diff --git a/packages/next-intl/src/server/react-client/index.test.tsx b/packages/next-intl/src/server/react-client/index.test.tsx
index 24ab36d9b..9ad50db29 100644
--- a/packages/next-intl/src/server/react-client/index.test.tsx
+++ b/packages/next-intl/src/server/react-client/index.test.tsx
@@ -5,14 +5,16 @@ describe('getRequestConfig', () => {
   it('can be called in the outer module closure', () => {
     expect(
       getRequestConfig(async ({requestLocale}) => ({
-        messages: {hello: 'Hello ' + (await requestLocale)}
+        locale: (await requestLocale) || 'en',
+        messages: {hello: 'Hello'}
       }))
     );
   });
 
   it('can not call the returned function', () => {
     const getConfig = getRequestConfig(async ({requestLocale}) => ({
-      messages: {hello: 'Hello ' + (await requestLocale)}
+      locale: (await requestLocale) || 'en',
+      messages: {hello: 'Hello '}
     }));
     expect(() => getConfig({requestLocale: Promise.resolve('en')})).toThrow(
       '`getRequestConfig` is not supported in Client Components.'
diff --git a/packages/next-intl/src/server/react-server/getConfig.tsx b/packages/next-intl/src/server/react-server/getConfig.tsx
index 03f4add46..0661e1de0 100644
--- a/packages/next-intl/src/server/react-server/getConfig.tsx
+++ b/packages/next-intl/src/server/react-server/getConfig.tsx
@@ -1,4 +1,3 @@
-import {notFound} from 'next/navigation.js';
 import {cache} from 'react';
 import {
   IntlConfig,
@@ -59,20 +58,15 @@ See also: https://next-intl-docs.vercel.app/docs/usage/configuration#i18n-reques
     result = await result;
   }
 
-  const locale = result.locale || (await params.requestLocale);
-
-  if (!locale) {
-    if (process.env.NODE_ENV !== 'production') {
-      console.error(
-        `\nUnable to find \`next-intl\` locale because the middleware didn't run on this request and no \`locale\` was returned in \`getRequestConfig\`. See https://next-intl-docs.vercel.app/docs/routing/middleware#unable-to-find-locale. The \`notFound()\` function will be called as a result.\n`
-      );
-    }
-    notFound();
+  if (!result.locale) {
+    throw new Error(
+      'No locale was returned from `getRequestConfig`.\n\nSee https://next-intl-docs.vercel.app/docs/usage/configuration#i18n-request'
+    );
   }
 
   return {
     ...result,
-    locale,
+    locale: result.locale,
     now: result.now || getDefaultNow(),
     timeZone: result.timeZone || getDefaultTimeZone()
   };
diff --git a/packages/next-intl/src/server/react-server/getRequestConfig.tsx b/packages/next-intl/src/server/react-server/getRequestConfig.tsx
index c4fbf1aa8..1e3c4af4b 100644
--- a/packages/next-intl/src/server/react-server/getRequestConfig.tsx
+++ b/packages/next-intl/src/server/react-server/getRequestConfig.tsx
@@ -2,16 +2,9 @@ import type {IntlConfig} from 'use-intl/core';
 
 export type RequestConfig = Omit<IntlConfig, 'locale'> & {
   /**
-   * Instead of reading a `requestLocale` from the argument that's passed to the
-   * function within `getRequestConfig`, you can include a locale as part of the
-   * returned request configuration.
-   *
-   * This can be helpful for the following use cases:
-   * - Apps that only support a single language
-   * - Apps where the locale should be read from user settings instead of the pathname
-   * - Providing a fallback locale in case the locale was not matched by the middleware
+   * @see https://next-intl-docs.vercel.app/docs/usage/configuration#i18n-request
    **/
-  locale?: IntlConfig['locale'];
+  locale: IntlConfig['locale'];
 };
 
 export type GetRequestConfigParams = {