
  response.end(json);
}