diff --git a/packages/github/src/context.ts b/packages/github/src/context.ts
index b4230426..a06a8e0a 100644
--- a/packages/github/src/context.ts
+++ b/packages/github/src/context.ts
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 // Originally pulled from https://github.com/JasonEtco/actions-toolkit/blob/master/src/context.ts
 import {WebhookPayload} from './interfaces'
-
-/* eslint-disable @typescript-eslint/no-require-imports */
+import {readFileSync, existsSync} from 'fs'
+import {EOL} from 'os'
 
 export class Context {
   /**
@@ -20,9 +20,20 @@ export class Context {
    * Hydrate the context from the environment
    */
   constructor() {
-    this.payload = process.env.GITHUB_EVENT_PATH
-      ? require(process.env.GITHUB_EVENT_PATH)
-      : {}
+    this.payload = {}
+    if (process.env.GITHUB_EVENT_PATH) {
+      if (existsSync(process.env.GITHUB_EVENT_PATH)) {
+        this.payload = JSON.parse(
+          readFileSync(process.env.GITHUB_EVENT_PATH, {encoding: 'utf8'})
+        )
+      } else {
+        process.stdout.write(
+          `GITHUB_EVENT_PATH ${
+            process.env.GITHUB_EVENT_PATH
+          } does not exist${EOL}`
+        )
+      }
+    }
     this.eventName = process.env.GITHUB_EVENT_NAME as string
     this.sha = process.env.GITHUB_SHA as string
     this.ref = process.env.GITHUB_REF as string