diff --git a/test/testpy/__init__.py b/test/testpy/__init__.py
index 605f2d2daa8..9e7686c450b 100644
--- a/test/testpy/__init__.py
+++ b/test/testpy/__init__.py
@@ -35,6 +35,7 @@ from io import open
 FLAGS_PATTERN = re.compile(r"//\s+Flags:(.*)")
 LS_RE = re.compile(r'^test-.*\.m?js$')
 ENV_PATTERN = re.compile(r"//\s+Env:(.*)")
+NODE_TEST_PATTERN = re.compile(r"('|`|\")node:test\1")
 
 class SimpleTestCase(test.TestCase):
 
@@ -98,6 +99,10 @@ class SimpleTestCase(test.TestCase):
       else:
         result += flags
 
+    if self.context.use_error_reporter and NODE_TEST_PATTERN.search(source):
+      result += ['--test-reporter=./test/common/test-error-reporter.js',
+                 '--test-reporter-destination=stdout']
+
     if self.additional_flags:
       result += self.additional_flags
 
diff --git a/tools/test.py b/tools/test.py
index 1b0159ccd9f..645385b0a87 100755
--- a/tools/test.py
+++ b/tools/test.py
@@ -969,6 +969,7 @@ class Context(object):
     self.abort_on_timeout = abort_on_timeout
     self.v8_enable_inspector = True
     self.node_has_crypto = True
+    self.use_error_reporter = False
 
   def GetVm(self, arch, mode):
     if self.vm is not None:
@@ -1461,7 +1462,7 @@ def BuildOptions():
       help="Type of build (simple, fips, coverage)",
       default=None)
   result.add_argument("--error-reporter",
-      help="use error reporter",
+      help="use error reporter if the test uses node:test",
       default=True, action="store_true")
   return result
 
@@ -1679,10 +1680,6 @@ def Main():
     options.node_args.append("--trace-file-names")
     options.progress = "deopts"
 
-  if options.error_reporter:
-    options.node_args.append('--test-reporter=./test/common/test-error-reporter.js')
-    options.node_args.append('--test-reporter-destination=stdout')
-
   if options.worker:
     run_worker = join(workspace, "tools", "run-worker.js")
     options.node_args.append(run_worker)
@@ -1701,6 +1698,9 @@ def Main():
                     options.repeat,
                     options.abort_on_timeout)
 
+  if options.error_reporter:
+    context.use_error_reporter = True
+
   # Get status for tests
   sections = [ ]
   defs = { }