diff --git a/doc/api/tracing.md b/doc/api/tracing.md
index df76d985f71dbe..d63d9ee33df245 100644
--- a/doc/api/tracing.md
+++ b/doc/api/tracing.md
@@ -226,6 +226,61 @@ t2.enable();
 console.log(trace_events.getEnabledCategories());
 ```
 
+### `trace_events.trace(phase, category, name, id, data)`
+
+<!-- YAML
+added: REPLACEME
+-->
+
+use `trace_events.trace` to product trace events data, then this data can be
+collected by the `inspector` module or the `trace_events.createTracing` method.
+
+The following example is used to product custom trace event, and collect
+the data by using the inspector.
+
+```js
+'use strict';
+
+const {
+  trace,
+  events: {
+    TRACE_EVENT_PHASE_NESTABLE_ASYNC_BEGIN: kBeforeEvent
+  },
+} = require('trace_events');
+
+const { Session } = require('inspector');
+
+const session = new Session();
+
+function post(message, data) {
+  return new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
+    session.post(message, data, (err, result) => {
+      if (err)
+        reject(new Error(JSON.stringify(err)));
+      else
+        resolve(result);
+    });
+  });
+}
+
+async function test() {
+  session.connect();
+  const events = [];
+  session.on('NodeTracing.dataCollected', (n) => {
+    events.push(...n.params.value.filter((v) => v.cat !== '__metadata'));
+  });
+  session.on('NodeTracing.tracingComplete', () => console.log(events));
+
+  const traceConfig = { includedCategories: ['custom'] };
+  await post('NodeTracing.start', { traceConfig });
+  trace(kBeforeEvent, 'custom', 'hello', 0, 'world');
+  await post('NodeTracing.stop', { traceConfig });
+  session.disconnect();
+}
+
+test();
+```
+
 [Performance API]: perf_hooks.md
 [V8]: v8.md
 [`Worker`]: worker_threads.md#class-worker
diff --git a/lib/trace_events.js b/lib/trace_events.js
index 5211f8b0b1fc74..5ef01de7b35322 100644
--- a/lib/trace_events.js
+++ b/lib/trace_events.js
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ const { hasTracing } = internalBinding('config');
 const kHandle = Symbol('handle');
 const kEnabled = Symbol('enabled');
 const kCategories = Symbol('categories');
-
+const { isMainThread } = require('worker_threads');
 const kMaxTracingCount = 10;
 
 const {
@@ -24,7 +24,8 @@ const { ownsProcessState } = require('internal/worker');
 if (!hasTracing || !ownsProcessState)
   throw new ERR_TRACE_EVENTS_UNAVAILABLE();
 
-const { CategorySet, getEnabledCategories } = internalBinding('trace_events');
+const { CategorySet, getEnabledCategories, trace } = internalBinding('trace_events');
+const constants = internalBinding('constants');
 const { customInspectSymbol } = require('internal/util');
 const { format } = require('internal/util/inspect');
 const {
@@ -98,5 +99,7 @@ function createTracing(options) {
 
 module.exports = {
   createTracing,
-  getEnabledCategories
+  getEnabledCategories,
+  trace: isMainThread ? trace : null,
+  events: constants.trace
 };
diff --git a/test/parallel/test-trace-events-api-trace.js b/test/parallel/test-trace-events-api-trace.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..b9474d53bd7356
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/parallel/test-trace-events-api-trace.js
@@ -0,0 +1,54 @@
+'use strict';
+
+const common = require('../common');
+common.skipIfWorker(); // https://github.com/nodejs/node/issues/22767
+
+const assert = require('assert');
+const fs = require('fs');
+const path = require('path');
+const cp = require('child_process');
+const tmpdir = require('../common/tmpdir');
+
+if (process.argv[2] === 'isChild') {
+  const {
+    createTracing,
+    trace,
+    events: {
+      TRACE_EVENT_PHASE_NESTABLE_ASYNC_BEGIN: kBeforeEvent,
+      TRACE_EVENT_PHASE_NESTABLE_ASYNC_END: kEndEvent
+    },
+  } = require('trace_events');
+
+  const tracing = createTracing({ categories: [ 'custom' ] });
+  tracing.enable();
+  trace(kBeforeEvent, 'custom', 'hello', 0, 'world');
+  setTimeout(() => {
+    trace(kEndEvent, 'custom', 'hello', 0, 'world');
+    tracing.disable();
+  }, 1);
+} else {
+  tmpdir.refresh();
+  const parentDir = process.cwd();
+  process.chdir(tmpdir.path);
+  const proc = cp.fork(__filename, ['isChild'], {
+    execArgv: [
+      '--trace-event-categories',
+      'custom',
+    ]
+  });
+
+  proc.once('exit', common.mustCall(() => {
+    const file = path.join(tmpdir.path, 'node_trace.1.log');
+    assert(fs.existsSync(file));
+    fs.readFile(file, { encoding: 'utf-8' }, common.mustSucceed((data) => {
+      const traces = JSON.parse(data).traceEvents.filter((trace) => trace.cat !== '__metadata');
+      assert.strictEqual(traces.length, 2);
+      traces.forEach((trace) => {
+        assert.strictEqual(trace.cat, 'custom');
+        assert.strictEqual(trace.name, 'hello');
+        assert.strictEqual(trace.args.data, 'world');
+      });
+    }));
+    process.chdir(parentDir);
+  }));
+}
diff --git a/test/parallel/test-trace-events-dynamic-enable.js b/test/parallel/test-trace-events-dynamic-enable.js
index 237bb1de8df743..b1ee14cbef33e5 100644
--- a/test/parallel/test-trace-events-dynamic-enable.js
+++ b/test/parallel/test-trace-events-dynamic-enable.js
@@ -1,4 +1,3 @@
-// Flags: --expose-internals
 'use strict';
 
 const common = require('../common');
@@ -6,15 +5,12 @@ const common = require('../common');
 common.skipIfInspectorDisabled();
 common.skipIfWorker(); // https://github.com/nodejs/node/issues/22767
 
-const { internalBinding } = require('internal/test/binding');
-
 const {
-  trace: {
+  trace,
+  events: {
     TRACE_EVENT_PHASE_NESTABLE_ASYNC_BEGIN: kBeforeEvent
-  }
-} = internalBinding('constants');
-
-const { trace } = internalBinding('trace_events');
+  },
+} = require('trace_events');
 
 const assert = require('assert');
 const { Session } = require('inspector');
@@ -37,11 +33,11 @@ async function test() {
 
   const events = [];
   let tracingComplete = false;
-  session.on('NodeTracing.dataCollected', (n) => {
+  session.on('NodeTracing.dataCollected', common.mustCallAtLeast((n) => {
     assert.ok(n && n.params && n.params.value);
     events.push(...n.params.value);  // append the events.
-  });
-  session.on('NodeTracing.tracingComplete', () => tracingComplete = true);
+  }));
+  session.on('NodeTracing.tracingComplete', common.mustCall(() => tracingComplete = true));
 
   trace(kBeforeEvent, 'foo', 'test1', 0, 'test');