diff --git a/.github/workflows/dep-suggests-matrix-read/action.yml b/.github/workflows/dep-suggests-matrix-read/action.yml
index b1a8ed0d3..39e7a7b23 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/dep-suggests-matrix-read/action.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/dep-suggests-matrix-read/action.yml
@@ -14,8 +14,11 @@ runs:
 
     - id: set-matrix
       run: |
-        matrix=$(cat .github/dep-suggests-matrix.json || echo '{"package":[]}')
-        echo $matrix | jq .
-        echo $matrix | json2yaml
+        # Empty contents if no suggested packages
+        matrix=$(cat .github/dep-suggests-matrix.json || true)
+        if [ -n "$matrix" ]; then
+          echo $matrix | jq .
+          echo $matrix | json2yaml
+        fi
         echo "matrix=$matrix" | tee -a $GITHUB_OUTPUT
       shell: bash
diff --git a/.github/workflows/dep-suggests-matrix/action.R b/.github/workflows/dep-suggests-matrix/action.R
index c6a08a5b0..139519403 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/dep-suggests-matrix/action.R
+++ b/.github/workflows/dep-suggests-matrix/action.R
@@ -33,10 +33,15 @@ if (Sys.getenv("GITHUB_BASE_REF") != "") {
   packages <- get_deps()
 }
 
-json <- paste0(
-  '{"package":[',
-  if (length(packages) > 0) paste0('"', packages, '"', collapse = ","),
-  ']}'
-)
+if (length(packages) > 0) {
+  json <- paste0(
+    '{"package":[',
+    paste0('"', packages, '"', collapse = ","),
+    ']}'
+  )
+} else {
+  json <- character()
+}
+
 writeLines(json, ".github/dep-suggests-matrix.json")
 writeLines(json)