diff --git a/lib/pure/streams.nim b/lib/pure/streams.nim
index 8ae7fb3c1d..56f49d7b1b 100644
--- a/lib/pure/streams.nim
+++ b/lib/pure/streams.nim
@@ -15,6 +15,11 @@
 ## Other modules may provide other implementations for this standard
 ## stream interface.
 ##
+## .. warning:: Due to the use of `pointer`, the `readData`, `peekData` and
+## `writeData` interfaces are not available on the compile-time VM, and must
+## be cast from a `ptr string` on the JS backend. However, `readDataStr` is
+## available generally in place of `readData`.
+##
 ## Basic usage
 ## ===========
 ##
@@ -938,10 +943,14 @@ proc peekFloat64*(s: Stream): float64 =
 
 proc readStrPrivate(s: Stream, length: int, str: var string) =
   if length > len(str): setLen(str, length)
-  when defined(js):
-    let L = readData(s, addr(str), length)
+  var L: int
+  when nimvm:
+    L = readDataStr(s, str, 0..length-1)
   else:
-    let L = readData(s, cstring(str), length)
+    when defined(js):
+      L = readData(s, addr(str), length)
+    else:
+      L = readData(s, cstring(str), length)
   if L != len(str): setLen(str, L)
 
 proc readStr*(s: Stream, length: int, str: var string) {.since: (1, 3).} =
diff --git a/testament/important_packages.nim b/testament/important_packages.nim
index 8ac28df10f..efec04b3cf 100644
--- a/testament/important_packages.nim
+++ b/testament/important_packages.nim
@@ -181,7 +181,7 @@ pkg "unicodeplus", "nim c -d:release -r tests/tests.nim"
 pkg "union", "nim c -r tests/treadme.nim", url = "https://github.com/alaviss/union"
 pkg "unittest2"
 pkg "unpack"
-pkg "weave", "nimble install cligen@#HEAD; nimble test_gc_arc", useHead = true
+pkg "weave", "nimble install -y cligen@#HEAD; nimble test_gc_arc", useHead = true
 pkg "websock"
 pkg "websocket", "nim c websocket.nim"
 # pkg "winim", allowFailure = true
diff --git a/tests/stdlib/tstreams.nim b/tests/stdlib/tstreams.nim
index 0668d12bd6..60c63b4501 100644
--- a/tests/stdlib/tstreams.nim
+++ b/tests/stdlib/tstreams.nim
@@ -92,6 +92,10 @@ static: # Ensure streams it doesnt break with nimscript on arc/orc #19716
   let s = newStringStream("a")
   doAssert s.data == "a"
 
+static: # issue #24054, readStr
+  var s = newStringStream("foo bar baz")
+  doAssert s.readStr(3) == "foo"
+
 template main =
   var strm = newStringStream("abcde")
   var buffer = "12345"