diff --git a/docs/wasm-runtime-architecture.md b/docs/wasm-runtime-architecture.md
index 86c6a79..578ec8e 100644
--- a/docs/wasm-runtime-architecture.md
+++ b/docs/wasm-runtime-architecture.md
@@ -151,10 +151,11 @@ from waiting across a transitive graph when a last complete artifact is
 available.
 
 Before preprocessing, the compiler verifies that the worker can actually read
-the source. An unreadable path is a compile failure with a persisted diagnostic;
-it never becomes an apparently valid empty side module. Source signatures mark
-unreadable inputs, so correcting access invalidates that failure and permits a
-normal retry without changing signatures for ordinary readable files.
+the source. An unreadable path is reported as a source-read failure with a
+persisted diagnostic; it never becomes an apparently valid empty side module or
+a generic compiler error. Source signatures mark unreadable inputs, so correcting
+access invalidates that failure and permits a normal retry without changing
+signatures for ordinary readable files.
 
 ---