diff --git a/test/p2p/peer.sh b/test/p2p/peer.sh
index 3b8322b65..d5ede231a 100644
--- a/test/p2p/peer.sh
+++ b/test/p2p/peer.sh
@@ -14,6 +14,8 @@ set +eu
 
 echo "starting tendermint peer ID=$ID"
 # start tendermint container on the network
+# NOTE: $NODE_FLAGS should be unescaped (no quotes). otherwise it will be
+# treated as one flag.
 set -u
 docker run -d \
 	--net="$NETWORK_NAME" \
@@ -25,4 +27,4 @@ docker run -d \
 	--log-opt syslog-address=udp://127.0.0.1:5514 \
 	--log-opt syslog-facility=daemon \
 	--log-opt tag="{{.Name}}" \
-		"$DOCKER_IMAGE" node "$NODE_FLAGS" --log_level=debug --proxy_app="$APP_PROXY"
+		"$DOCKER_IMAGE" node $NODE_FLAGS --log_level=debug --proxy_app="$APP_PROXY"