diff --git a/releasenotes.md b/releasenotes.md
index 5ece4d41d..39a4f1759 100644
--- a/releasenotes.md
+++ b/releasenotes.md
@@ -40,6 +40,7 @@
 - Incorrect nameof on nested struct names. #2492
 - Issue not correctly aborting compilation on recursive generics.
 - Crash during codegen when taking the typeid of an empty enum with associated values.
+- Assert when the binary doesn't get created and --run-once is used. #2502
 
 ### Stdlib changes
 - Added generic `InterfaceList` to store a list of values that implement a specific interface
diff --git a/src/compiler/compiler.c b/src/compiler/compiler.c
index 24ab6df52..ea7c732fc 100644
--- a/src/compiler/compiler.c
+++ b/src/compiler/compiler.c
@@ -791,6 +791,10 @@ void compiler_compile(void)
 			}
 			name = scratch_buffer_to_string();
 			const char *full_path = realpath(scratch_buffer_to_string(), NULL);
+			if (!full_path)
+			{
+				error_exit("The binary '%s' was unexpectedly not found.", scratch_buffer_to_string());
+			}
 			OUTF("Launching %s", name);
 			FOREACH(const char *, arg, compiler.build.args)
 			{