diff --git a/examples/llamarine/app.py b/examples/llamarine/app.py
index 34a531693..632a6e5d4 100644
--- a/examples/llamarine/app.py
+++ b/examples/llamarine/app.py
@@ -67,7 +67,7 @@ def main(use_domain_lm: bool = False):
 
     if 'agent_solutions' not in st.session_state:
         if os.path.exists(OUTPUT_FILE_PATH):
-            with open(file=OUTPUT_FILE_PATH, mode='r') as f:
+            with open(file=OUTPUT_FILE_PATH, mode='r', encoding='utf-8') as f:
                 st.session_state.agent_solutions: defaultdict[str, str] = defaultdict(str, json.loads(f.read()))
         else:
             st.session_state.agent_solutions: defaultdict[str, str] = defaultdict(str)
@@ -87,7 +87,7 @@ def main(use_domain_lm: bool = False):
                     get_or_create_agent(use_domain_lm).solve(
                         problem=st.session_state.typed_problem, allow_reject=True)
                 # write st.session_state.agent_solutions to JSON file
-                with open(file=OUTPUT_FILE_PATH, mode='w') as f:
+                with open(file=OUTPUT_FILE_PATH, mode='w', encoding='utf-8') as f:
                     f.write(json.dumps(st.session_state.agent_solutions))
 
     solution = st.session_state.agent_solutions[st.session_state.typed_problem]