diff --git a/bin/cli.js b/bin/cli.js
index e97bbd1df9..4393e4406c 100755
--- a/bin/cli.js
+++ b/bin/cli.js
@@ -30,6 +30,10 @@ const fsPromised = {
 };
 
 function initKnex(env, opts) {
+  if (opts.esm) {
+    // enable esm interop via 'esm' module
+    require = require('esm')(module);
+  }
   checkLocalModule(env);
   if (process.cwd() !== env.cwd) {
     process.chdir(env.cwd);
@@ -110,7 +114,8 @@ function invoke(env) {
     .option(
       '--env [name]',
       'environment, default: process.env.NODE_ENV || development'
-    );
+    )
+    .option('--esm', 'Enable ESM interop.');
 
   commander
     .command('init')
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 19f843ac0c..a214c878df 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -32,6 +32,7 @@
     "colorette": "1.1.0",
     "commander": "^4.1.0",
     "debug": "4.1.1",
+    "esm": "^3.2.25",
     "getopts": "2.2.5",
     "inherits": "~2.0.4",
     "interpret": "^2.0.0",
diff --git a/test/jake-util/knexfile-esm/.eslintrc.json b/test/jake-util/knexfile-esm/.eslintrc.json
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..73cdf1a0f8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/jake-util/knexfile-esm/.eslintrc.json
@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+{
+  "extends": "../../../.eslintrc.js",
+  "env": {
+    "browser": true,
+    "es6": true
+  },
+  "globals": {
+    "Atomics": "readonly",
+    "SharedArrayBuffer": "readonly"
+  },
+  "parserOptions": {
+    "ecmaVersion": 2018,
+    "sourceType": "module"
+  },
+  "rules": {}
+}
diff --git a/test/jake-util/knexfile-esm/knexfile.js b/test/jake-util/knexfile-esm/knexfile.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..d10dfaff63
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/jake-util/knexfile-esm/knexfile.js
@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+const config = {
+  client: 'sqlite3',
+  connection: {
+    filename: '../test.sqlite3',
+  },
+  migrations: {
+    directory: './migrations',
+  },
+  seeds: {
+    directory: './seeds',
+  },
+};
+/** Named exports */
+export const { client, connection, migrations, seeds } = config;
diff --git a/test/jake-util/knexfile-esm/migrations/one.js b/test/jake-util/knexfile-esm/migrations/one.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..39d6bd5dbc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/jake-util/knexfile-esm/migrations/one.js
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+export function up(...args) {}
+export function down(...args) {}
diff --git a/test/jake-util/knexfile-esm/seeds/one.js b/test/jake-util/knexfile-esm/seeds/one.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..711411f249
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/jake-util/knexfile-esm/seeds/one.js
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+export function seed(...args) {}
diff --git a/test/jake/jakelib/migrate-test.js b/test/jake/jakelib/migrate-test.js
index 68fa67f3d4..d61b3c4b3c 100644
--- a/test/jake/jakelib/migrate-test.js
+++ b/test/jake/jakelib/migrate-test.js
@@ -734,6 +734,20 @@ test('migrate:list prints migrations both completed and pending', async (temp) =
   );
 });
 
+test('migrate runs "esm" modules', (temp) => {
+  const db = knexfile.connection.filename;
+  if (fs.existsSync(db)) {
+    fs.unlinkSync(db);
+  }
+
+  return assertExec(
+    `node ${KNEX} --esm migrate:latest --knexfile=test/jake-util/knexfile-esm/knexfile.js --knexpath=../knex.js`
+  ).then(({ stdout }) => {
+    assert.include(stdout, 'Batch 1 run: 1 migrations');
+    assert.include(stdout, 'one.js');
+  });
+});
+
 module.exports = {
   taskList,
 };
diff --git a/test/jake/jakelib/seed-test.js b/test/jake/jakelib/seed-test.js
index f996db2127..b7e15a2f82 100644
--- a/test/jake/jakelib/seed-test.js
+++ b/test/jake/jakelib/seed-test.js
@@ -55,6 +55,16 @@ test(taskList, 'Handles seeding errors correctly', (temp) => {
   });
 });
 
+test(taskList, 'seed:run runs "esm" files', () => {
+  return assertExec(
+    `node ${KNEX} --esm seed:run --knexfile=test/jake-util/knexfile-esm/knexfile.js`
+  ).then(({ stdout }) => {
+    assert.include(stdout, 'Ran 1 seed files');
+    assert.notInclude(stdout, 'first.js');
+    assert.notInclude(stdout, 'second.js');
+  });
+});
+
 module.exports = {
   taskList,
 };