Using `--test` causes process.argv[] to lose user-specified CLI flags

[broofa]

Version

v25.6.1

Platform

Darwin MacBookPro.lan 25.0.0 Darwin Kernel Version 25.0.0: Wed Sep 17 21:41:45 PDT 2025; root:xnu-12377.1.9~141/RELEASE_ARM64_T6000 arm64

Subsystem

node:test

What steps will reproduce the bug?

Create a file, "foo.js":

console.log(process.argv);

... then invoke node with a custom CLI flag (--hello), and both with and without the --test flag:

# Run script with a custom CLI flag (without --test):
$ node foo.js --hello
[
  '/Users/kieffer/.nvm/versions/node/v25.6.1/bin/node',
  '/Users/kieffer/codepen/codewatch/packages/foo.js',
  '--hello'
]

# ... now add `--test`:
$ node --test foo.js --hello
[
  '/Users/kieffer/.nvm/versions/node/v25.6.1/bin/node',
  '/Users/kieffer/codepen/codewatch/packages/foo.js'
]
✔ foo.js (35.9505ms)
<snip>

Note

Running with the "--" flag (e.g. node foo.js -- --hello or node --test foo.js -- --hello) yields the same behavior.

How often does it reproduce? Is there a required condition?

Consistent.

What is the expected behavior? Why is that the expected behavior?

process.argv should include the user-provided CLI flag in both cases.

What do you see instead?

When running with --test, process.argv omits the user-supplied --hello flag.

This makes testing code that depends on process.argv problematic, obviously.

[jdmarshall]

Does this work in 24.4? There's a similar issue with node flags and I suspect it's the same.

#60986

[pmarchini]

Does this work in 24.4? There's a similar issue with node flags and I suspect it's the same.

#60986

Hey @jdmarshall, that specific issue was only related to v8-specific flags, so if the regression is confirmed it's probably unrelated!

Note: I've just checked and I would say that this is not even a regression, I have the impression that we have never supported it cc @nodejs/test_runner

[broofa]

@jdmarshall This issue reproduces in both node@22 & node@24.

[github-actions]

This issue has been marked as stale due to 90 days of inactivity.
It will be automatically closed in 30 days if no further activity occurs. If this is still relevant, please leave a comment or update it to keep it open.

[vassudanagunta]

still relevant