diff --git a/tractor/trionics/__init__.py b/tractor/trionics/__init__.py
index 2e91aa30..7271b0f3 100644
--- a/tractor/trionics/__init__.py
+++ b/tractor/trionics/__init__.py
@@ -36,4 +36,5 @@ from ._beg import (
 )
 from ._taskc import (
     maybe_raise_from_masking_exc as maybe_raise_from_masking_exc,
+    start_or_cancel as start_or_cancel,
 )
diff --git a/tractor/trionics/_taskc.py b/tractor/trionics/_taskc.py
index 7d00b4fd..e50b28f9 100644
--- a/tractor/trionics/_taskc.py
+++ b/tractor/trionics/_taskc.py
@@ -27,6 +27,9 @@ from types import (
     TracebackType,
 )
 from typing import (
+    Any,
+    Awaitable,
+    Callable,
     Type,
     TYPE_CHECKING,
 )
@@ -293,5 +296,55 @@ async def maybe_raise_from_masking_exc(
             if raise_unmasked:
                 raise exc_ctx from exc_match
 
+
+async def start_or_cancel(
+    nursery: trio.Nursery,
+    async_fn: Callable[..., Awaitable[Any]],
+    *args,
+    name: object = None,
+
+) -> Any:
+    '''
+    Like `trio.Nursery.start()` but DON'T mask an out-of-band
+    cancellation as a (lossy) startup failure.
+
+    `trio.Nursery.start()` raises a generic
+    `RuntimeError("child exited without calling
+    task_status.started()")` whenever the started task exits
+    BEFORE calling `task_status.started()` — INCLUDING the very
+    common case where the child was cancelled out-of-band by an
+    *ancestor* cancel-scope erroring/cancelling. In that case the
+    original `trio.Cancelled` is swallowed and the caller is left
+    with an opaque, root-cause-detached `RuntimeError`.
+
+    This wrapper re-surfaces any ambient (effective, hence
+    ancestor-inclusive) cancellation via
+    `trio.lowlevel.checkpoint_if_cancelled()` so the real
+    `trio.Cancelled` (carrying trio's auto-generated reason which
+    points at the true root exc) propagates instead. Only when we
+    are NOT under cancellation is the "didn't call `.started()`"
+    `RuntimeError` a genuine startup-protocol bug worth surfacing,
+    so it's re-raised as-is in that case.
+
+    '''
+    try:
+        return await nursery.start(
+            async_fn,
+            *args,
+            name=name,
+        )
+    except RuntimeError as rte:
+        if (
+            rte.args
+            and
+            'started' in rte.args[0]
+        ):
+            # re-raises the in-flight `trio.Cancelled` IFF we're
+            # under effective cancellation; else a cheap no-op and
+            # we fall through to re-raise the genuine startup RTE.
+            await trio.lowlevel.checkpoint_if_cancelled()
+
+        raise
+
     else:
         raise