diff --git a/aider/models.py b/aider/models.py
index 5663bfc52..f8a3ba484 100644
--- a/aider/models.py
+++ b/aider/models.py
@@ -5,7 +5,9 @@ import math
 import os
 import platform
 import sys
+import time
 from dataclasses import dataclass, fields
+from pathlib import Path
 from typing import Optional
 
 import yaml
@@ -14,6 +16,7 @@ from PIL import Image
 from aider import urls
 from aider.dump import dump  # noqa: F401
 from aider.llm import AIDER_APP_NAME, AIDER_SITE_URL, litellm
+from aider.utils import safe_read_json, safe_write_json
 
 DEFAULT_MODEL_NAME = "gpt-4o"
 ANTHROPIC_BETA_HEADER = "max-tokens-3-5-sonnet-2024-07-15,prompt-caching-2024-07-31"
diff --git a/aider/utils.py b/aider/utils.py
index 7191d6e3c..fb09f05f0 100644
--- a/aider/utils.py
+++ b/aider/utils.py
@@ -80,6 +80,8 @@ def make_repo(path=None):
     return repo
 
 
+import json
+
 def is_image_file(file_name):
     """
     Check if the given file name has an image file extension.
@@ -90,6 +92,21 @@ def is_image_file(file_name):
     file_name = str(file_name)  # Convert file_name to string
     return any(file_name.endswith(ext) for ext in IMAGE_EXTENSIONS)
 
+def safe_read_json(file_path):
+    try:
+        with open(file_path, 'r') as f:
+            return json.load(f)
+    except Exception:
+        return None
+
+def safe_write_json(file_path, data):
+    try:
+        with open(file_path, 'w') as f:
+            json.dump(data, f)
+        return True
+    except Exception:
+        return False
+
 
 def safe_abs_path(res):
     "Gives an abs path, which safely returns a full (not 8.3) windows path"