diff --git a/aspell/remote.go b/aspell/remote.go
index ce2a7e2..7031458 100644
--- a/aspell/remote.go
+++ b/aspell/remote.go
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ package aspell
 import (
 	"encoding/json"
 	"fmt"
+	"log"
 	"net/http"
 	"os"
 	"strings"
@@ -14,26 +15,39 @@ func fetchRemoteFile(aspell Aspell) ([]string, error) {
 	url := aspell.RemoteFile.URL
 	if aspell.RemoteFile.URLEnv != "" {
 		url = os.Getenv(aspell.RemoteFile.URLEnv)
+		log.Printf("aspell remote file: using URL from env %s: %q", aspell.RemoteFile.URLEnv, url)
+	} else {
+		log.Printf("aspell remote file: using URL: %q", url)
+	}
+
+	if url == "" {
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("aspell remote file: URL is empty")
 	}
 
 	req, err := http.NewRequest("GET", url, nil)
 	if err != nil {
-		return nil, err
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("aspell remote file: failed to build request: %w", err)
 	}
 
 	if aspell.RemoteFile.HeaderFromENV != "" {
 		envValue := os.Getenv(aspell.RemoteFile.HeaderFromENV)
+		if envValue == "" {
+			log.Printf("aspell remote file: warning: header env %s is empty", aspell.RemoteFile.HeaderFromENV)
+		}
 		req.Header.Set(aspell.RemoteFile.HeaderFromENV, envValue)
 	}
 	if aspell.RemoteFile.PrivateTokenENV != "" {
 		envValue := os.Getenv(aspell.RemoteFile.PrivateTokenENV)
+		if envValue == "" {
+			log.Printf("aspell remote file: warning: private token env %s is empty", aspell.RemoteFile.PrivateTokenENV)
+		}
 		req.Header.Set("PRIVATE-TOKEN", envValue)
 	}
 
 	client := &http.Client{}
 	resp, err := client.Do(req)
 	if err != nil {
-		return nil, err
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("aspell remote file: request failed: %w", err)
 	}
 	defer resp.Body.Close()
 
@@ -44,7 +58,7 @@ func fetchRemoteFile(aspell Aspell) ([]string, error) {
 	var data map[string]interface{}
 	err = json.NewDecoder(resp.Body).Decode(&data)
 	if err != nil {
-		return nil, err
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("aspell remote file: failed to decode JSON: %w", err)
 	}
 
 	var allowedWords []string
@@ -53,24 +67,34 @@ func fetchRemoteFile(aspell Aspell) ([]string, error) {
 	if !ok {
 		content, ok := data[aspell.RemoteFile.AllowedItemsKey].(string)
 		if !ok {
-			return nil, nil
+			return nil, fmt.Errorf("aspell remote file: key %q not found or not a string/array in response", aspell.RemoteFile.AllowedItemsKey)
 		}
+		content = strings.TrimRight(content, "\n")
 		if strings.HasPrefix(content, "```yaml\n") && strings.HasSuffix(content, "\n```") {
 			content = strings.TrimPrefix(content, "```yaml\n")
 			content = strings.TrimSuffix(content, "\n```")
 			err = yaml.Unmarshal([]byte(content), &allowedWords)
 			if err != nil {
-				return nil, err
+				return nil, fmt.Errorf("aspell remote file: failed to parse YAML block: %w", err)
 			}
-
+			log.Printf("aspell remote file: loaded %d words (yaml block): %v", len(allowedWords), wordSample(allowedWords))
 			return allowedWords, nil
 		}
 		allowedWords = strings.Split(content, "\n")
-	}
-
-	for _, item := range items {
-		allowedWords = append(allowedWords, item.(string))
+		log.Printf("aspell remote file: loaded %d words (newline-separated): %v", len(allowedWords), wordSample(allowedWords))
+	} else {
+		for _, item := range items {
+			allowedWords = append(allowedWords, item.(string))
+		}
+		log.Printf("aspell remote file: loaded %d words (JSON array): %v", len(allowedWords), wordSample(allowedWords))
 	}
 
 	return allowedWords, nil
 }
+
+func wordSample(words []string) []string {
+	if len(words) <= 3 {
+		return words
+	}
+	return []string{words[0], words[1], "...", words[len(words)-1]}
+}