diff --git a/lib/repl.js b/lib/repl.js
index 3b95bd7f29c85f..3368b5997ae01d 100644
--- a/lib/repl.js
+++ b/lib/repl.js
@@ -298,6 +298,7 @@ function REPLServer(prompt,
     configurable: true
   });
 
+  this.allowBlockingCompletions = !!options.allowBlockingCompletions;
   this.useColors = !!options.useColors;
   this._domain = options.domain || domain.create();
   this.useGlobal = !!useGlobal;
@@ -1204,7 +1205,8 @@ function complete(line, callback) {
     if (completeOn.length) {
       filter = completeOn;
     }
-  } else if (RegExpPrototypeTest(requireRE, line)) {
+  } else if (RegExpPrototypeTest(requireRE, line) &&
+             this.allowBlockingCompletions) {
     // require('...<Tab>')
     const extensions = ObjectKeys(this.context.require.extensions);
     const indexes = ArrayPrototypeMap(extensions,
@@ -1265,7 +1267,8 @@ function complete(line, callback) {
     if (!subdir) {
       ArrayPrototypePush(completionGroups, _builtinLibs);
     }
-  } else if (RegExpPrototypeTest(fsAutoCompleteRE, line)) {
+  } else if (RegExpPrototypeTest(fsAutoCompleteRE, line) &&
+             this.allowBlockingCompletions) {
     [completionGroups, completeOn] = completeFSFunctions(line);
   // Handle variable member lookup.
   // We support simple chained expressions like the following (no function
diff --git a/test/parallel/test-repl-tab-complete.js b/test/parallel/test-repl-tab-complete.js
index cc3dce1093fe4e..bfcf810ddd6125 100644
--- a/test/parallel/test-repl-tab-complete.js
+++ b/test/parallel/test-repl-tab-complete.js
@@ -51,7 +51,12 @@ function getNoResultsFunction() {
 
 const works = [['inner.one'], 'inner.o'];
 const putIn = new ArrayStream();
-const testMe = repl.start('', putIn);
+const testMe = repl.start({
+  prompt: '',
+  input: putIn,
+  output: process.stdout,
+  allowBlockingCompletions: true
+});
 
 // Some errors are passed to the domain, but do not callback
 testMe._domain.on('error', assert.ifError);