diff --git a/docs/wasm-runtime-architecture.md b/docs/wasm-runtime-architecture.md
index 9108591..ea677fb 100644
--- a/docs/wasm-runtime-architecture.md
+++ b/docs/wasm-runtime-architecture.md
@@ -131,6 +131,10 @@ available. If an artifact is cold or stale, dispatch compiles it on demand via
 Workers identify cached unit artifacts by nanosecond mtime, ctime, and size.
 Whole-second mtime alone is insufficient because a dependency-triggered rebuild
 can replace a wasm artifact within the same second as its prior build.
+Cold module compilation and deserialization are host work, so `load_unit()`
+refreshes the epoch deadline before its first guest call. Otherwise a component
+whose compilation outlasted the guest CPU budget would immediately trap in the
+following allocator/relocation call even though no guest loop consumed it.
 
 ---
 
@@ -330,9 +334,11 @@ header free-functions are `inline`. The wasm backend exposes only declarations
   `scripts/test_dependency_invalidation.sh`. The latter changes a transitive
   `#load`, then replaces a warmed worker artifact while preserving its
   whole-second mtime to prove both compiler and worker caches invalidate it.
+  `scripts/test_cold_component_deadline.sh` separately compiles a deliberately
+  cold component that exceeds the development epoch window and proves the
+  parent request still renders it.
 
 - **WebSocket end-to-end**: a headless client performs a raw WS handshake to
   `:HTTP_PORT` with path `/site/tests/websockets.ws.uce` (self-resolving
   `SCRIPT_FILENAME`) and asserts the `hello-ack` frame — exercising the full
   broker → worker → broker → client chain across process boundaries.
-
diff --git a/scripts/run_cli_tests.sh b/scripts/run_cli_tests.sh
index ed4483c..9230316 100755
--- a/scripts/run_cli_tests.sh
+++ b/scripts/run_cli_tests.sh
@@ -51,4 +51,5 @@ url="http://localhost/tests/cli_runner.uce?action=${action}&include_kill=${inclu
 curl -sS --fail-with-body --unix-socket "$socket_path" "$url"
 if [[ "$action" == "run" ]]; then
 	scripts/test_dependency_invalidation.sh
+	scripts/test_cold_component_deadline.sh
 fi
diff --git a/scripts/test_cold_component_deadline.sh b/scripts/test_cold_component_deadline.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..70e322f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/test_cold_component_deadline.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,40 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+set -euo pipefail
+cd "$(dirname "$0")/.."
+
+test_name="component-deadline-test-$$"
+site_directory="${UCE_TEST_SITE_DIRECTORY:-site}"
+source_dir="$site_directory/$test_name"
+bin_directory="${BIN_DIRECTORY:-}"
+if [[ -z "$bin_directory" && -r /etc/uce/settings.cfg ]]; then
+	bin_directory=$(awk -F= '/^[[:space:]]*BIN_DIRECTORY[[:space:]]*=/ {gsub(/^[[:space:]]+|[[:space:]]+$/, "", $2); print $2; exit}' /etc/uce/settings.cfg)
+fi
+bin_directory="${bin_directory:-/tmp/uce/work}"
+cache_dir=""
+
+cleanup() {
+	rm -rf "$source_dir"
+	if [[ -n "$cache_dir" ]]; then
+		rm -rf "$cache_dir"
+	fi
+}
+trap cleanup EXIT
+mkdir -p "$source_dir"
+cache_dir="$bin_directory$(realpath "$source_dir")"
+
+printf '%s\n' \
+	'CLI(Request& context) { DValue props; print(component("child", props, context)); }' >"$source_dir/parent.uce"
+for i in $(seq 1 800); do
+	printf 'String cold_component_pad_%s() { return("%s"); }\n' "$i" "$i"
+done >"$source_dir/child.uce"
+printf '%s\n' \
+	'COMPONENT(Request& context) { <><strong>cold-component-deadline-ok</strong></> }' >>"$source_dir/child.uce"
+rm -rf "$cache_dir"
+
+output=$(scripts/uce-cli "/$test_name/parent.uce")
+if [[ "$output" != *cold-component-deadline-ok* ]]; then
+	echo "cold component compilation consumed the guest epoch budget: $output" >&2
+	exit 1
+fi
+
+echo "cold component deadline passed"
diff --git a/src/wasm/worker.cpp b/src/wasm/worker.cpp
index fef30af..1c86c32 100644
--- a/src/wasm/worker.cpp
+++ b/src/wasm/worker.cpp
@@ -1190,6 +1190,10 @@ private:
 		auto mod = worker.unit_module(source_path, error);
 		if(!mod)
 			return(error);
+		// Compiling/deserializing a cold module is host work. Refresh the guest
+		// watchdog before the first core call so that wall time cannot make the
+		// otherwise harmless malloc/reloc sequence trap immediately.
+		ctx().set_epoch_deadline(worker.cfg.epoch_deadline_ticks);
 		if(mod->abi.version != abi_version)
 			return(mod->wasm_path + ": uce.abi version " + std::to_string(mod->abi.version)
 				+ " does not match core ABI " + std::to_string(abi_version));
@@ -1347,12 +1351,8 @@ private:
 		if(worker.cfg.verbose)
 			fprintf(stderr, "[wasm] loaded %s (mem_base=%u table_base=%u)\n",
 				source_path.c_str(), memory_base, table_base);
-		// The epoch budget is a guest-CPU watchdog, but the ticker is wall-clock
-		// and host-side module compilation here (lazy, mid-render, possibly many
-		// units) burns it without the guest running. Reset the deadline after a
-		// load so the budget measures guest execution between membrane crossings,
-		// not our compile time. A genuine runaway loop makes no loads, so it
-		// still trips the deadline.
+		// Exclude the rest of host-side loading as well. A genuine runaway loop
+		// makes no loads, so it still trips the deadline.
 		ctx().set_epoch_deadline(worker.cfg.epoch_deadline_ticks);
 		return("");
 	}