diff --git a/docs/advanced/runner.md b/docs/advanced/runner.md
index 734b279d9042..f6bcf63275f4 100644
--- a/docs/advanced/runner.md
+++ b/docs/advanced/runner.md
@@ -73,7 +73,7 @@ export interface VitestRunner {
    */
   extendTestContext?(context: TestContext): TestContext
   /**
-   * Called, when files are imported. Can be called in two situations: when collecting tests and when importing setup files.
+   * Called, when certain files are imported. Can be called in two situations: when collecting tests and when importing setup files.
    */
   importFile(filepath: string, source: VitestRunnerImportSource): unknown
   /**
@@ -86,7 +86,9 @@ export interface VitestRunner {
 When initiating this class, Vitest passes down Vitest config, - you should expose it as a `config` property.
 
 ::: warning
-`importFile` method in your custom runner must be inlined in `deps.inline` config option, if you call Node `import` inside.
+Vitest also injects an instance of `ViteNodeRunner` as `__vitest_executor` property. You can use it to process files in `importFile` method (this is default behavior of `TestRunner`` and `BenchmarkRunner`).
+
+`ViteNodeRunner` exposes `executeId` method, which is used to import test files in a Vite-friendly environment. Meaning, it will resolve imports and transform file content at runtime so that Node can understand it.
 :::
 
 ::: tip
diff --git a/packages/vitest/src/node/config.ts b/packages/vitest/src/node/config.ts
index 5b67b53511df..a2f2cf12c333 100644
--- a/packages/vitest/src/node/config.ts
+++ b/packages/vitest/src/node/config.ts
@@ -17,12 +17,6 @@ const extraInlineDeps = [
   /^(?!.*(?:node_modules)).*\.cjs\.js$/,
   // Vite client
   /vite\w*\/dist\/client\/env.mjs/,
-  // Vitest
-  /\/vitest\/dist\/runners\.js/,
-  // yarn's .store folder
-  /vitest-virtual-\w+\/dist\/runners\.js/,
-  // cnpm
-  /@vitest\/dist\/runners\.js/,
   // Nuxt
   '@nuxt/test-utils',
 ]
diff --git a/packages/vitest/src/runtime/entry.ts b/packages/vitest/src/runtime/entry.ts
index 2b129796b926..e36336335b00 100644
--- a/packages/vitest/src/runtime/entry.ts
+++ b/packages/vitest/src/runtime/entry.ts
@@ -13,6 +13,8 @@ import { setupGlobalEnv, withEnv } from './setup.node'
 import { rpc } from './rpc'
 import type { VitestExecutor } from './execute'
 
+const runnersFile = resolve(distDir, 'runners.js')
+
 function groupBy<T, K extends string | number | symbol>(collection: T[], iteratee: (item: T) => K) {
   return collection.reduce((acc, item) => {
     const key = iteratee(item)
@@ -24,7 +26,7 @@ function groupBy<T, K extends string | number | symbol>(collection: T[], iterate
 
 async function getTestRunnerConstructor(config: ResolvedConfig, executor: VitestExecutor): Promise<VitestRunnerConstructor> {
   if (!config.runner) {
-    const { VitestTestRunner, NodeBenchmarkRunner } = await executor.executeFile(resolve(distDir, 'runners.js'))
+    const { VitestTestRunner, NodeBenchmarkRunner } = await executor.executeFile(runnersFile)
     return (config.mode === 'test' ? VitestTestRunner : NodeBenchmarkRunner) as VitestRunnerConstructor
   }
   const mod = await executor.executeId(config.runner)
@@ -37,6 +39,13 @@ async function getTestRunner(config: ResolvedConfig, executor: VitestExecutor):
   const TestRunner = await getTestRunnerConstructor(config, executor)
   const testRunner = new TestRunner(config)
 
+  // inject private executor to every runner
+  Object.defineProperty(testRunner, '__vitest_executor', {
+    value: executor,
+    enumerable: false,
+    configurable: false,
+  })
+
   if (!testRunner.config)
     testRunner.config = config
 
diff --git a/packages/vitest/src/runtime/runners/benchmark.ts b/packages/vitest/src/runtime/runners/benchmark.ts
index 9dfe2a8d74af..8166c166424f 100644
--- a/packages/vitest/src/runtime/runners/benchmark.ts
+++ b/packages/vitest/src/runtime/runners/benchmark.ts
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ import { getBenchFn, getBenchOptions } from '../benchmark'
 import { getWorkerState } from '../../utils'
 import type { BenchTask, Benchmark, BenchmarkResult } from '../../types/benchmark'
 import type { ResolvedConfig } from '../../types/config'
+import type { VitestExecutor } from '../execute'
 
 async function importTinybench() {
   if (!globalThis.EventTarget)
@@ -121,12 +122,14 @@ async function runBenchmarkSuite(suite: Suite, runner: VitestRunner) {
 }
 
 export class NodeBenchmarkRunner implements VitestRunner {
+  private __vitest_executor!: VitestExecutor
+
   constructor(public config: ResolvedConfig) {}
 
   importFile(filepath: string, source: VitestRunnerImportSource): unknown {
     if (source === 'setup')
       getWorkerState().moduleCache.delete(filepath)
-    return import(filepath)
+    return this.__vitest_executor.executeId(filepath)
   }
 
   async runSuite(suite: Suite): Promise<void> {
diff --git a/packages/vitest/src/runtime/runners/test.ts b/packages/vitest/src/runtime/runners/test.ts
index ca41f1f45970..628fb545ebe8 100644
--- a/packages/vitest/src/runtime/runners/test.ts
+++ b/packages/vitest/src/runtime/runners/test.ts
@@ -5,17 +5,19 @@ import { vi } from '../../integrations/vi'
 import { getFullName, getWorkerState } from '../../utils'
 import { createExpect } from '../../integrations/chai/index'
 import type { ResolvedConfig } from '../../types/config'
+import type { VitestExecutor } from '../execute'
 
 export class VitestTestRunner implements VitestRunner {
   private snapshotClient = getSnapshotClient()
   private workerState = getWorkerState()
+  private __vitest_executor!: VitestExecutor
 
   constructor(public config: ResolvedConfig) {}
 
   importFile(filepath: string, source: VitestRunnerImportSource): unknown {
     if (source === 'setup')
       this.workerState.moduleCache.delete(filepath)
-    return import(filepath)
+    return this.__vitest_executor.executeId(filepath)
   }
 
   onBeforeRun() {