diff --git a/src/util/virjson.c b/src/util/virjson.c
index 0559d40b64..92f3994e92 100644
--- a/src/util/virjson.c
+++ b/src/util/virjson.c
@@ -24,7 +24,6 @@
 #include <config.h>
 
 #include "virjson.h"
-#include "viralloc.h"
 #include "virerror.h"
 #include "virlog.h"
 #include "virstring.h"
diff --git a/src/util/virjson.h b/src/util/virjson.h
index e4a82bdbc8..75f7f17b44 100644
--- a/src/util/virjson.h
+++ b/src/util/virjson.h
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@
 
 # include "internal.h"
 # include "virbitmap.h"
+# include "viralloc.h"
 
 # include <stdarg.h>
 
@@ -156,4 +157,6 @@ char *virJSONStringReformat(const char *jsonstr, bool pretty);
 
 virJSONValuePtr virJSONValueObjectDeflatten(virJSONValuePtr json);
 
+VIR_DEFINE_AUTOPTR_FUNC(virJSONValue, virJSONValueFree)
+
 #endif /* __VIR_JSON_H_ */