diff --git a/CONTRIBUTING.md b/CONTRIBUTING.md
index 525b5a566b6f1e..c431d207acc140 100644
--- a/CONTRIBUTING.md
+++ b/CONTRIBUTING.md
@@ -169,10 +169,17 @@ C++ linting.
 
 If you are updating tests and just want to run a single test to check it:
 
-```text
-$ python tools/test.py -v --mode=release parallel/test-stream2-transform
+```console
+$ ./tools/test-ci.sh parallel/test-stream2-transform
+```
+
+Windows:
+
+```console
+> tools\test-ci parallel\test-stream2-transform
 ```
 
+
 You can usually run tests directly with node:
 
 ```text
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 78c288930db6a0..63a0568511097d 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ LOGLEVEL ?= silent
 OSTYPE := $(shell uname -s | tr '[A-Z]' '[a-z]')
 COVTESTS ?= test
 GTEST_FILTER ?= "*"
+export PYTHON
 
 ifdef JOBS
   PARALLEL_ARGS = -j $(JOBS)
@@ -43,6 +44,7 @@ NODE_EXE = node$(EXEEXT)
 NODE ?= ./$(NODE_EXE)
 NODE_G_EXE = node_g$(EXEEXT)
 NPM ?= ./deps/npm/bin/npm-cli.js
+TEST_CI = ./tools/test-ci.sh
 
 # Flags for packaging.
 BUILD_DOWNLOAD_FLAGS ?= --download=all
@@ -195,18 +197,18 @@ test: all
 	$(MAKE) build-addons
 	$(MAKE) build-addons-napi
 	$(MAKE) cctest
-	$(PYTHON) tools/test.py --mode=release -J \
+	$(TEST_CI) \
 		doctool inspector known_issues message pseudo-tty parallel sequential $(CI_NATIVE_SUITES)
 	$(MAKE) lint
 
 test-parallel: all
-	$(PYTHON) tools/test.py --mode=release parallel -J
+	$(TEST_CI) parallel
 
 test-valgrind: all
 	$(PYTHON) tools/test.py --mode=release --valgrind sequential parallel message
 
 test-check-deopts: all
-	$(PYTHON) tools/test.py --mode=release --check-deopts parallel sequential -J
+	$(TEST_CI) --check-deopts parallel sequential
 
 # Implicitly depends on $(NODE_EXE).  We don't depend on it explicitly because
 # it always triggers a rebuild due to it being a .PHONY rule.  See the comment
diff --git a/tools/test-ci.cmd b/tools/test-ci.cmd
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..a9b116eb763fdc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tools/test-ci.cmd
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+pushd %~dp0\..
+python tools\test.py -J --mode=release %*
+set TEST_CI_EXIT=%ERRORLEVEL%
+popd
+exit /b %TEST_CI_EXIT%
diff --git a/tools/test-ci.sh b/tools/test-ci.sh
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..0293ee59f3336f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tools/test-ci.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+cd `dirname $0`/.. > /dev/null
+if [ -z "${PYTHON}" ]; then export PYTHON=`which python`; fi
+"${PYTHON}" tools/test.py -J --mode=release $*
+exit $?
diff --git a/vcbuild.bat b/vcbuild.bat
index ac2bf7f72ab53b..d6810ffacf8e94 100644
--- a/vcbuild.bat
+++ b/vcbuild.bat
@@ -403,7 +403,9 @@ if defined test_node_inspect goto node-test-inspect
 goto node-tests
 
 :node-check-deopts
-python tools\test.py --mode=release --check-deopts parallel sequential -J
+set "test_deopts_cmd=%~dp0tools\test-ci.cmd --check-deopts parallel sequential"
+echo running '%test_deopts_cmd%'
+call %test_deopts_cmd%
 if defined test_node_inspect goto node-test-inspect
 goto node-tests
 
@@ -418,8 +420,9 @@ if "%config%"=="Debug" set test_args=--mode=debug %test_args%
 if "%config%"=="Release" set test_args=--mode=release %test_args%
 echo running 'cctest %cctest_args%'
 "%config%\cctest" %cctest_args%
-echo running 'python tools\test.py %test_args%'
-python tools\test.py %test_args%
+set "test_cmd=%~dp0tools\test-ci.cmd %test_args%"
+echo running '%test_cmd%'
+call %test_cmd%
 goto cpplint
 
 :cpplint