diff --git a/yarn-project/noir-compiler/src/compile/noir/noir-wasm-compiler.ts b/yarn-project/noir-compiler/src/compile/noir/noir-wasm-compiler.ts
index 00716b4b001..67f80824ed4 100644
--- a/yarn-project/noir-compiler/src/compile/noir/noir-wasm-compiler.ts
+++ b/yarn-project/noir-compiler/src/compile/noir/noir-wasm-compiler.ts
@@ -88,6 +88,11 @@ export class NoirWasmContractCompiler {
 
     try {
       const isContract: boolean = this.#package.getType() === 'contract';
+      // limit to contracts-only because the rest of the pipeline only supports processing contracts
+      if (!isContract) {
+        throw new Error('Noir package is not a contract');
+      }
+
       const result = compile(this.#package.getEntryPointPath(), isContract, {
         /* eslint-disable camelcase */
         root_dependencies: this.#dependencyManager.getEntrypointDependencies(),