diff --git a/packages/server/src/api/routes/tests/row.spec.ts b/packages/server/src/api/routes/tests/row.spec.ts
index 2a145e1ed9..576f0bb663 100644
--- a/packages/server/src/api/routes/tests/row.spec.ts
+++ b/packages/server/src/api/routes/tests/row.spec.ts
@@ -50,11 +50,9 @@ import { JsTimeoutError } from "@budibase/string-templates"
 import { isDate } from "../../../utilities"
 import nock from "nock"
 import { mockChatGPTResponse } from "../../../tests/utilities/mocks/openai"
-import { setTestingBackendJS } from "@budibase/string-templates"
 
 const timestamp = new Date("2023-01-26T11:48:57.597Z").toISOString()
 tk.freeze(timestamp)
-setTestingBackendJS()
 interface WaitOptions {
   name: string
   matchFn?: (event: any) => boolean
diff --git a/packages/server/src/automations/tests/utilities/AutomationTestBuilder.ts b/packages/server/src/automations/tests/utilities/AutomationTestBuilder.ts
index 830d2ee5ca..f89c815752 100644
--- a/packages/server/src/automations/tests/utilities/AutomationTestBuilder.ts
+++ b/packages/server/src/automations/tests/utilities/AutomationTestBuilder.ts
@@ -43,6 +43,7 @@ import {
 import TestConfiguration from "../../../tests/utilities/TestConfiguration"
 import * as setup from "../utilities"
 import { automations } from "@budibase/shared-core"
+import { setTestingBackendJS } from "@budibase/string-templates"
 
 type TriggerOutputs =
   | RowCreatedTriggerOutputs
diff --git a/packages/server/src/jsRunner/index.ts b/packages/server/src/jsRunner/index.ts
index e17529a687..a29e952b6d 100644
--- a/packages/server/src/jsRunner/index.ts
+++ b/packages/server/src/jsRunner/index.ts
@@ -4,12 +4,17 @@ import {
   JsTimeoutError,
   setJSRunner,
   setOnErrorLog,
+  setTestingBackendJS,
 } from "@budibase/string-templates"
 import { context, logging } from "@budibase/backend-core"
 import tracer from "dd-trace"
 import { IsolatedVM } from "./vm"
 
 export function init() {
+  // enforce that if we're using isolated-VM runner then we are running backend JS
+  if (env.isTest()) {
+    setTestingBackendJS()
+  }
   setJSRunner((js: string, ctx: Record<string, any>) => {
     return tracer.trace("runJS", {}, () => {
       try {
diff --git a/packages/server/src/jsRunner/tests/jsRunner.spec.ts b/packages/server/src/jsRunner/tests/jsRunner.spec.ts
index e10e9c4d43..006df19fa6 100644
--- a/packages/server/src/jsRunner/tests/jsRunner.spec.ts
+++ b/packages/server/src/jsRunner/tests/jsRunner.spec.ts
@@ -1,9 +1,5 @@
 import { validate as isValidUUID } from "uuid"
-import {
-  processStringSync,
-  encodeJSBinding,
-  setTestingBackendJS,
-} from "@budibase/string-templates"
+import { processStringSync, encodeJSBinding } from "@budibase/string-templates"
 
 import { runJsHelpersTests } from "@budibase/string-templates/test/utils"
 
@@ -11,7 +7,6 @@ import tk from "timekeeper"
 import { init } from ".."
 import TestConfiguration from "../../tests/utilities/TestConfiguration"
 
-setTestingBackendJS()
 const DATE = "2021-01-21T12:00:00"
 tk.freeze(DATE)
 
diff --git a/packages/string-templates/src/helpers/javascript.ts b/packages/string-templates/src/helpers/javascript.ts
index 91f2f9a0ce..6132adf892 100644
--- a/packages/string-templates/src/helpers/javascript.ts
+++ b/packages/string-templates/src/helpers/javascript.ts
@@ -88,7 +88,7 @@ export function processJS(handlebars: string, context: any) {
 
     let clonedContext: Record<string, any>
     if (isBackendService()) {
-      // On the backned, values are copied across the isolated-vm boundary and
+      // On the backend, values are copied across the isolated-vm boundary and
       // so we don't need to do any cloning here. This does create a fundamental
       // difference in how JS executes on the frontend vs the backend, e.g.
       // consider this snippet: