diff --git a/arangod/Replication2/ReplicatedLog/LogLeader.cpp b/arangod/Replication2/ReplicatedLog/LogLeader.cpp
index d2905f5a65f0..0fc0ada8daf2 100644
--- a/arangod/Replication2/ReplicatedLog/LogLeader.cpp
+++ b/arangod/Replication2/ReplicatedLog/LogLeader.cpp
@@ -481,7 +481,8 @@ auto replicated_log::LogLeader::GuardedLeaderData::updateCommitIndexLeader(
       << "updating commit index to " << newIndex << "with quorum " << quorum->quorum;
   auto oldIndex = _commitIndex;
 
-  TRI_ASSERT(_commitIndex < newIndex);
+  TRI_ASSERT(_commitIndex < newIndex)
+      << "_commitIndex == " << _commitIndex << ", newIndex == " << newIndex;
   _commitIndex = newIndex;
   _lastQuorum = quorum;
 
diff --git a/lib/Basics/CrashHandler.cpp b/lib/Basics/CrashHandler.cpp
index ef2f5dc21470..92c29ec694c0 100644
--- a/lib/Basics/CrashHandler.cpp
+++ b/lib/Basics/CrashHandler.cpp
@@ -584,7 +584,7 @@ void CrashHandler::crash(char const* context) {
 }
 
 /// @brief logs an assertion failure and crashes the program
-void CrashHandler::assertionFailure(char const* file, int line, char const* func, char const* context) {
+void CrashHandler::assertionFailure(char const* file, int line, char const* func, char const* context, const char *message) {
   // assemble an "assertion failured in file:line: message" string
   char buffer[4096];
   memset(&buffer[0], 0, sizeof(buffer));
@@ -601,6 +601,10 @@ void CrashHandler::assertionFailure(char const* file, int line, char const* func
   }
   appendNullTerminatedString(": ", p);
   appendNullTerminatedString(context, 256, p);
+  if (message != nullptr) {
+    appendNullTerminatedString(" ; ", p);
+    appendNullTerminatedString(message, p);
+  }
 
   crash(&buffer[0]);
 }
diff --git a/lib/Basics/CrashHandler.h b/lib/Basics/CrashHandler.h
index 7c5117f9a9d4..d81c41732898 100644
--- a/lib/Basics/CrashHandler.h
+++ b/lib/Basics/CrashHandler.h
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ class CrashHandler {
   [[noreturn]] static void crash(char const* context);
 
   /// @brief logs an assertion failure and crashes the program
-  [[noreturn]] static void assertionFailure(char const* file, int line, char const* func, char const* context);
+  [[noreturn]] static void assertionFailure(char const* file, int line, char const* func, char const* context, const char* message);
 
   /// @brief set flag to kill process hard using SIGKILL, in order to circumvent core
   /// file generation etc.
diff --git a/lib/Basics/debugging.h b/lib/Basics/debugging.h
index b987a0c4b3eb..a5557fe5c1c5 100644
--- a/lib/Basics/debugging.h
+++ b/lib/Basics/debugging.h
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@
 
 #include <stdlib.h>
 #include <ostream>
+#include <sstream>
 #include <string>
 #include <type_traits>
 #include <utility>
@@ -199,6 +200,40 @@ enable_if_t<is_container<T>::value, std::ostream&> operator<<(std::ostream& o, T
   return o;
 }
 
+namespace debug {
+struct NoOpStream {
+  template <typename T>
+  auto operator<<(T const&) noexcept -> NoOpStream& {
+    return *this;
+  }
+};
+
+struct AssertionLogger {
+#ifdef ARANGODB_ENABLE_MAINTAINER_MODE
+  void operator&(std::ostringstream const& stream) const {
+    std::string message = stream.str();
+    arangodb::CrashHandler::assertionFailure(file, line, function, expr,
+                                             message.empty() ? nullptr : message.c_str());
+  }
+  // can be removed in C++20 because of LWG 1203
+  void operator&(std::ostream const& stream) const {
+    operator&(static_cast<std::ostringstream const&>(stream));
+  }
+
+  const char* file;
+  int line;
+  const char* function;
+  const char* expr;
+#endif
+  void operator&(NoOpStream const&) const noexcept {}
+  static auto getOutputStream() -> std::ostringstream&& {
+    static thread_local std::ostringstream stream;
+    return std::move(stream);
+  }
+};
+
+}  // namespace debug
+
 }  // namespace arangodb
 
 /// @brief assert
@@ -206,24 +241,19 @@ enable_if_t<is_container<T>::value, std::ostream&> operator<<(std::ostream& o, T
 
 #ifdef ARANGODB_ENABLE_MAINTAINER_MODE
 
-#define TRI_ASSERT(expr) /*GCOVR_EXCL_LINE*/                                             \
-  do {                                                                                   \
-    if (!(ADB_LIKELY(expr))) {                                                           \
-      arangodb::CrashHandler::assertionFailure(__FILE__, __LINE__, __FUNCTION__, #expr); \
-    } else {                                                                             \
-    }                                                                                    \
-  } while (false)
+#define TRI_ASSERT(expr) /*GCOVR_EXCL_LINE*/                                  \
+  (ADB_LIKELY(expr))                                                          \
+      ? (void)nullptr                                                         \
+      : ::arangodb::debug::AssertionLogger{__FILE__, __LINE__,                \
+                                           ARANGODB_PRETTY_FUNCTION, #expr} & \
+            ::arangodb::debug::AssertionLogger::getOutputStream()
 
 #else
 
-#define TRI_ASSERT(expr) /*GCOVR_EXCL_LINE*/ \
-  do {                                       \
-    if (false) {                             \
-      (void)(expr);                          \
-    }                                        \
-  } while (false)
+#define TRI_ASSERT(expr) /*GCOVR_EXCL_LINE*/        \
+  (true) ? ((false) ? (void)(expr) : (void)nullptr) \
+         : ::arangodb::debug::AssertionLogger{} & ::arangodb::debug::NoOpStream {}
 
 #endif  // #ifdef ARANGODB_ENABLE_MAINTAINER_MODE
 
 #endif  // #ifndef TRI_ASSERT
-
diff --git a/lib/Basics/system-compiler.h b/lib/Basics/system-compiler.h
index 090c2dd0fd5b..c586a3bcccc0 100644
--- a/lib/Basics/system-compiler.h
+++ b/lib/Basics/system-compiler.h
@@ -74,3 +74,11 @@
 #endif
 #endif
 
+// pretty function name macro
+#if defined(__clang__) || defined(__GNUC__)
+#define ARANGODB_PRETTY_FUNCTION __PRETTY_FUNCTION__
+#elif defined(_MSC_VER)
+#define ARANGODB_PRETTY_FUNCTION __FUNCSIG__
+#else
+#define ARANGODB_PRETTY_FUNCTION __func__
+#endif