diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index 258d335..1054183 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -82,11 +82,21 @@ version = "1.5.1"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "f2032f911046de80f0a198e0901378627c33f59ea0ac00e363d481118bd70a53"
 
+[[package]]
+name = "bread-utils"
+version = "0.2.3"
+dependencies = [
+ "dirs",
+ "serde",
+ "serde_json",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "breadshot"
 version = "0.1.0"
 dependencies = [
  "anyhow",
+ "bread-utils",
  "chrono",
  "clap",
  "dirs",
diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index 87b2785..e3b75ea 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -16,6 +16,8 @@ serde_json = "1"
 toml = "0.8"
 tracing = "0.1"
 tracing-subscriber = { version = "0.3", features = ["env-filter"] }
+# TODO(owner): switch to tag-pinned git dependency once bread-utils is merged and tagged, matching the bread-theme pattern
+bread-utils = { path = "../bread-ecosystem-fix-worktree/bread-utils" }
 
 [profile.release]
 lto = "thin"
diff --git a/src/capture.rs b/src/capture.rs
index 08dda97..349dde9 100644
--- a/src/capture.rs
+++ b/src/capture.rs
@@ -303,12 +303,9 @@ fn send_notification(title: &str, msg: &str, timeout: u32, path: &Path) {
 // --- helpers ---
 
 fn hyprctl_json(subcmd: &str) -> Result<Value> {
-    let out = Command::new("hyprctl")
-        .args(["-j", subcmd])
-        .output()
-        .context("running hyprctl")?;
-    serde_json::from_slice(&out.stdout)
-        .with_context(|| format!("parsing hyprctl {subcmd} output"))
+    // Was a bare Command::new("hyprctl").output() with no timeout.
+    bread_utils::proc::run_json("hyprctl", &["-j", subcmd], std::time::Duration::from_secs(3))
+        .with_context(|| format!("running/parsing hyprctl {subcmd}"))
 }
 
 fn slurp(args: &[&str]) -> Result<String> {