diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index 8effc229ca332..c9ef6e5ad4fd6 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -11452,8 +11452,11 @@ dependencies = [
  "assert_cmd",
  "futures",
  "nix 0.26.2",
+ "node-cli",
  "node-primitives",
  "regex",
+ "sc-cli",
+ "sc-service",
  "sp-rpc",
  "substrate-rpc-client",
  "tokio",
diff --git a/bin/node/cli/Cargo.toml b/bin/node/cli/Cargo.toml
index dd8c1c8e77ea9..37f03fbb0dd7e 100644
--- a/bin/node/cli/Cargo.toml
+++ b/bin/node/cli/Cargo.toml
@@ -184,7 +184,8 @@ try-runtime = [
 	"pallet-balances/try-runtime",
 	"pallet-im-online/try-runtime",
 	"pallet-timestamp/try-runtime",
-	"sp-runtime/try-runtime"
+	"sp-runtime/try-runtime",
+	"substrate-cli-test-utils/try-runtime"
 ]
 
 [[bench]]
diff --git a/test-utils/cli/Cargo.toml b/test-utils/cli/Cargo.toml
index ac8c519a65cd4..314fe7ad568f2 100644
--- a/test-utils/cli/Cargo.toml
+++ b/test-utils/cli/Cargo.toml
@@ -20,4 +20,10 @@ nix = "0.26.2"
 regex = "1.7.3"
 tokio = { version = "1.22.0", features = ["full"] }
 node-primitives = { path = "../../bin/node/primitives" }
+node-cli = { path = "../../bin/node/cli" }
+sc-cli = { path = "../../client/cli" }
+sc-service = { path = "../../client/service" }
 futures = "0.3.28"
+
+[features]
+try-runtime = ["node-cli/try-runtime"]
diff --git a/test-utils/cli/src/lib.rs b/test-utils/cli/src/lib.rs
index 7e704b70f8096..99119a44d2e98 100644
--- a/test-utils/cli/src/lib.rs
+++ b/test-utils/cli/src/lib.rs
@@ -35,6 +35,38 @@ use std::{
 };
 use tokio::io::{AsyncBufReadExt, AsyncRead};
 
+/// Similar to [`crate::start_node`] spawns a node, but works in environments where the substrate
+/// binary is not accessible with `cargo_bin("substrate-node")`, and allows customising the args
+/// passed in.
+///
+/// Helpful if you need a Substrate dev node running in the background of a project external to
+/// `substrate`.
+///
+/// The downside compared to using [`crate::start_node`] is that this method is blocking rather than
+/// returning a [`Child`]. Therefore, you may want to call this method inside a new thread.
+///
+/// # Example
+/// ```ignore
+/// // Spawn a dev node.
+/// let _ = std::thread::spawn(move || {
+///     match common::start_node_inline(vec!["--dev", "--rpc-port=12345"]) {
+///         Ok(_) => {}
+///         Err(e) => {
+///             panic!("Node exited with error: {}", e);
+///         }
+///     }
+/// });
+/// ```
+pub fn start_node_inline(args: Vec<&str>) -> Result<(), sc_service::error::Error> {
+	use sc_cli::SubstrateCli;
+
+	// Prepend the args with some dummy value because the first arg is skipped.
+	let cli_call = std::iter::once("node-template").chain(args);
+	let cli = node_cli::Cli::from_iter(cli_call);
+	let runner = cli.create_runner(&cli.run).unwrap();
+	runner.run_node_until_exit(|config| async move { node_cli::service::new_full(config, cli) })
+}
+
 /// Starts a new Substrate node in development mode with a temporary chain.
 ///
 /// This function creates a new Substrate node using the `substrate` binary.
diff --git a/utils/frame/try-runtime/cli/Cargo.toml b/utils/frame/try-runtime/cli/Cargo.toml
index 61c2fcc2ecdfe..84b9460d137e0 100644
--- a/utils/frame/try-runtime/cli/Cargo.toml
+++ b/utils/frame/try-runtime/cli/Cargo.toml
@@ -55,5 +55,6 @@ tokio = "1.27.0"
 try-runtime = [
 	"sp-debug-derive/force-debug",
 	"frame-try-runtime/try-runtime",
-	"sp-runtime/try-runtime"
+	"sp-runtime/try-runtime",
+	"substrate-cli-test-utils/try-runtime"
 ]