diff --git a/engine/runtime/src/main/java/org/enso/interpreter/node/expression/builtin/meta/EnsoProjectNode.java b/engine/runtime/src/main/java/org/enso/interpreter/node/expression/builtin/meta/EnsoProjectNode.java
index fcc614525a9a..cf8ad487eeaf 100644
--- a/engine/runtime/src/main/java/org/enso/interpreter/node/expression/builtin/meta/EnsoProjectNode.java
+++ b/engine/runtime/src/main/java/org/enso/interpreter/node/expression/builtin/meta/EnsoProjectNode.java
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@
 import com.oracle.truffle.api.library.CachedLibrary;
 import com.oracle.truffle.api.nodes.Node;
 import java.lang.ref.WeakReference;
+import java.util.Objects;
 import java.util.Optional;
 import org.enso.interpreter.dsl.BuiltinMethod;
 import org.enso.interpreter.node.EnsoRootNode;
@@ -100,7 +101,7 @@ public Object getCurrentProjectDescr(Object nothing) {
       }
       cachedProjectDescr = cachedProjectDescrRef.get();
     }
-    assert cachedProjectDescr != null;
+    Objects.requireNonNull(cachedProjectDescr);
     return cachedProjectDescr;
   }