post-meta.json causes php error on fresh install

[jakewrfoster]

Description of the bug

OotB, the config/post-meta.json file is empty, which causes a PHP error on a fresh installation. Instead if the file was an empty object, it would bypass the error. Either that, or a check around the ingestion of the file should be updated to account for an empty or possibly missing file.

Steps To Reproduce

1. clone this package
2. $ make
3. confirm that config/post-meta.json is an empty file.

Additional Information

[03-Feb-2026 20:55:23 UTC] PHP Fatal error:  Uncaught InvalidArgumentException: Meta definition file [/var/www/tech-cop-telex/wp-content/plugins/tech-cop-telex/config/post-meta.json] does not contain valid JSON. in /var/www/tech-cop-telex/wp-content/client-mu-plugins/vendor/mantle-framework/support/helpers/helpers-meta.php:155

[srtfisher]

@jakewrfoster How do you get an empty config/post-meta.json file? It's not included in this code base.