diff --git a/loopx/control_plane/work_items/stride_policy_codec.py b/loopx/control_plane/work_items/stride_policy_codec.py
index f911b4041e..7cb68d1ce6 100644
--- a/loopx/control_plane/work_items/stride_policy_codec.py
+++ b/loopx/control_plane/work_items/stride_policy_codec.py
@@ -13,7 +13,9 @@
 
 @lru_cache(maxsize=1)
 def stride_strategy_options() -> tuple[str, ...]:
-    contract = json.loads(files("loopx.control_plane").joinpath("stride_strategy_schema.json").read_text())
+    contract = json.loads(
+        files("loopx.control_plane").joinpath("stride_strategy_schema.json").read_text(encoding="utf-8")
+    )
     return tuple(contract["enum"])