diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 51cd06725..929c1b4c4 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -13,6 +13,8 @@ and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0
 
 * `ui.card()` and `ui.value_box()` now take an `id` argument that, when provided, is used to report the full screen state of the card or value box to the server. For example, when using `ui.card(id = "my_card", full_screen = TRUE)` you can determine if the card is currently in full screen mode by reading the boolean value of `input.my_card()["full_screen"]`. (#1215)
 
+* Added support for using `shiny.express` in Quarto Dashboards. (#1217)
+
 ### Bug fixes
 
 ### Other changes
diff --git a/shiny/express/_is_express.py b/shiny/express/_is_express.py
index f2f1b643d..a62f0b408 100644
--- a/shiny/express/_is_express.py
+++ b/shiny/express/_is_express.py
@@ -5,7 +5,10 @@
 from __future__ import annotations
 
 import ast
+import re
+import sys
 from pathlib import Path
+from typing import Literal, cast
 
 from .._docstring import no_example
 
@@ -42,8 +45,16 @@ def is_express_app(app: str, app_dir: str | None) -> bool:
 
     try:
         # Read the file, parse it, and look for any imports of shiny.express.
-        with open(app_path) as f:
+        with open(app_path, encoding="utf-8") as f:
             content = f.read()
+
+        # Check for magic comment in the first 1000 characters
+        forced_mode = find_magic_comment_mode(content[:1000])
+        if forced_mode == "express":
+            return True
+        elif forced_mode == "core":
+            return False
+
         tree = ast.parse(content, app_path)
         detector = DetectShinyExpressVisitor()
         detector.visit(tree)
@@ -78,3 +89,28 @@ def visit_Module(self, node: ast.Module) -> None:
     # Don't recurse into any nodes, so the we'll only ever look at top-level nodes.
     def generic_visit(self, node: ast.AST) -> None:
         pass
+
+
+def find_magic_comment_mode(content: str) -> Literal["core", "express"] | None:
+    """
+    Look for a magic comment of the form "# shiny_mode: express" or "# shiny_mode:
+    core".
+
+    If a line of the form "# shiny_mode: x" is found, where "x" is not "express" or
+    "core", then a message will be printed to stderr.
+
+    Returns
+    -------
+    :
+        `True` if Shiny Express comment is found, `False` if Shiny Core comment is
+        found, and `None` if no magic comment is found.
+    """
+    m = re.search(r"^#[ \t]*shiny_mode:[ \t]*(\S*)[ \t]*$", content, re.MULTILINE)
+    if m is not None:
+        shiny_mode = cast(str, m.group(1))
+        if shiny_mode in ("express", "core"):
+            return shiny_mode
+        else:
+            print(f'Invalid shiny_mode: "{shiny_mode}"', file=sys.stderr)
+
+    return None
diff --git a/shiny/express/_run.py b/shiny/express/_run.py
index 53f112d25..7de634740 100644
--- a/shiny/express/_run.py
+++ b/shiny/express/_run.py
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@
 from .._utils import import_module_from_path
 from ..session import Inputs, Outputs, Session, get_current_session, session_context
 from ..types import MISSING, MISSING_TYPE
+from ._is_express import find_magic_comment_mode
 from ._mock_session import ExpressMockSession
 from ._recall_context import RecallContextManager
 from .expressify_decorator._func_displayhook import _expressify_decorator_function_def
@@ -144,8 +145,14 @@ def set_result(x: object):
         get_top_level_recall_context_manager().__exit__(None, None, None)
 
         # If we're running as an Express app but there's also a top-level item named app
-        # which is a shiny.App object, the user probably made a mistake.
-        if "app" in var_context and isinstance(var_context["app"], App):
+        # which is a shiny.App object, the user probably made a mistake. (But if there's
+        # a magic comment to force it into Express mode, don't raise, because that means
+        # the user should know what they're doing.)
+        if (
+            "app" in var_context
+            and isinstance(var_context["app"], App)
+            and find_magic_comment_mode(content[:1000]) is None
+        ):
             raise RuntimeError(
                 "This looks like a Shiny Express app because it imports shiny.express, "
                 "but it also looks like a Shiny Core app because it has a variable named "
@@ -165,7 +172,7 @@ def set_result(x: object):
         sys.displayhook = prev_displayhook
 
 
-_top_level_recall_context_manager: RecallContextManager[Tag]
+_top_level_recall_context_manager: RecallContextManager[Tag] | None = None
 
 
 def reset_top_level_recall_context_manager() -> None:
@@ -176,6 +183,9 @@ def reset_top_level_recall_context_manager() -> None:
 
 
 def get_top_level_recall_context_manager() -> RecallContextManager[Tag]:
+    if _top_level_recall_context_manager is None:
+        raise RuntimeError("No top-level recall context manager has been set.")
+
     return _top_level_recall_context_manager
 
 
@@ -221,8 +231,16 @@ def app_opts(
         Whether to enable debug mode.
     """
 
-    # Store these options only if we're in the UI-rendering phase of Shiny Express.
     mock_session = get_current_session()
+
+    if mock_session is None:
+        # We can get here if a Shiny Core app, or if we're in the UI rendering phase of
+        # a Quarto-Shiny dashboard.
+        raise RuntimeError(
+            "express.app_opts() can only be used in a standalone Shiny Express app."
+        )
+
+    # Store these options only if we're in the UI-rendering phase of Shiny Express.
     if not isinstance(mock_session, ExpressMockSession):
         return
 
diff --git a/shiny/express/ui/_page.py b/shiny/express/ui/_page.py
index d005540e9..738d25356 100644
--- a/shiny/express/ui/_page.py
+++ b/shiny/express/ui/_page.py
@@ -58,7 +58,14 @@ def page_opts(
         one based on the arguments provided. If not ``None``, this will override all
         heuristics for choosing page functions.
     """
-    cm = get_top_level_recall_context_manager()
+    try:
+        cm = get_top_level_recall_context_manager()
+    except RuntimeError:
+        # We can get here if a Shiny Core app, or if we're in the UI rendering phase of
+        # a Quarto-Shiny dashboard.
+        raise RuntimeError(
+            "express.ui.page_opts() can only be used inside of a standalone Shiny Express app."
+        )
 
     if not isinstance(title, MISSING_TYPE):
         cm.kwargs["title"] = title
diff --git a/shiny/quarto.py b/shiny/quarto.py
index 5f0d5efc2..380c354cf 100644
--- a/shiny/quarto.py
+++ b/shiny/quarto.py
@@ -68,6 +68,7 @@ def convert_code_cells_to_app_py(json_file: str | Path, app_file: str | Path) ->
             )
 
     app_content = f"""# This file generated by Quarto; do not edit by hand.
+# shiny_mode: core
 
 from __future__ import annotations