diff --git a/cmd/cmd.js b/cmd/cmd.js
index 97a3ff66c..53ba06f1b 100644
--- a/cmd/cmd.js
+++ b/cmd/cmd.js
@@ -207,13 +207,14 @@ class Cmd {
   test() {
     program
       .command('test [file]')
+      .option('-n , --node [node]', __('Node to connect to (default: vm)'))
       .option('-d , --gasDetails', __('When set, will print the gas cost for each contract deploy'))
       .option('--locale [locale]', __('language to use (default: en)'))
       .option('--loglevel [loglevel]', __('level of logging to display') + ' ["error", "warn", "info", "debug", "trace"]', /^(error|warn|info|debug|trace)$/i, 'warn')
       .description(__('run tests'))
       .action(function (file, options) {
         i18n.setOrDetectLocale(options.locale);
-        embark.runTests({file, loglevel: options.loglevel, gasDetails: options.gasDetails});
+        embark.runTests({file, loglevel: options.loglevel, gasDetails: options.gasDetails, node: options.node});
       });
   }
 
diff --git a/lib/tests/run_tests.js b/lib/tests/run_tests.js
index a4e9d258a..97af4f24f 100644
--- a/lib/tests/run_tests.js
+++ b/lib/tests/run_tests.js
@@ -61,7 +61,7 @@ module.exports = {
       },
       function setupGlobalNamespace(files, next) {
         // TODO put default config
-        const test = new Test({loglevel});
+        const test = new Test({loglevel, node: options.node});
         global.embark = test;
         global.assert = assert;
         global.config = test.config.bind(test);
diff --git a/lib/tests/test.js b/lib/tests/test.js
index 64cd218d9..e22db40bf 100644
--- a/lib/tests/test.js
+++ b/lib/tests/test.js
@@ -58,10 +58,15 @@ class Test {
       });
     }
 
-    if (this.simOptions.host) {
-      let {host, port, type, protocol, accounts} = this.simOptions;
+    if (this.simOptions.host || this.options.node) {
+      let options = this.simOptions;
+      if (this.options.node) {
+        options = utils.deconstructUrl(this.options.node);
+      }
+
+      let {host, port, type, protocol, accounts} = options;
       if (!protocol) {
-        protocol = (this.simOptions.type === "rpc") ? 'http' : 'ws';
+        protocol = (options.type === "rpc") ? 'http' : 'ws';
       }
       const endpoint = `${protocol}://${host}:${port}`;
       const providerOptions = {
diff --git a/lib/utils/utils.js b/lib/utils/utils.js
index 92facc19d..c1ccbfca6 100644
--- a/lib/utils/utils.js
+++ b/lib/utils/utils.js
@@ -364,6 +364,16 @@ function buildUrlFromConfig(configObj) {
   return this.buildUrl(configObj.protocol, canonicalHost(configObj.host), configObj.port);
 }
 
+function deconstructUrl(endpoint) {
+  const matches = endpoint.match(/(ws|https?):\/\/([a-zA-Z0-9_.-]*):?([0-9]*)?/);
+  return {
+    protocol: matches[1],
+    host: matches[2],
+    port: matches[3],
+    type: matches[1] === 'ws' ? 'ws' : 'rpc'
+  };
+}
+
 function getWeiBalanceFromString(balanceString, web3){
   if(!web3){
     throw new Error(__('[utils.getWeiBalanceFromString]: Missing parameter \'web3\''));
@@ -482,6 +492,7 @@ module.exports = {
   normalizeInput,
   buildUrl,
   buildUrlFromConfig,
+  deconstructUrl,
   getWeiBalanceFromString,
   getHexBalanceFromString,
   compact,