diff --git a/lib/support/engineUtils.js b/lib/support/engineUtils.js
index 7809e71e4..289baf492 100644
--- a/lib/support/engineUtils.js
+++ b/lib/support/engineUtils.js
@@ -58,7 +58,8 @@ async function loadFile(script, options, throwError) {
         'package.json'
       );
       try {
-        await writeFile(packageJson, '{}');
+        // Do not overwrite a package.json that the user owns
+        await writeFile(packageJson, '{}', { flag: 'wx' });
         createdPackageJson = true;
       } catch {
         log.error(