diff --git a/engine/frontend/src/component/PackageCatalogForm.js b/engine/frontend/src/component/PackageCatalogForm.js
index 52bd62ecad..20743ab900 100644
--- a/engine/frontend/src/component/PackageCatalogForm.js
+++ b/engine/frontend/src/component/PackageCatalogForm.js
@@ -63,7 +63,7 @@ const renderArgs = (args, handleChange, formData, errorData, packageName) => {
             return
         }
 
-        let dataType = "STRING";
+        let dataType = "JSON";
         try {
             switch (getType(arg)) {
                 case "INTEGER":
@@ -183,24 +183,38 @@ const renderSingleArg = (fieldName, type, errorData, formData, index, handleChan
 
 const checkValidUndefinedType = (data) => {
     try {
-        const val = yaml.load(data)
+        yaml.load(data)
     } catch (ex) {
         return false;
     }
     return true;
 }
 
-const checkValidJsonType = (data) => {
-    if (data === undefined || data === "undefined" || data.length === 0) {
-        return false
-    }
-
-    try {
-        JSON.parse(JSON.stringify(data))
-        return true;
-    } catch (ex) {
-        return false
+const checkValidJsonType = (rawData, required) => {
+    // data is normally going to be a string serialized json object as it comes from the CodeEditor, so we try and process it as such
+    if (typeof rawData === "string") {
+        try {
+            const parsed = JSON.parse(rawData)
+            if (required && Object.keys(parsed).length < 1) {
+                return false
+            }
+            return true;
+        } catch (ex) {
+            console.error("Data is not serialized json", rawData)
+            return false
+        }
+    } else if (typeof rawData === "object") {
+        // if it's already an object then we only check that it's non-empty (if it's required)
+        try {
+            if (required && Object.keys(rawData).length < 1) {
+                return false
+            }
+            return true;
+        } catch (ex) {
+            return false
+        }
     }
+    console.error(`Data is unknown type ${typeof rawData}`, rawData)
 }
 
 const checkValidStringType = (data) => {
@@ -448,14 +462,15 @@ const PackageCatalogForm = ({createEnclave, mode}) => {
                     let subType = getFirstSubType(arg)
                     valid = checkValidListType(formData[key], subType)
                 } else if (type === "DICT") {
-                    valid = checkValidJsonType(formData[key])
+                    valid = checkValidJsonType(formData[key], required)
                 } else if (type === "JSON") {
-                    valid = checkValidJsonType(formData[key])
+                    // required = false, always because we have a later check that ensures the object is not null
+                    valid = checkValidJsonType(formData[key], false)
                 } else {
                     valid = checkValidUndefinedType(formData[key])
                 }
 
-                let typeToPrint = type
+                let typeToPrint
                 if (type === undefined) {
                     typeToPrint = "JSON"
                 } else if (type === "BOOL") {
@@ -533,14 +548,17 @@ const PackageCatalogForm = ({createEnclave, mode}) => {
                                 console.error(`Data field '${argName}' was not a valid object but was type ${typeof value}. Contained value: '${value}'`)
                             }
                         } else {
-                            val = JSON.parse(value)
-                            args[argName] = val
+                            try {
+                                val = JSON.parse(value)
+                                args[argName] = val
+                            } catch (ex) {
+                                console.error(`Data field '${argName}' was not a valid object but was type ${typeof value}. Contained value: '${value}'`)
+                            }
                         }
                     }
                 })
 
-                console.log("args", args)
-
+                console.log("raw args", args)
                 const stringifiedArgs = JSON.stringify(args)
                 const runKurtosisPackageArgs = {
                     packageId: thisKurtosisPackage.name,