diff --git a/tests/conftest.py b/tests/conftest.py
index 8e9a67c..c9159f0 100644
--- a/tests/conftest.py
+++ b/tests/conftest.py
@@ -41,11 +41,14 @@ def tractor_test(fn):
         *args,
         loglevel=None,
         reg_addr=None,
-        start_method=None,
+        start_method: str|None = None,
+        debug_mode: bool = False,
         **kwargs
     ):
         # __tracebackhide__ = True
 
+        # NOTE: inject ant test func declared fixture
+        # names by manually checking!
         if 'reg_addr' in inspect.signature(fn).parameters:
             # injects test suite fixture value to test as well
             # as `run()`
@@ -64,10 +67,14 @@ def tractor_test(fn):
             # set of subprocess spawning backends
             kwargs['start_method'] = start_method
 
+        if 'debug_mode' in inspect.signature(fn).parameters:
+            # set of subprocess spawning backends
+            kwargs['debug_mode'] = debug_mode
+
+
         if kwargs:
 
             # use explicit root actor start
-
             async def _main():
                 async with tractor.open_root_actor(
                     # **kwargs,
@@ -76,7 +83,7 @@ def tractor_test(fn):
                     start_method=start_method,
 
                     # TODO: only enable when pytest is passed --pdb
-                    # debug_mode=True,
+                    debug_mode=debug_mode,
 
                 ):
                     await fn(*args, **kwargs)
@@ -130,22 +137,43 @@ def examples_dir() -> pathlib.Path:
 
 def pytest_addoption(parser):
     parser.addoption(
-        "--ll", action="store", dest='loglevel',
+        "--ll",
+        action="store",
+        dest='loglevel',
         default='ERROR', help="logging level to set when testing"
     )
 
     parser.addoption(
-        "--spawn-backend", action="store", dest='spawn_backend',
+        "--spawn-backend",
+        action="store",
+        dest='spawn_backend',
         default='trio',
         help="Processing spawning backend to use for test run",
     )
 
+    parser.addoption(
+        "--tpdb", "--debug-mode",
+        action="store_true",
+        dest='tractor_debug_mode',
+        # default=False,
+        help=(
+            'Enable a flag that can be used by tests to to set the '
+            '`debug_mode: bool` for engaging the internal '
+            'multi-proc debugger sys.'
+        ),
+    )
+
 
 def pytest_configure(config):
     backend = config.option.spawn_backend
     tractor._spawn.try_set_start_method(backend)
 
 
+@pytest.fixture(scope='session')
+def debug_mode(request):
+    return request.config.option.tractor_debug_mode
+
+
 @pytest.fixture(scope='session', autouse=True)
 def loglevel(request):
     orig = tractor.log._default_loglevel