diff --git a/crates/plugins/src/host.rs b/crates/plugins/src/host.rs
index 1b0250399..5d7802d3c 100644
--- a/crates/plugins/src/host.rs
+++ b/crates/plugins/src/host.rs
@@ -122,7 +122,7 @@ pub const CALL_LIMIT: i32 = -9;
 /// What `vc_call_result` returns: no call has a result yet.
 pub const CALL_NO_RESULT: i32 = -10;
 /// What `vc_call` returns: nothing can be called now (while the module is being loaded, or in a
-/// run that isn't a filter's run on a document).
+/// run that isn't a filter's run on a document). In a run, this fails it too.
 pub const CALL_NO_CONTEXT: i32 = -11;
 
 /// Most `vc_call` calls one run makes.
@@ -370,8 +370,8 @@ pub(crate) struct Run {
     storage: Option<Arc<dyn Storage>>,
     storage_calls: usize,
     storage_bytes: usize,
-    /// The commands `vc_call` may run (the manifest's `commandAllowlist`), when the run has
-    /// something to run them ([`Run::with_calls`]); `None` otherwise.
+    /// The commands `vc_call` may run (the manifest's `commandAllowlist`), once the module has
+    /// loaded and when the run has something to run them ([`Run::allow_calls`]); `None` otherwise.
     allowed: Option<Vec<String>>,
     /// How many `vc_call` calls the run made, and the bytes of arguments and results they moved.
     calls: usize,
@@ -416,10 +416,9 @@ impl Run {
         self
     }
 
-    /// The run, with `vc_call` running the commands in `allowed`.
-    pub(crate) fn with_calls(mut self, allowed: Vec<String>) -> Self {
+    /// From now on, `vc_call` runs the commands in `allowed`.
+    pub(crate) fn allow_calls(&mut self, allowed: Vec<String>) {
         self.allowed = Some(allowed);
-        self
     }
 
     /// Records the run's first failed call, `e`, and returns `code`.
@@ -434,7 +433,8 @@ impl Run {
     fn call_request(&mut self, memory: &[u8], id: (usize, usize), args: (usize, usize)) -> std::result::Result<(), i32> {
         self.call_result = None;
         if self.allowed.is_none() {
-            return Err(CALL_NO_CONTEXT);
+            let why = "vc_call: no command can be called here (while the module loads, or in a run that can't make calls)";
+            return Err(self.fail(CALL_NO_CONTEXT, Error::Abi(why.into())));
         }
         let shown = || {
             id.0.checked_add(id.1)
diff --git a/crates/plugins/src/runtime.rs b/crates/plugins/src/runtime.rs
index 019aae8ae..f0bd20662 100644
--- a/crates/plugins/src/runtime.rs
+++ b/crates/plugins/src/runtime.rs
@@ -372,11 +372,12 @@ impl Plugin {
         total.ok_or_else(|| Error::Limit(SELECTION_TOO_LARGE.into()))?;
         let deadline = Deadline::new(limits.wall_time_ms);
         let m = &self.manifest;
-        let mut run = Run::new(&m.id, m.kind != Kind::Effect, true, deadline).with_storage(crate::registry::storage(&m.id));
-        if bridge.is_some() {
-            run = run.with_calls(m.command_allowlist.clone());
-        }
+        let run = Run::new(&m.id, m.kind != Kind::Effect, true, deadline).with_storage(crate::registry::storage(&m.id));
         let mut live = self.instantiate(run, &m.permissions(), report)?;
+        // Calls can be made from `vc_run` on, not from the start function.
+        if bridge.is_some() {
+            live.store.data_mut().run.allow_calls(m.command_allowlist.clone());
+        }
         let out = self.run_live(&mut live, input, params, limits, &deadline, bridge);
         let state = &mut live.store.data_mut().run;
         *report = std::mem::take(&mut state.report);
diff --git a/crates/plugins/tests/call.rs b/crates/plugins/tests/call.rs
index 71f4ca8d1..d362dd379 100644
--- a/crates/plugins/tests/call.rs
+++ b/crates/plugins/tests/call.rs
@@ -188,13 +188,25 @@ fn cancel_stops_a_run_at_its_next_call() {
 }
 
 /// Without a bridge (a run that isn't a filter's run on a document), and while the module is being
-/// loaded, `vc_call` returns [`CALL_NO_CONTEXT`] and the run goes on.
+/// loaded, `vc_call` returns [`CALL_NO_CONTEXT`]; in a run, that fails the run as any failed call
+/// does, also when the plug-in goes on.
 #[test]
 fn without_a_bridge_a_call_returns_no_context() {
+    let no_context = |out: vectorcraft_plugins::Result<Vec<u8>>| {
+        let e = out.unwrap_err();
+        assert!(matches!(e, Error::Abi(_)) && e.to_string().contains("no command can be called here"), "{e}");
+    };
+    // The start function's call gets the code, and the module loads; a run, with a bridge or
+    // without one, then fails on it, and the bridge is never asked.
     let start = format!("(func $start {}) (start $start)", expect(&select_all(), CALL_NO_CONTEXT));
-    let src = tpl::with_imports(&manifest("test.call.none"), &format!("{CALLS} {start}"), &expect(&select_all(), CALL_NO_CONTEXT), INPUT);
+    let src = tpl::with_imports(&manifest("test.call.none"), &format!("{CALLS} {start}"), "", INPUT);
     let p = Plugin::load(&wat::parse_str(&src).unwrap(), Limits::default()).unwrap();
-    assert_eq!(p.run(INPUT.as_bytes(), b"{}").unwrap(), INPUT.as_bytes());
+    no_context(p.run(INPUT.as_bytes(), b"{}"));
+    let (out, seen) = run_with(&p, |_| Ok(json!({})));
+    no_context(out);
+    assert!(seen.is_empty());
+    // A call from `vc_run` without a bridge.
+    no_context(calling("test.call.none", &expect(&select_all(), CALL_NO_CONTEXT)).run(INPUT.as_bytes(), b"{}"));
 }
 
 /// A module that imports `vc_call` or `vc_call_result` needs the permission `commands`, which needs
diff --git a/docs/plugins.md b/docs/plugins.md
index 31185ab1e..12476362c 100644
--- a/docs/plugins.md
+++ b/docs/plugins.md
@@ -406,11 +406,10 @@ arguments as a JSON object, the params the command takes from any request:
 `vc_call` returns `-1` when the id or the arguments don't lie inside the module's memory, `-2` when they are not UTF-8,
 `-3` when the arguments are not a JSON object, `-4` when `commandAllowlist` doesn't list the id, `-5` when no command
 has the id, `-6` when a plug-in may not call the command, `-7` when the command can't run now (nothing is selected),
-`-8` when the command ran and failed, `-9` when a limit below is passed, and `-11` when the run has no document to
-call commands on.
+`-8` when the command ran and failed, `-9` when a limit below is passed, and `-11` when nothing can be called (from
+the module's start function, or in a run that isn't a filter's run on a document).
 
-- Every code but `-11` also fails the run, whatever the plug-in does next, and the error names the call and why it
-  failed. The run's calls and its output are one undo step, named after the plug-in or its command. A run that fails,
+- Every code also fails the run, whatever the plug-in does next, and the error names the call and why it failed. The run's calls and its output are one undo step, named after the plug-in or its command. A run that fails,
   traps, runs out of budget or is cancelled leaves every document, its selection and its history as they were.
 - Each call runs on the document the run is for, with its params checked as any request's are, and sees what the calls
   before it changed: a `select.all` followed by `object.move` moves everything. The filter's own input is the one it