diff --git a/src/shared/json.c b/src/shared/json.c
index 2e52443dde..b7978c3556 100644
--- a/src/shared/json.c
+++ b/src/shared/json.c
@@ -1847,9 +1847,7 @@ int json_variant_filter(JsonVariant **v, char **to_remove) {
                 return r;
 
         json_variant_propagate_sensitive(*v, w);
-
-        json_variant_unref(*v);
-        *v = TAKE_PTR(w);
+        JSON_VARIANT_REPLACE(*v, TAKE_PTR(w));
 
         return (int) n;
 }
@@ -1918,9 +1916,7 @@ int json_variant_set_field(JsonVariant **v, const char *field, JsonVariant *valu
                 return r;
 
         json_variant_propagate_sensitive(*v, w);
-
-        json_variant_unref(*v);
-        *v = TAKE_PTR(w);
+        JSON_VARIANT_REPLACE(*v, TAKE_PTR(w));
 
         return 1;
 }
@@ -2001,8 +1997,7 @@ int json_variant_merge(JsonVariant **v, JsonVariant *m) {
                 return 0; /* nothing to do */
 
         if (v_blank) {
-                json_variant_unref(*v);
-                *v = json_variant_ref(m);
+                JSON_VARIANT_REPLACE(*v, json_variant_ref(m));
                 return 1;
         }
 
@@ -2039,9 +2034,7 @@ int json_variant_merge(JsonVariant **v, JsonVariant *m) {
 
         json_variant_propagate_sensitive(*v, w);
         json_variant_propagate_sensitive(m, w);
-
-        json_variant_unref(*v);
-        *v = TAKE_PTR(w);
+        JSON_VARIANT_REPLACE(*v, TAKE_PTR(w));
 
         return 1;
 }
@@ -2081,9 +2074,7 @@ int json_variant_append_array(JsonVariant **v, JsonVariant *element) {
                 return r;
 
         json_variant_propagate_sensitive(*v, nv);
-
-        json_variant_unref(*v);
-        *v = TAKE_PTR(nv);
+        JSON_VARIANT_REPLACE(*v, TAKE_PTR(nv));
 
         return 0;
 }
@@ -2297,8 +2288,7 @@ static int json_variant_set_source(JsonVariant **v, JsonSource *source, unsigned
         w->line = line;
         w->column = column;
 
-        json_variant_unref(*v);
-        *v = w;
+        JSON_VARIANT_REPLACE(*v, w);
 
         return 1;
 }
@@ -4499,14 +4489,10 @@ int json_dispatch_strv(const char *name, JsonVariant *variant, JsonDispatchFlags
 }
 
 int json_dispatch_variant(const char *name, JsonVariant *variant, JsonDispatchFlags flags, void *userdata) {
-        JsonVariant **p = userdata;
-
+        JsonVariant **p = ASSERT_PTR(userdata);
         assert(variant);
-        assert(p);
-
-        json_variant_unref(*p);
-        *p = json_variant_ref(variant);
 
+        JSON_VARIANT_REPLACE(*p, json_variant_ref(variant));
         return 0;
 }
 
@@ -4628,8 +4614,7 @@ int json_variant_sort(JsonVariant **v) {
         if (!n->sorted) /* Check if this worked. This will fail if there are multiple identical keys used. */
                 return -ENOTUNIQ;
 
-        json_variant_unref(*v);
-        *v = n;
+        JSON_VARIANT_REPLACE(*v, n);
 
         return 1;
 }
@@ -4684,8 +4669,7 @@ int json_variant_normalize(JsonVariant **v) {
                 goto finish;
         }
 
-        json_variant_unref(*v);
-        *v = n;
+        JSON_VARIANT_REPLACE(*v, n);
 
         r = 1;
 
diff --git a/src/shared/json.h b/src/shared/json.h
index 91d02a911e..98d184c309 100644
--- a/src/shared/json.h
+++ b/src/shared/json.h
@@ -82,6 +82,14 @@ JsonVariant *json_variant_ref(JsonVariant *v);
 JsonVariant *json_variant_unref(JsonVariant *v);
 void json_variant_unref_many(JsonVariant **array, size_t n);
 
+#define JSON_VARIANT_REPLACE(v, q)        \
+        do {                              \
+                typeof(v)* _v = &(v);     \
+                typeof(q) _q = (q);       \
+                json_variant_unref(*_v);  \
+                *_v = _q;                 \
+        } while(0)
+
 DEFINE_TRIVIAL_CLEANUP_FUNC(JsonVariant *, json_variant_unref);
 
 const char *json_variant_string(JsonVariant *v);