diff --git a/src/entity_manager/configuration.cpp b/src/entity_manager/configuration.cpp
index bd78f1b..137f4e3 100644
--- a/src/entity_manager/configuration.cpp
+++ b/src/entity_manager/configuration.cpp
@@ -83,15 +83,12 @@
             std::cerr << "syntax error in " << jsonPath.string() << "\n";
             continue;
         }
-        /*
-        * todo(james): reenable this once less things are in flight
-        *
-        if (!validateJson(schema, data))
+
+        if (ENABLE_RUNTIME_VALIDATE_JSON && !validateJson(schema, data))
         {
             std::cerr << "Error validating " << jsonPath.string() << "\n";
             continue;
         }
-        */
 
         if (data.type() == nlohmann::json::value_t::array)
         {
diff --git a/src/entity_manager/meson.build b/src/entity_manager/meson.build
index 622cf53..0fe71dd 100644
--- a/src/entity_manager/meson.build
+++ b/src/entity_manager/meson.build
@@ -1,3 +1,11 @@
+cpp_args_em = cpp_args + ['-DBOOST_ASIO_DISABLE_THREADS']
+
+if get_option('runtime-validate-json')
+    cpp_args_em += ['-DENABLE_RUNTIME_VALIDATE_JSON=true']
+else
+    cpp_args_em += ['-DENABLE_RUNTIME_VALIDATE_JSON=false']
+endif
+
 executable(
     'entity-manager',
     'entity_manager.cpp',
@@ -10,7 +18,7 @@
     'topology.cpp',
     'utils.cpp',
     '../utils.cpp',
-    cpp_args: cpp_args + ['-DBOOST_ASIO_DISABLE_THREADS'],
+    cpp_args: cpp_args_em,
     dependencies: [
         boost,
         nlohmann_json_dep,