diff --git a/connector/connect/client/jvm/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/SparkSession.scala b/connector/connect/client/jvm/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/SparkSession.scala
index 51402a835aef5..d1d49153dafc5 100644
--- a/connector/connect/client/jvm/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/SparkSession.scala
+++ b/connector/connect/client/jvm/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/SparkSession.scala
@@ -604,13 +604,20 @@ object SparkSession extends api.BaseSparkSessionCompanion with Logging {
         .get("spark.remote")
         .orElse(Option(System.getProperty("spark.remote"))) // Set from Spark Submit
         .orElse(sys.env.get(SparkConnectClient.SPARK_REMOTE))
+        .orElse {
+          if (isAPIModeConnect) {
+            Option(System.getProperty("spark.master")).orElse(sys.env.get("MASTER"))
+          } else {
+            None
+          }
+        }
 
       val maybeConnectScript =
         Option(System.getenv("SPARK_HOME")).map(Paths.get(_, "sbin", "start-connect-server.sh"))
 
       if (server.isEmpty &&
-        maybeConnectScript.exists(Files.exists(_)) &&
-        (remoteString.exists(_.startsWith("local")) || isAPIModeConnect)) {
+          maybeConnectScript.exists(Files.exists(_)) &&
+          remoteString.isDefined) {
         server = Some {
           val args =
             Seq(maybeConnectScript.get.toString, "--master", remoteString.get) ++ sparkOptions
@@ -658,12 +665,19 @@ object SparkSession extends api.BaseSparkSessionCompanion with Logging {
     // Initialize the connection string of the Spark Connect client builder from SPARK_REMOTE
     // by default, if it exists. The connection string can be overridden using
     // the remote() function, as it takes precedence over the SPARK_REMOTE environment variable.
-    private val builder = SparkConnectClient.builder().loadFromEnvironment()
+    private var connectionString: Option[String] = None
+    private var interceptor: Option[ClientInterceptor] = None
     private var client: SparkConnectClient = _
+    private lazy val builder = {
+      val b = SparkConnectClient.builder()
+      connectionString.foreach(b.connectionString)
+      interceptor.foreach(b.interceptor)
+      b.loadFromEnvironment()
+    }
 
     /** @inheritdoc */
     def remote(connectionString: String): this.type = {
-      builder.connectionString(connectionString)
+      this.connectionString = Some(connectionString)
       this
     }
 
@@ -675,7 +689,7 @@ object SparkSession extends api.BaseSparkSessionCompanion with Logging {
      * @since 3.5.0
      */
     def interceptor(interceptor: ClientInterceptor): this.type = {
-      builder.interceptor(interceptor)
+      this.interceptor = Some(interceptor)
       this
     }
 
diff --git a/launcher/src/main/java/org/apache/spark/launcher/SparkSubmitCommandBuilder.java b/launcher/src/main/java/org/apache/spark/launcher/SparkSubmitCommandBuilder.java
index cf781a9ff7dc0..b96fa1523829a 100644
--- a/launcher/src/main/java/org/apache/spark/launcher/SparkSubmitCommandBuilder.java
+++ b/launcher/src/main/java/org/apache/spark/launcher/SparkSubmitCommandBuilder.java
@@ -527,7 +527,9 @@ protected boolean handle(String opt, String value) {
           checkArgument(value != null, "Missing argument to %s", CONF);
           String[] setConf = value.split("=", 2);
           checkArgument(setConf.length == 2, "Invalid argument to %s: %s", CONF, value);
-          if (setConf[0].equals("spark.remote")) {
+          if (setConf[0].equals("spark.remote") ||
+              (setConf[0].equals("spark.api.mode") &&
+                setConf[1].toLowerCase(Locale.ROOT).equals("connect"))) {
             isRemote = true;
           }
           conf.put(setConf[0], setConf[1]);
diff --git a/resource-managers/yarn/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/deploy/yarn/BaseYarnClusterSuite.scala b/resource-managers/yarn/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/deploy/yarn/BaseYarnClusterSuite.scala
index e0dfac62847ea..043c183e62bef 100644
--- a/resource-managers/yarn/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/deploy/yarn/BaseYarnClusterSuite.scala
+++ b/resource-managers/yarn/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/deploy/yarn/BaseYarnClusterSuite.scala
@@ -190,6 +190,10 @@ abstract class BaseYarnClusterSuite extends SparkFunSuite with Matchers {
       .setPropertiesFile(propsFile)
       .addAppArgs(appArgs.toArray: _*)
 
+    extraConf.get("spark.api.mode").foreach { v =>
+      launcher.setConf("spark.api.mode", v)
+    }
+
     sparkArgs.foreach { case (name, value) =>
       if (value != null) {
         launcher.addSparkArg(name, value)
diff --git a/resource-managers/yarn/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/deploy/yarn/YarnClusterSuite.scala b/resource-managers/yarn/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/deploy/yarn/YarnClusterSuite.scala
index 71843b7f90b1f..b74ff43fc22dc 100644
--- a/resource-managers/yarn/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/deploy/yarn/YarnClusterSuite.scala
+++ b/resource-managers/yarn/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/deploy/yarn/YarnClusterSuite.scala
@@ -86,6 +86,34 @@ class YarnClusterSuite extends BaseYarnClusterSuite {
     |    sc.stop()
     """.stripMargin
 
