diff --git a/src/api/environment.cc b/src/api/environment.cc
index c3f2fa10a8d89f..22f77160fb1737 100644
--- a/src/api/environment.cc
+++ b/src/api/environment.cc
@@ -462,6 +462,9 @@ NODE_EXTERN std::unique_ptr<InspectorParentHandle> GetInspectorParentHandle(
   CHECK_NOT_NULL(env);
   if (name == nullptr) name = "";
   CHECK_NE(thread_id.id, static_cast<uint64_t>(-1));
+  if (!env->should_create_inspector()) {
+    return nullptr;
+  }
 #if HAVE_INSPECTOR
   return std::make_unique<InspectorParentHandleImpl>(
       env->inspector_agent()->GetParentHandle(thread_id.id, url, name));
diff --git a/test/parallel/test-runner-cli.js b/test/parallel/test-runner-cli.js
index 5e913eb6de9e5d..1af875e7e24def 100644
--- a/test/parallel/test-runner-cli.js
+++ b/test/parallel/test-runner-cli.js
@@ -185,3 +185,19 @@ const testFixtures = fixtures.path('test-runner');
   assert.match(stdout, /# tests 1/);
   assert.match(stdout, /# pass 1/);
 }
+
+{
+  // Use test with --loader and --require.
+  // This case is common since vscode uses --require to load the debugger.
+  const args = ['--no-warnings',
+                '--experimental-loader', 'data:text/javascript,',
+                '--require', fixtures.path('empty.js'),
+                '--test', join(testFixtures, 'index.test.js')];
+  const child = spawnSync(process.execPath, args);
+
+  assert.strictEqual(child.stderr.toString(), '');
+  assert.strictEqual(child.status, 0);
+  assert.strictEqual(child.signal, null);
+  const stdout = child.stdout.toString();
+  assert.match(stdout, /ok 1 - this should pass/);
+}