diff --git a/src/cli/commands/deploy/deploy.spec.ts b/src/cli/commands/deploy/deploy.spec.ts
index e097919e..ba149559 100644
--- a/src/cli/commands/deploy/deploy.spec.ts
+++ b/src/cli/commands/deploy/deploy.spec.ts
@@ -6,7 +6,9 @@ import * as accountModule from "../../../core/account.js";
 import * as deployClientModule from "../../../core/deploy-client.js";
 import { deploy } from "./deploy.js";
 import * as loginModule from "../login/login.js";
-import pkg from "../../../../package.json" with { type: "json" };
+import { loadPackageJson } from "../../../core/utils/json.js";
+
+const pkg = loadPackageJson();
 
 vi.mock("../../../core/utils/logger", () => {
   return {
diff --git a/src/cli/commands/deploy/deploy.ts b/src/cli/commands/deploy/deploy.ts
index 835b0ec5..0f0d9644 100644
--- a/src/cli/commands/deploy/deploy.ts
+++ b/src/cli/commands/deploy/deploy.ts
@@ -14,7 +14,9 @@ import { cleanUp, getDeployClientPath } from "../../../core/deploy-client.js";
 import { swaCLIEnv } from "../../../core/env.js";
 import { getDefaultVersion } from "../../../core/functions-versions.js";
 import { login } from "../login/login.js";
-import packageInfo from "../../../../package.json" with { type: "json" };
+import { loadPackageJson } from "../../../core/utils/json.js";
+
+const packageInfo = loadPackageJson();
 
 export async function deploy(options: SWACLIConfig) {
   const { SWA_CLI_DEPLOYMENT_TOKEN, SWA_CLI_DEBUG } = swaCLIEnv();
diff --git a/src/cli/commands/start/start.ts b/src/cli/commands/start/start.ts
index ae05b014..c3552f2c 100644
--- a/src/cli/commands/start/start.ts
+++ b/src/cli/commands/start/start.ts
@@ -17,7 +17,9 @@ import { DATA_API_BUILDER_BINARY_NAME, DATA_API_BUILDER_DEFAULT_CONFIG_FILE_NAME
 import { getDataApiBuilderBinaryPath } from "../../../core/dataApiBuilder/index.js";
 import { swaCLIEnv } from "../../../core/env.js";
 import { getCertificate } from "../../../core/ssl.js";
-import packageInfo from "../../../../package.json" with { type: "json" };
+import { loadPackageJson } from "../../../core/utils/json.js";
+
+const packageInfo = loadPackageJson();
 
 const __filename = fileURLToPath(import.meta.url);
 const __dirname = path.dirname(__filename);
diff --git a/src/cli/index.spec.ts b/src/cli/index.spec.ts
index 38729ded..56c2ac5e 100644
--- a/src/cli/index.spec.ts
+++ b/src/cli/index.spec.ts
@@ -1,9 +1,11 @@
 import { fs, vol } from "memfs";
 import { program } from "commander";
 import { run } from "./index.js";
-import pkg from "../../package.json" with { type: "json" };
+import { loadPackageJson } from "../core/utils/json.js";
 import * as builder from "./commands/build/build.js";
 
+const pkg = loadPackageJson();
+
 vi.mock("node:fs");
 vi.mock("node:fs/promises", async () => {
   const memfs: { fs: typeof fs } = await vi.importActual("memfs");
diff --git a/src/cli/index.ts b/src/cli/index.ts
index 8da5d84f..bf855a93 100755
--- a/src/cli/index.ts
+++ b/src/cli/index.ts
@@ -20,7 +20,9 @@ import { default as registerBuild } from "./commands/build/register.js";
 import { registerDocs } from "./commands/docs.js";
 import { default as registerDb } from "./commands/db/init/register.js";
 import { promptOrUseDefault } from "../core/prompts.js";
-import pkg from "../../package.json" with { type: "json" };
+import { loadPackageJson } from "../core/utils/json.js";
+
+const pkg = loadPackageJson();
 
 function printWelcomeMessage(argv?: string[]) {
   const args = argv?.slice(2) || [];
diff --git a/src/core/utils/json.spec.ts b/src/core/utils/json.spec.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..e28d4de2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/core/utils/json.spec.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+import { loadPackageJson } from "./json.js";
+
+describe("json functions", () => {
+  describe("loadPackageJson()", () => {
+    it("loads package.json", () => {
+      const pkg = loadPackageJson();
+      expect(pkg).toHaveProperty("name");
+      expect(pkg).toHaveProperty("version");
+      expect(pkg.type).toBe("module");
+    });
+  });
+});
diff --git a/src/core/utils/json.ts b/src/core/utils/json.ts
index 2709a87b..61cfcb05 100644
--- a/src/core/utils/json.ts
+++ b/src/core/utils/json.ts
@@ -2,10 +2,25 @@ import jsonSchemaLibrary from "json-schema-library";
 import { promises as fs } from "node:fs";
 import chalk from "chalk";
 import { logger } from "./logger.js";
-import configSchema from "../../../schema/staticwebapp.config.json" with { type: "json" };
+import { createRequire } from "node:module";
+
+// import of JSON files requires node v20.10 - we are supporting node v18 or later,
+// so we need to create requires.  Centralizing this into a single file ensures that
+// we don't need to go hunting for import of JSON files.
+const require = createRequire(import.meta.url);
+const pkg = require("../../../package.json");
+const configSchema = require("../../../schema/staticwebapp.config.json");
 
 const { Draft04 } = jsonSchemaLibrary;
 
+/**
+ * Loads the package.json file from the root of the project.
+ * @returns the parsed package.json object, or null if an error occurred.
+ */
+export function loadPackageJson(): any {
+  return pkg;
+}
+
 /**
  * Loads JSON from the designated file path, printing any JSON errors to the console.
  * @param filePath The file path to the JSON file
diff --git a/src/core/utils/update-notifier.ts b/src/core/utils/update-notifier.ts
index 888e1e8e..e12df7c7 100644
--- a/src/core/utils/update-notifier.ts
+++ b/src/core/utils/update-notifier.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
 import updateNotifier from "update-notifier";
-import pkg from "../../../package.json" with { type: "json" };
+import { loadPackageJson } from "./json.js";
+
+const pkg = loadPackageJson();
 
 export function notifyOnUpdate() {
   updateNotifier({ pkg }).notify();