+  private val TEST_CONNECT_PYFILE = """
+    |import mod1, mod2
+    |import sys
+    |from operator import add
+    |
+    |from pyspark.sql import SparkSession
+    |from pyspark.sql.functions import udf
+    |if __name__ == "__main__":
+    |    if len(sys.argv) != 2:
+    |        print >> sys.stderr, "Usage: test.py [result file]"
+    |        exit(-1)
+    |    spark = SparkSession.builder.config(
+    |        "spark.api.mode", "connect").master("yarn").getOrCreate()
+    |    assert "connect" in str(spark)
+    |    status = open(sys.argv[1],'w')
+    |    result = "failure"
+    |    @udf
+    |    def test():
+    |        return mod1.func() * mod2.func()
+    |    df = spark.range(10).select(test())
+    |    cnt = df.count()
+    |    if cnt == 10:
+    |        result = "success"
+    |    status.write(result)
+    |    status.close()
+    |    spark.stop()
+    """.stripMargin
+
   private val TEST_PYMODULE = """
     |def func():
     |    return 42
@@ -162,6 +190,32 @@ class YarnClusterSuite extends BaseYarnClusterSuite {
     testWithAddJar(clientMode = false, s"local:$jarPath")
   }
 
+  test("run Scala application with Spark Connect in yarn-client mode") {
+    val result = File.createTempFile("result", null, tempDir)
+    val finalState = runSpark(
+      true,
+      mainClassName(YarnConnectTest.getClass()),
+      appArgs = Seq(result.getAbsolutePath()),
+      extraConf = Map("spark.api.mode" -> "connect"))
+    val output = new Object() {
+      override def toString: String = Files.asCharSource(result, StandardCharsets.UTF_8).read()
+    }
+    assert(finalState == SparkAppHandle.State.FINISHED, output)
+  }
+
+  test("run Scala application with Spark Connect in yarn-cluster mode") {
+    val result = File.createTempFile("result", null, tempDir)
+    val finalState = runSpark(
+      false,
+      mainClassName(YarnConnectTest.getClass()),
+      appArgs = Seq(result.getAbsolutePath()),
+      extraConf = Map("spark.api.mode" -> "connect"))
+    val output = new Object() {
+      override def toString: String = Files.asCharSource(result, StandardCharsets.UTF_8).read()
+    }
+    assert(finalState == SparkAppHandle.State.FINISHED, output)
+  }
+
   test("SPARK-35672: run Spark in yarn-client mode with additional jar using URI scheme 'local' " +
       "and gateway-replacement path") {
     // Use the original jar URL, but set up the gateway/replacement configs such that if
@@ -237,6 +291,14 @@ class YarnClusterSuite extends BaseYarnClusterSuite {
     testPySpark(false)
   }
 
+  test("run Python application with Spark Connect in yarn-client mode") {
+    testPySpark(true, extraConf = Map("spark.api.mode" -> "connect"), script = TEST_CONNECT_PYFILE)
+  }
+
+  test("run Python application with Spark Connect in yarn-cluster mode") {
+    testPySpark(false, extraConf = Map("spark.api.mode" -> "connect"), script = TEST_CONNECT_PYFILE)
+  }
+
   test("run Python application in yarn-cluster mode using " +
     "spark.yarn.appMasterEnv to override local envvar") {
     testPySpark(
@@ -370,10 +432,11 @@ class YarnClusterSuite extends BaseYarnClusterSuite {
   private def testPySpark(
       clientMode: Boolean,
       extraConf: Map[String, String] = Map(),
-      extraEnv: Map[String, String] = Map()): Unit = {
+      extraEnv: Map[String, String] = Map(),
+      script: String = TEST_PYFILE): Unit = {
     assume(isPythonAvailable)
     val primaryPyFile = new File(tempDir, "test.py")
-    Files.asCharSink(primaryPyFile, StandardCharsets.UTF_8).write(TEST_PYFILE)
+    Files.asCharSink(primaryPyFile, StandardCharsets.UTF_8).write(script)
 
     // When running tests, let's not assume the user has built the assembly module, which also
     // creates the pyspark archive. Instead, let's use PYSPARK_ARCHIVES_PATH to point at the
@@ -712,6 +775,34 @@ private object YarnClasspathTest extends Logging {
 
 }
 
+private object YarnConnectTest extends Logging {
+  def main(args: Array[String]): Unit = {
+    val output = new java.io.PrintStream(new File(args(0)))
+    val clz = Utils.classForName("org.apache.spark.sql.SparkSession$")
+    val moduleField = clz.getDeclaredField("MODULE$")
+    val obj = moduleField.get(null)
+    var builder = clz.getMethod("builder").invoke(obj)
+    builder = builder.getClass().getMethod(
+      "config", classOf[String], classOf[String]).invoke(builder, "spark.api.mode", "connect")
+    builder = builder.getClass().getMethod("master", classOf[String]).invoke(builder, "yarn")
+    val session = builder.getClass().getMethod("getOrCreate").invoke(builder)
+
+    try {
+      // Check if the current session is a Spark Connect session.
+      session.getClass().getDeclaredField("client")
+      val df = session.getClass().getMethod("range", classOf[Long]).invoke(session, 10)
+      assert(df.getClass().getMethod("count").invoke(df) == 10)
+    } catch {
+      case e: Throwable =>
+        e.printStackTrace(new java.io.PrintStream(output))
+        throw e
+    } finally {
+      session.getClass().getMethod("stop").invoke(session)
+      output.close()
+    }
+  }
+}
+
 private object YarnAddJarTest extends Logging {
   def main(args: Array[String]): Unit = {
     if (args.length != 3) {