diff --git a/BUILD.md b/BUILD.md
index 895e14d54d..f39add176d 100644
--- a/BUILD.md
+++ b/BUILD.md
@@ -226,22 +226,6 @@ cmake --build build/codegen --target code_gen
 The regenerated files should be committed alongside your changes. CI verifies
 that they are up-to-date.
 
-## Rust crates
-
-The build compiles the Rust workspace in `crates/` and generates the cxxbridge
-bindings the C++ side includes, so it needs a Rust toolchain (`cargo`, `rustc`)
-at the channel pinned in [`rust-toolchain.toml`](./rust-toolchain.toml). The
-[Nix development shell](./docs/build/nix.md) provides one; otherwise install it
-as described in [Rust](./docs/build/environment.md#rust).
-
-The crates also have their own Rust unit tests. Those are run with `cargo` and
-need only the Rust toolchain, independently of CMake (CI runs them with
-`cargo nextest`):
-
-```bash
-cargo test --manifest-path crates/Cargo.toml --workspace
-```
-
 ## Coverage report
 
 The coverage report is intended for developers using compilers GCC
@@ -332,6 +316,22 @@ memory) since they concatenate sources into fewer translation units. Non-unity
 builds may be faster for incremental builds, and can be helpful for detecting
 `#include` omissions.
 
+### Rust crates
+
+The build compiles the Rust workspace in `crates/` and generates the cxxbridge
+bindings the C++ side includes, so it needs a Rust toolchain (`cargo`, `rustc`)
+at the channel pinned in [`rust-toolchain.toml`](./rust-toolchain.toml). The
+[Nix development shell](./docs/build/nix.md) provides one; otherwise install it
+as described in [Rust](./docs/build/environment.md#rust).
+
+The crates also have their own Rust unit tests. Those are run with `cargo` and
+need only the Rust toolchain, independently of CMake (CI runs them with
+`cargo nextest`):
+
+```bash
+cargo test --manifest-path crates/Cargo.toml --workspace
+```
+
 ### Verifying headers
 
 The regular build only compiles `.cpp` files, so a header is only ever checked
diff --git a/crates/xrpl-wasm-vm/src/vm.rs b/crates/xrpl-wasm-vm/src/vm.rs
index 09db3a4ebb..c9a2592378 100644
--- a/crates/xrpl-wasm-vm/src/vm.rs
+++ b/crates/xrpl-wasm-vm/src/vm.rs
@@ -28,8 +28,13 @@ pub const MAX_MEMORY_BYTES: usize = (MAX_MEMORY_PAGES * WASM_PAGE_BYTES) as usiz
 /// entries, which a module asks for in five bytes of LEB128 and pays for in ~34 GiB.
 pub const MAX_TABLE_ELEMENTS: usize = 1024;
 
-/// Total bytes that may cross the host/guest boundary in one [`run`], separate
-/// from gas.
+/// Total bytes the host may write into guest memory in one [`run`], separate from
+/// gas.
+///
+/// One direction only. What the guest passes in is not charged: it reaches the host
+/// as a borrowed slice of guest memory, capped per value at [`MAX_FIELD_BYTES`] by
+/// `Region::read` and in number by gas, and a host that keeps a copy (`update_data`)
+/// bounds it on its own side.
 pub const TRANSFER_LIMIT_BYTES: u64 = 1 << 20;
 
 /// Size cap on any single value crossing the boundary, in either direction; over
diff --git a/src/libxrpl/tx/wasm/WasmVM.cpp b/src/libxrpl/tx/wasm/WasmVM.cpp
index e01493e52f..7f05eea138 100644
--- a/src/libxrpl/tx/wasm/WasmVM.cpp
+++ b/src/libxrpl/tx/wasm/WasmVM.cpp
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@
 #include <cstdint>
 #include <expected>
 #include <optional>
+#include <stdexcept>
 #include <string_view>
 
 namespace xrpl {
@@ -23,8 +24,8 @@ namespace {
 using RunStatus = rs::wasm_vm::RunStatus;
 using CheckStatus = rs::wasm_vm::CheckStatus;
 
-// The engine's outcome as the caller's: a value with its cost, or a TER with the cost to
-// record beside it.
+// The engine's outcome as the caller's: a value with its gas cost, or a TER with the gas cost
+// to record beside it.
 //
 // A `tecINTERNAL` reports no cost. It says the fault is the node's, and charging a
 // transaction for a node's defect would write that defect into the ledger.
@@ -123,6 +124,9 @@ runEscrowWasm(
     std::int64_t gasLimit,
     std::string_view funcName) noexcept
 {
+    XRPL_ASSERT(
+        gasLimit > 0,
+        "::xrpl::runEscrowWasm : gas limit is positive (should be checked in preflight)");
     // A run needs a budget to spend. Refused here rather than in the engine because what a
     // non-positive limit means is a transaction-validity rule; the engine's own budget is
     // therefore an unsigned quantity with no invalid value to represent.
@@ -135,10 +139,11 @@ runEscrowWasm(
         // The host caches the current ledger object, the slot table and the
         // contract's data for the length of one run, so a reused one would answer a
         // later contract out of an earlier contract's state.
+        XRPL_ASSERT(
+            hfs.checkSelf(), "::xrpl::runEscrowWasm : host functions not clean before the run");
         if (!hfs.checkSelf())
         {
-            JLOG(hfs.getJournal().error()) << "wasm: host functions not clean before the run";
-            return nodeSideFault;
+            throw std::runtime_error("host functions not clean before the run");
         }
 
         HostContext const ctx{hfs};