 <p>If you just need to parse your json file on runtime, you can use <code>!define</code> with the <code>/file</code> option:</p> <pre><code>!define /file OPTIONS json.txt </code></pre> <p>It will define OPTIONS with the content of json.txt.</p> <p>If you want to utilize your json file in compile time to alter the generated exe, then you need some kind of precompiler, which is what you're actually doing.</p>