diff --git a/packages/@aws-cdk/cli-plugin-contract/lib/index.ts b/packages/@aws-cdk/cli-plugin-contract/lib/index.ts
index a29ade62a..1c17a1c86 100644
--- a/packages/@aws-cdk/cli-plugin-contract/lib/index.ts
+++ b/packages/@aws-cdk/cli-plugin-contract/lib/index.ts
@@ -107,7 +107,7 @@ export interface CredentialProviderSource {
   /**
    * Construct a credential provider for the given account and the given access mode
    *
-   * Guaranteed to be called only if canProvideCredentails() returned true at some point.
+   * Guaranteed to be called only if canProvideCredentials() returned true at some point.
    *
    * While it is possible for the plugin to return a static set of credentials, it is
    * recommended to return a provider.
diff --git a/packages/@aws-cdk/tmp-toolkit-helpers/src/api/io/private/messages.ts b/packages/@aws-cdk/tmp-toolkit-helpers/src/api/io/private/messages.ts
index ba76c81c8..f7650c29e 100644
--- a/packages/@aws-cdk/tmp-toolkit-helpers/src/api/io/private/messages.ts
+++ b/packages/@aws-cdk/tmp-toolkit-helpers/src/api/io/private/messages.ts
@@ -375,6 +375,11 @@ export const IO = {
   }),
 
   // Assembly codes
+  DEFAULT_ASSEMBLY_TRACE: make.trace({
+    code: 'CDK_ASSEMBLY_I0000',
+    description: 'Default trace messages emitted from Cloud Assembly operations',
+  }),
+
   CDK_ASSEMBLY_I0010: make.debug({
     code: 'CDK_ASSEMBLY_I0010',
     description: 'Generic environment preparation debug messages',
diff --git a/packages/@aws-cdk/toolkit-lib/docs/message-registry.md b/packages/@aws-cdk/toolkit-lib/docs/message-registry.md
index befcd4be8..b45e3823a 100644
--- a/packages/@aws-cdk/toolkit-lib/docs/message-registry.md
+++ b/packages/@aws-cdk/toolkit-lib/docs/message-registry.md
@@ -73,6 +73,7 @@ group: Documents
 | `CDK_TOOLKIT_W0101` | A notice that is marked as a warning | `warn` | n/a |
 | `CDK_TOOLKIT_E0101` | A notice that is marked as an error | `error` | n/a |
 | `CDK_TOOLKIT_I0101` | A notice that is marked as informational | `info` | n/a |
+| `CDK_ASSEMBLY_I0000` | Default trace messages emitted from Cloud Assembly operations | `trace` | n/a |
 | `CDK_ASSEMBLY_I0010` | Generic environment preparation debug messages | `debug` | n/a |
 | `CDK_ASSEMBLY_W0010` | Emitted if the found framework version does not support context overflow | `warn` | n/a |
 | `CDK_ASSEMBLY_I0042` | Writing updated context | `debug` | {@link UpdatedContext} |
diff --git a/packages/@aws-cdk/toolkit-lib/lib/api/aws-cdk.ts b/packages/@aws-cdk/toolkit-lib/lib/api/aws-cdk.ts
index f7fbd6e52..d4290122c 100644
--- a/packages/@aws-cdk/toolkit-lib/lib/api/aws-cdk.ts
+++ b/packages/@aws-cdk/toolkit-lib/lib/api/aws-cdk.ts
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ export { ResourceMigrator } from '../../../../aws-cdk/lib/api/resource-import';
 export { CloudWatchLogEventMonitor, findCloudWatchLogGroups } from '../../../../aws-cdk/lib/api/logs';
 export { type WorkGraph, WorkGraphBuilder, AssetBuildNode, AssetPublishNode, StackNode, Concurrency } from '../../../../aws-cdk/lib/api/work-graph';
 export { Bootstrapper } from '../../../../aws-cdk/lib/api/bootstrap';
+export { loadTree, some } from '../../../../aws-cdk/lib/api/tree';
 
 // Context Providers
 export * as contextproviders from '../../../../aws-cdk/lib/context-providers';
@@ -20,9 +21,6 @@ export { HotswapMode } from '../../../../aws-cdk/lib/api/hotswap/common';
 export { HotswapPropertyOverrides, EcsHotswapProperties } from '../../../../aws-cdk/lib/api/hotswap/common';
 export { RWLock, type ILock } from '../../../../aws-cdk/lib/api/util/rwlock';
 
