diff --git a/docs/shared/reference/environment-variables.md b/docs/shared/reference/environment-variables.md
index 554bacd084..8567f47f02 100644
--- a/docs/shared/reference/environment-variables.md
+++ b/docs/shared/reference/environment-variables.md
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@ The following environment variables are ones that you can set to change the beha
 | NX_PROFILE                       | string  | Prepend `NX_PROFILE=profile.json` before running targets with Nx to generate a file that be [loaded in Chrome dev tools](/recipes/other/performance-profiling) to visualize the performance of Nx across multiple processes. |
 | NX_PROJECT_GRAPH_CACHE_DIRECTORY | string  | The project graph cache is stored in `node_modules/.cache/nx` by default. Set this variable to use a different directory.                                                                                                    |
 | NX_PROJECT_GRAPH_MAX_WORKERS     | number  | The number of workers to use when calculating the project graph.                                                                                                                                                             |
+| NX_RUNNER                        | string  | The name of task runner from the config to use. Can be overridden on the command line with `--runner`.                                                                                                                       |
 | NX_SKIP_NX_CACHE                 | boolean | Rerun the tasks even when the results are available in the cache                                                                                                                                                             |
 | NX_TASKS_RUNNER_DYNAMIC_OUTPUT   | boolean | If set to `false`, will use non-dynamic terminal output strategy (what you see in CI), even when you terminal can support the dynamic version                                                                                |
 | NX_VERBOSE_LOGGING               | boolean | If set to `true`, will print debug information useful for troubleshooting                                                                                                                                                    |
diff --git a/packages/nx/src/utils/command-line-utils.spec.ts b/packages/nx/src/utils/command-line-utils.spec.ts
index 78794ca4c0..41f0f77103 100644
--- a/packages/nx/src/utils/command-line-utils.spec.ts
+++ b/packages/nx/src/utils/command-line-utils.spec.ts
@@ -240,6 +240,39 @@ describe('splitArgs', () => {
     process.env.NX_HEAD = originalNxHead;
   });
 
+  it('should set runner based on environment variables, if it is not provided directly on the command', () => {
+    const originalRunner = process.env.NX_RUNNER;
+    process.env.NX_RUNNER = 'some-env-runner-name';
+
+    expect(
+      splitArgsIntoNxArgsAndOverrides(
+        {
+          __overrides_unparsed__: ['--notNxArg', 'true', '--override'],
+          $0: '',
+        },
+        'run-one',
+        {} as any,
+        {} as any
+      ).nxArgs.runner
+    ).toEqual('some-env-runner-name');
+
+    expect(
+      splitArgsIntoNxArgsAndOverrides(
+        {
+          __overrides_unparsed__: ['--notNxArg', 'true', '--override'],
+          $0: '',
+          runner: 'directlyOnCommand', // higher priority than $NX_RUNNER
+        },
+        'run-one',
+        {} as any,
+        {} as any
+      ).nxArgs.runner
+    ).toEqual('directlyOnCommand');
+
+    // Reset process data
+    process.env.NX_RUNNER = originalRunner;
+  });
+
   describe('--parallel', () => {
     it('should be a number', () => {
       const parallel = splitArgsIntoNxArgsAndOverrides(
diff --git a/packages/nx/src/utils/command-line-utils.ts b/packages/nx/src/utils/command-line-utils.ts
index 43cade1a78..3dbc7deee8 100644
--- a/packages/nx/src/utils/command-line-utils.ts
+++ b/packages/nx/src/utils/command-line-utils.ts
@@ -176,6 +176,17 @@ export function splitArgsIntoNxArgsAndOverrides(
     nxArgs.skipNxCache = process.env.NX_SKIP_NX_CACHE === 'true';
   }
 
+  if (!nxArgs.runner && process.env.NX_RUNNER) {
+    nxArgs.runner = process.env.NX_RUNNER;
+    if (options.printWarnings) {
+      output.note({
+        title: `No explicit --runner argument provided, but found environment variable NX_RUNNER so using its value: ${output.bold(
+          `${nxArgs.runner}`
+        )}`,
+      });
+    }
+  }
+
   if (args['parallel'] === 'false' || args['parallel'] === false) {
     nxArgs['parallel'] = 1;
   } else if (