diff --git a/src/journal_bot/queue.py b/src/journal_bot/queue.py
index 4d75c0f..02a3e0c 100644
--- a/src/journal_bot/queue.py
+++ b/src/journal_bot/queue.py
@@ -1,7 +1,6 @@
-import json
 from pathlib import Path
 from typing import Optional
-from pydantic import BaseModel, Field
+from pydantic import BaseModel
 
 
 class QueueItem(BaseModel):
@@ -34,7 +33,7 @@ class Queue:
     def enqueue(self, item: QueueItem) -> None:
         target = self._path(self.pending, item.update_id)
         tmp = target.with_suffix(".tmp")
-        tmp.write_text(item.model_dump_json())
+        tmp.write_text(item.model_dump_json(), encoding="utf-8")
         tmp.replace(target)
 
     def claim_next(self) -> Optional[QueueItem]:
@@ -44,7 +43,7 @@ class Queue:
                 src.rename(dst)
             except FileNotFoundError:
                 continue
-            return QueueItem.model_validate_json(dst.read_text())
+            return QueueItem.model_validate_json(dst.read_text(encoding="utf-8"))
         return None
 
     def complete(self, item: QueueItem) -> None:
@@ -59,8 +58,11 @@ class Queue:
             dst = self._path(self.failed, item.update_id)
         else:
             dst = self._path(self.pending, item.update_id)
-        tmp = src.with_suffix(".tmp")
-        tmp.write_text(item.model_dump_json())
+        # Write tmp inside destination dir, then atomically replace into dst.
+        # If we crash before unlinking src, dst is already in place; the
+        # working/ entry becomes an orphan but no item is ever missing.
+        tmp = dst.with_suffix(".tmp")
+        tmp.write_text(item.model_dump_json(), encoding="utf-8")
         tmp.replace(dst)
         if src.exists():
             src.unlink()