diff --git a/mods/MISC/mcl_selftests/init.lua b/mods/MISC/mcl_selftests/init.lua
index 9e0adae0..553ef3ae 100644
--- a/mods/MISC/mcl_selftests/init.lua
+++ b/mods/MISC/mcl_selftests/init.lua
@@ -85,8 +85,6 @@ local test_minetest_find_nodes_in_area_can_count = function(dtime)
 	assert ( 0 == nodes_difference )
 end
 
-minetest.after( 0, test_minetest_find_nodes_in_area_can_count )
-
 local test_minetest_find_nodes_in_area_crash = function(dtime)
 	-- And now for our feature presentation, where we call the
 	-- function “minetest.find_nodes_in_area()” with a position
@@ -110,4 +108,7 @@ local test_minetest_find_nodes_in_area_crash = function(dtime)
 	-- That's all, folks!
 end
 
-minetest.after( 0, test_minetest_find_nodes_in_area_crash )
+if minetest.settings:get_bool("mclRunSelftests") then
+	minetest.after( 0, test_minetest_find_nodes_in_area_can_count )
+	minetest.after( 0, test_minetest_find_nodes_in_area_crash )
+end
diff --git a/settingtypes.txt b/settingtypes.txt
index 3f90c986..41327ab4 100644
--- a/settingtypes.txt
+++ b/settingtypes.txt
@@ -146,3 +146,6 @@ basic_pseudobiome_villages (Enables very basic, and experimental "pseudobiome-ba
 
 # If enabled, will run an LBM to fix the top 1/2 of double plants in mcimported worlds; defaults to true.
 fix_doubleplants (Mcimport double plant fixes) bool true
+
+# Run tests on startup, crash if they fail. Particularly useful for development.
+mclRunSelftests (Run Selftests on Startup) bool false