diff --git a/src/libflake/flake.cc b/src/libflake/flake.cc
index 3a9bdf43a..46b8e6a28 100644
--- a/src/libflake/flake.cc
+++ b/src/libflake/flake.cc
@@ -37,7 +37,19 @@ static StorePath copyInputToStore(
     auto narHash = state.store->queryPathInfo(storePath)->narHash;
     input.attrs.insert_or_assign("narHash", narHash.to_string(HashFormat::SRI, true));
 
-    assert(!originalInput.getNarHash() || storePath == originalInput.computeStorePath(*state.store));
+    if (originalInput.getNarHash() && storePath != originalInput.computeStorePath(*state.store)) {
+        throw Error(
+            "NAR hash mismatch for flake input '%s':\n"
+            "  expected: %s (store path: %s)\n"
+            "  got:      %s (store path: %s)\n"
+            "This typically happens when the content at the specified path has changed since the NAR hash was recorded.",
+            input.to_string(),
+            originalInput.getNarHash()->to_string(HashFormat::SRI, true),
+            originalInput.computeStorePath(*state.store).to_string(),
+            narHash.to_string(HashFormat::SRI, true),
+            storePath.to_string()
+        );
+    }
 
     return storePath;
 }
diff --git a/tests/functional/flakes/meson.build b/tests/functional/flakes/meson.build
index 801fefc6f..b087e407a 100644
--- a/tests/functional/flakes/meson.build
+++ b/tests/functional/flakes/meson.build
@@ -34,6 +34,7 @@ suites += {
     'source-paths.sh',
     'old-lockfiles.sh',
     'trace-ifd.sh',
+    'nar-hash-mismatch.sh',
   ],
   'workdir': meson.current_source_dir(),
 }
diff --git a/tests/functional/flakes/nar-hash-mismatch.sh b/tests/functional/flakes/nar-hash-mismatch.sh
new file mode 100755
index 000000000..52e6d2291
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/functional/flakes/nar-hash-mismatch.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,52 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+
+source ./common.sh
+
+requireGit
+
+clearStore
+clearCache
+
+# Create a test flake with NAR hash mismatch
+tmpDir=$TEST_ROOT/nar-hash-test
+rm -rf "$tmpDir"
+mkdir -p "$tmpDir"
+cd "$tmpDir"
+
+# Setup git repo with a sub-flake
+initGitRepo .
+mkdir sub
+echo '{ outputs = { self }: { test = "hello"; }; }' > sub/flake.nix
+git add sub
+git commit -m "add sub"
+
+# Get the original hash and create main flake that references it
+hash=$(nix hash path ./sub)
+echo "$hash" > sub.narHash
+
+cat > flake.nix << EOF
+{
+  outputs = { self }:
+    let
+      hash = builtins.readFile ./sub.narHash;
+      cleanHash = builtins.substring 0 (builtins.stringLength hash - 1) hash;
+      subFlake = builtins.getFlake "path:\${toString ./sub}?narHash=\${cleanHash}";
+    in
+    { inherit (subFlake) test; };
+}
+EOF
+
+git add flake.nix sub.narHash
+
+# Modify sub-flake to create hash mismatch
+echo '{ outputs = { self }: { test = "modified"; }; }' > sub/flake.nix
+
+# Test that evaluation fails with proper error message (not assertion failure)
+if output=$(nix eval .#test 2>&1); then
+    fail "Expected evaluation to fail, but it succeeded"
+fi
+
+# Verify error message contains expected content and no crash indicators
+grepQuiet "NAR hash mismatch" <<< "$output" || fail "Expected 'NAR hash mismatch' in error output"
+grepQuietInverse "Assertion.*failed" <<< "$output" || fail "Should not contain assertion failure"
+grepQuietInverse "Aborted" <<< "$output" || fail "Should not contain 'Aborted'"
\ No newline at end of file