diff --git a/src/babashka/pods/impl.clj b/src/babashka/pods/impl.clj
index 5846367..04552ff 100644
--- a/src/babashka/pods/impl.clj
+++ b/src/babashka/pods/impl.clj
@@ -106,6 +106,8 @@
    (let [pod-spec (if (string? pod-spec) [pod-spec] pod-spec)
          pb (ProcessBuilder. ^java.util.List pod-spec)
          _ (.redirectError pb java.lang.ProcessBuilder$Redirect/INHERIT)
+         _ (doto (.environment pb)
+             (.put "RUN_AS_BABASHKA_POD" "true"))
          p (.start pb)
          stdin (.getOutputStream p)
          stdout (.getInputStream p)
diff --git a/test-pod/pod/test_pod.clj b/test-pod/pod/test_pod.clj
index 17efda6..d206ec4 100644
--- a/test-pod/pod/test_pod.clj
+++ b/test-pod/pod/test_pod.clj
@@ -112,4 +112,5 @@
               :shutdown (System/exit 0))))))))
 
 (defn -main [& args]
-  (run-pod (set args)))
+  (when (= "true" (System/getenv "RUN_AS_BABASHKA_POD"))
+    (run-pod (set args))))
diff --git a/test/babashka/pods/test_common.clj b/test/babashka/pods/test_common.clj
index 0cbc179..9f86c5c 100644
--- a/test/babashka/pods/test_common.clj
+++ b/test/babashka/pods/test_common.clj
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@
 (require '[babashka.pods :as pods])
 (require '[clojure.core.async :as async])
 
-(pods/load-pod [\"clojure\" \"-A:test-pod\" \"--run-as-pod\"])
+(pods/load-pod [\"clojure\" \"-A:test-pod\"])
 (require '[pod.test-pod :as pod])
 (def stream-results (atom []))
 (let [chan (pod.test-pod/range-stream 1 10)]