diff --git a/lib/internal/inspector/_inspect.js b/lib/internal/inspector/_inspect.js
index 204e037064daf2..e2309fcc68c268 100644
--- a/lib/internal/inspector/_inspect.js
+++ b/lib/internal/inspector/_inspect.js
@@ -8,7 +8,6 @@ const {
   ArrayPrototypePop,
   ArrayPrototypeShift,
   ArrayPrototypeSlice,
-  Error,
   FunctionPrototypeBind,
   Number,
   Promise,
@@ -46,12 +45,7 @@ const { 0: InspectClient, 1: createRepl } =
 
 const debuglog = util.debuglog('inspect');
 
-class StartupError extends Error {
-  constructor(message) {
-    super(message);
-    this.name = 'StartupError';
-  }
-}
+const { ERR_DEBUGGER_STARTUP_ERROR } = require('internal/errors').codes;
 
 async function portIsFree(host, port, timeout = 9999) {
   if (port === 0) return; // Binding to a random port.
@@ -66,7 +60,7 @@ async function portIsFree(host, port, timeout = 9999) {
   while (true) {
     await asyncIterator.next();
     if (signal.aborted) {
-      throw new StartupError( // eslint-disable-line no-restricted-syntax
+      throw new ERR_DEBUGGER_STARTUP_ERROR(
         `Timeout (${timeout}) waiting for ${host}:${port} to be free`);
     }
     const error = await new Promise((resolve) => {
@@ -342,7 +336,7 @@ function startInspect(argv = ArrayPrototypeSlice(process.argv, 2),
   stdin.resume();
 
   function handleUnexpectedError(e) {
-    if (!(e instanceof StartupError)) {
+    if (e.code !== 'ERR_DEBUGGER_STARTUP_ERROR') {
       console.error('There was an internal error in Node.js. ' +
                     'Please report this bug.');
       console.error(e.message);