-// @todo Not yet API probably should be
-export { loadTree, some } from '../../../../aws-cdk/lib/tree';
-
 // @todo Cloud Assembly and Executable - this is a messy API right now
 export { CloudAssembly, sanitizePatterns, StackCollection, ExtendedStackSelection } from '../../../../aws-cdk/lib/api/cxapp/cloud-assembly';
 export { prepareDefaultEnvironment, prepareContext, spaceAvailableForContext } from '../../../../aws-cdk/lib/api/cxapp/exec';
diff --git a/packages/@aws-cdk/toolkit-lib/lib/api/cloud-assembly/private/prepare-source.ts b/packages/@aws-cdk/toolkit-lib/lib/api/cloud-assembly/private/prepare-source.ts
index 593dc5b46..1b3193d3c 100644
--- a/packages/@aws-cdk/toolkit-lib/lib/api/cloud-assembly/private/prepare-source.ts
+++ b/packages/@aws-cdk/toolkit-lib/lib/api/cloud-assembly/private/prepare-source.ts
@@ -130,8 +130,8 @@ export async function withContext<T>(
  *
  * @param assembly the assembly to check
  */
-export async function checkContextOverflowSupport(assembly: cxapi.CloudAssembly, ioHost: IoHelper): Promise<void> {
-  const tree = loadTree(assembly);
+export async function checkContextOverflowSupport(assembly: cxapi.CloudAssembly, ioHelper: IoHelper): Promise<void> {
+  const tree = loadTree(assembly, (msg: string) => void ioHelper.notify(IO.DEFAULT_ASSEMBLY_TRACE.msg(msg)));
   const frameworkDoesNotSupportContextOverflow = some(tree, node => {
     const fqn = node.constructInfo?.fqn;
     const version = node.constructInfo?.version;
@@ -142,7 +142,7 @@ export async function checkContextOverflowSupport(assembly: cxapi.CloudAssembly,
   // We're dealing with an old version of the framework here. It is unaware of the temporary
   // file, which means that it will ignore the context overflow.
   if (frameworkDoesNotSupportContextOverflow) {
-    await ioHost.notify(IO.CDK_ASSEMBLY_W0010.msg('Part of the context could not be sent to the application. Please update the AWS CDK library to the latest version.'));
+    await ioHelper.notify(IO.CDK_ASSEMBLY_W0010.msg('Part of the context could not be sent to the application. Please update the AWS CDK library to the latest version.'));
   }
 }
 
diff --git a/packages/aws-cdk/lib/api/cxapp/exec.ts b/packages/aws-cdk/lib/api/cxapp/exec.ts
index abfea2c3e..4e415c597 100644
--- a/packages/aws-cdk/lib/api/cxapp/exec.ts
+++ b/packages/aws-cdk/lib/api/cxapp/exec.ts
@@ -6,11 +6,11 @@ import * as cxapi from '@aws-cdk/cx-api';
 import * as fs from 'fs-extra';
 import * as semver from 'semver';
 import { ToolkitError } from '../../../../@aws-cdk/tmp-toolkit-helpers/src/api';
+import { loadTree, some } from '../../api/tree';
 import type { Configuration } from '../../cli/user-configuration';
 import { PROJECT_CONFIG, USER_DEFAULTS } from '../../cli/user-configuration';
 import { versionNumber } from '../../cli/version';
-import { debug, warning } from '../../logging';
-import { loadTree, some } from '../../tree';
+import { debug, trace, warning } from '../../logging';
 import { splitBySize } from '../../util';
 import type { SdkProvider } from '../aws-auth';
 import type { Settings } from '../settings';
@@ -293,7 +293,7 @@ function contextOverflowCleanup(location: string | undefined, assembly: cxapi.Cl
   if (location) {
     fs.removeSync(path.dirname(location));
 
-    const tree = loadTree(assembly);
+    const tree = loadTree(assembly, trace);
     const frameworkDoesNotSupportContextOverflow = some(tree, node => {
       const fqn = node.constructInfo?.fqn;
       const version = node.constructInfo?.version;
diff --git a/packages/aws-cdk/lib/tree.ts b/packages/aws-cdk/lib/api/tree.ts
similarity index 85%
rename from packages/aws-cdk/lib/tree.ts
rename to packages/aws-cdk/lib/api/tree.ts
index 51601bcf2..1f1a74a46 100644
--- a/packages/aws-cdk/lib/tree.ts
+++ b/packages/aws-cdk/lib/api/tree.ts
@@ -1,7 +1,6 @@
-import * as path from 'path';
+import * as path from 'node:path';
 import type { CloudAssembly } from '@aws-cdk/cx-api';
 import * as fs from 'fs-extra';
-import { trace } from './logging';
 
 /**
  * Source information on a construct (class fqn and version)
@@ -37,7 +36,7 @@ export function some(node: ConstructTreeNode | undefined, predicate: (n: Constru
   }
 }
 
