diff --git a/src/config/index.ts b/src/config/index.ts
index 48ab138..a33518b 100644
--- a/src/config/index.ts
+++ b/src/config/index.ts
@@ -1,11 +1,12 @@
 import { Stream } from 'bunyan';
-import { isNil, isString } from 'lodash';
+import { isString } from 'lodash';
 import { LogLevel } from 'noicejs';
 import { join } from 'path';
 
 import { NotFoundError } from '../error/NotFoundError';
 import { YamlParser } from '../parser/YamlParser';
 import { readFile } from '../source';
+import { doesExist } from '../utils';
 import { CONFIG_ENV, CONFIG_SCHEMA } from './schema';
 import { includeSchema } from './type/Include';
 
@@ -56,7 +57,7 @@ export async function loadConfig(name: string, ...extras: Array<string>): Promis
 
   for (const p of paths) {
     const data = await readConfig(p);
-    if (!isNil(data)) {
+    if (doesExist(data)) {
       const parser = new YamlParser();
       const [head] = parser.parse(data);
       return head;
diff --git a/src/rule/SchemaRule.ts b/src/rule/SchemaRule.ts
index 75d01b4..8ae5249 100644
--- a/src/rule/SchemaRule.ts
+++ b/src/rule/SchemaRule.ts
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ import { cloneDeep, defaultTo, isNil } from 'lodash';
 import { LogLevel } from 'noicejs';
 
 import { Rule, RuleData } from '.';
-import { hasItems } from '../utils';
+import { doesExist, hasItems } from '../utils';
 import { Visitor, VisitorError, VisitorResult } from '../visitor';
 import { VisitorContext } from '../visitor/VisitorContext';
 
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@ export class SchemaRule implements Rule, RuleData, Visitor {
 
     // copy schema objects
     this.check = cloneDeep(data.check);
-    if (!isNil(data.filter)) {
+    if (doesExist(data.filter)) {
       this.filter = cloneDeep(data.filter);
     }
   }
diff --git a/src/rule/index.ts b/src/rule/index.ts
index 8c61952..51b5b13 100644
--- a/src/rule/index.ts
+++ b/src/rule/index.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 import { ValidateFunction } from 'ajv';
-import { Dictionary, intersection, isNil } from 'lodash';
+import { Dictionary, intersection } from 'lodash';
 import { Minimatch } from 'minimatch';
 import { LogLevel } from 'noicejs';
 import recursive from 'recursive-readdir';
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ import recursive from 'recursive-readdir';
 import ruleSchemaData from '../../rules/salty-dog.yml';
 import { YamlParser } from '../parser/YamlParser';
 import { readFile } from '../source';
-import { ensureArray } from '../utils';
+import { doesExist, ensureArray } from '../utils';
 import { VisitorResult } from '../visitor';
 import { VisitorContext } from '../visitor/VisitorContext';
 import { SchemaRule } from './SchemaRule';
@@ -116,7 +116,7 @@ export async function loadRuleFiles(paths: Array<string>, ctx: VisitorContext):
         continue;
       }
 
-      if (!isNil(data.definitions)) {
+      if (doesExist(data.definitions)) {
         ctx.addSchema(data.name, data.definitions);
       }
 
@@ -163,7 +163,7 @@ export async function loadRuleModules(modules: Array<string>, ctx: VisitorContex
         continue;
       }
 
-      if (!isNil(module.definitions)) {
+      if (doesExist(module.definitions)) {
         ctx.addSchema(module.name, module.definitions);
       }