-export function loadTree(assembly: CloudAssembly): ConstructTreeNode | undefined {
+export function loadTree(assembly: CloudAssembly, trace: (msg: string) => void): ConstructTreeNode | undefined {
   try {
     const outdir = assembly.directory;
     const fileName = assembly.tree()?.file;
@@ -48,7 +47,7 @@ export function loadTree(assembly: CloudAssembly): ConstructTreeNode | undefined
   }
 }
 
-export function loadTreeFromDir(outdir: string): ConstructTreeNode | undefined {
+export function loadTreeFromDir(outdir: string, trace: (msg: string) => void): ConstructTreeNode | undefined {
   try {
     return fs.readJSONSync(path.join(outdir, 'tree.json')).tree;
   } catch (e) {
diff --git a/packages/aws-cdk/lib/notices.ts b/packages/aws-cdk/lib/notices.ts
index d3d5df268..6e3664bae 100644
--- a/packages/aws-cdk/lib/notices.ts
+++ b/packages/aws-cdk/lib/notices.ts
@@ -8,10 +8,10 @@ import * as semver from 'semver';
 import type { SdkHttpOptions } from './api';
 import { AwsCliCompatible } from './api/aws-auth/awscli-compatible';
 import type { Context } from './api/context';
+import type { ConstructTreeNode } from './api/tree';
+import { loadTreeFromDir } from './api/tree';
 import type { IIoHost } from './cli/io-host';
 import { versionNumber } from './cli/version';
-import type { ConstructTreeNode } from './tree';
-import { loadTreeFromDir } from './tree';
 import { cdkCacheDir, formatErrorMessage } from './util';
 import { ToolkitError } from '../../@aws-cdk/tmp-toolkit-helpers/src/api';
 import { IO, asIoHelper, IoDefaultMessages } from '../../@aws-cdk/tmp-toolkit-helpers/src/api/io/private';
@@ -211,7 +211,7 @@ export class NoticesFilter {
    * Load the construct tree from the given directory and return its components
    */
   private constructTreeComponents(manifestDir: string): ActualComponent[] {
-    const tree = loadTreeFromDir(manifestDir);
+    const tree = loadTreeFromDir(manifestDir, (msg: string) => void this.ioMessages.notify(IO.DEFAULT_ASSEMBLY_TRACE.msg(msg)));
     if (!tree) {
       return [];
     }
diff --git a/packages/aws-cdk/test/tree.test.ts b/packages/aws-cdk/test/api/tree.test.ts
similarity index 90%
rename from packages/aws-cdk/test/tree.test.ts
rename to packages/aws-cdk/test/api/tree.test.ts
index e47b621a3..975725f2f 100644
--- a/packages/aws-cdk/test/tree.test.ts
+++ b/packages/aws-cdk/test/api/tree.test.ts
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 /* eslint-disable import/order */
 import * as path from 'path';
-import { ConstructTreeNode, loadTreeFromDir, some } from '../lib/tree';
+import { ConstructTreeNode, loadTreeFromDir, some } from '../../lib/api/tree';
 
 describe('some', () => {
   const tree: ConstructTreeNode = {
@@ -104,12 +104,12 @@ describe('some', () => {
 
 describe('loadTreeFromDir', () => {
   test('can find tree', () => {
-    const tree = loadTreeFromDir(path.join(__dirname, 'cloud-assembly-trees', 'built-with-1_144_0'));
+    const tree = loadTreeFromDir(path.join(__dirname, '..', 'cloud-assembly-trees', 'built-with-1_144_0'), () => {});
     expect(tree?.id).toEqual('App');
   });
 
   test('cannot find tree', () => {
-    const tree = loadTreeFromDir(path.join(__dirname, 'cloud-assembly-trees', 'foo'));
+    const tree = loadTreeFromDir(path.join(__dirname, '..', 'cloud-assembly-trees', 'foo'), () => {});
     expect(tree).toEqual(undefined);
   });
 });
diff --git a/packages/aws-cdk/test/notices.test.ts b/packages/aws-cdk/test/notices.test.ts
index 57454aa12..ad3ad7567 100644
--- a/packages/aws-cdk/test/notices.test.ts
+++ b/packages/aws-cdk/test/notices.test.ts
@@ -786,7 +786,9 @@ describe(Notices, () => {
 
     test('nothing when there are no notices', async () => {
       Notices.create({ ioHost, context: new Context() }).display();
-      expect(ioHost.messages).toEqual([]);
+      // expect a single trace that the tree.json was not found, but nothing else
+      expect(ioHost.messages.length).toBe(1);
+      ioHost.expectMessage({ level: 'trace', containing: 'Failed to get tree.json file' });
     });
 
     test('total count when show total is true', async () => {