diff --git a/dev-requirements.txt b/dev-requirements.txt
index f3b24c91..672ad32a 100644
--- a/dev-requirements.txt
+++ b/dev-requirements.txt
@@ -1,4 +1,3 @@
-filelock
 packaging
 pytest
 pytest-cov
diff --git a/integration-tests/requirements.txt b/integration-tests/requirements.txt
index 3ef31e4e..c086c7fc 100644
--- a/integration-tests/requirements.txt
+++ b/integration-tests/requirements.txt
@@ -1,4 +1,3 @@
-filelock
 pytest
 pytest-cov
 pytest-asyncio
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 4c22da66..0bb5a1ce 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@
         "jinja2",
         "pluggy==1.*",
         "backoff",
+        "filelock",
         "requests",
         "bcrypt",
         "jupyterhub-traefik-proxy==1.*",
diff --git a/tljh/config.py b/tljh/config.py
index d72b03e5..3b317f93 100644
--- a/tljh/config.py
+++ b/tljh/config.py
@@ -18,9 +18,11 @@
 import sys
 import time
 from collections.abc import Mapping, Sequence
+from contextlib import contextmanager
 from copy import deepcopy
 
 import requests
+from filelock import FileLock, Timeout
 
 from .yaml import yaml
 
@@ -32,6 +34,22 @@
 CONFIG_FILE = os.path.join(CONFIG_DIR, "config.yaml")
 
 
+@contextmanager
+def config_file_lock(config_path, timeout=1):
+    """Context manager to acquire the config file lock"""
+    lock_file = f"{config_path}.lock"
+    try:
+        with FileLock(lock_file).acquire(timeout=timeout):
+            yield
+
+    except Timeout:
+        print(
+            f"Another instance of tljh-config holds the lock {lock_file}.",
+            file=sys.stderr,
+        )
+        sys.exit(1)
+
+
 def set_item_in_config(config, property_path, value):
     """
     Set key at property_path to value in config & return new config.
@@ -169,9 +187,10 @@ def validate_config(config, validate):
             print(
                 f"Config validation error: {e.message}.\n"
                 "You can still apply this change without validation by re-running your command with the --no-validate flag.\n"
-                "If you think this validation error is incorrect, please report it to https://github.com/jupyterhub/the-littlest-jupyterhub/issues."
+                "If you think this validation error is incorrect, please report it to https://github.com/jupyterhub/the-littlest-jupyterhub/issues.",
+                file=sys.stderr,
             )
-            exit()
+            sys.exit(1)
 
 
 def show_config(config_path):
@@ -186,88 +205,52 @@ def set_config_value(config_path, key_path, value, validate=True):
     """
     Set key at key_path in config_path to value
     """
-    from filelock import FileLock, Timeout
+    with config_file_lock(config_path):
+        config = get_current_config(config_path)
+        config = set_item_in_config(config, key_path, value)
+        validate_config(config, validate)
 
-    lock_file = f"{config_path}.lock"
-    lock = FileLock(lock_file)
-    try:
-        with lock.acquire(timeout=1):
-            config = get_current_config(config_path)
-            config = set_item_in_config(config, key_path, value)
-            validate_config(config, validate)
-
-            with open(config_path, "w") as f:
-                yaml.dump(config, f)
-
-    except Timeout:
-        print(f"Another instance of tljh-config holds the lock {lock_file}")
-        exit(1)
+        with open(config_path, "w") as f:
+            yaml.dump(config, f)
 
 
 def unset_config_value(config_path, key_path, validate=True):
     """
     Unset key at key_path in config_path
     """
-    from filelock import FileLock, Timeout
+    with config_file_lock(config_path):
+        config = get_current_config(config_path)
+        config = unset_item_from_config(config, key_path)
+        validate_config(config, validate)
 
-    lock_file = f"{config_path}.lock"
-    lock = FileLock(lock_file)
-    try:
-        with lock.acquire(timeout=1):
-            config = get_current_config(config_path)
-            config = unset_item_from_config(config, key_path)
-            validate_config(config, validate)
-
-            with open(config_path, "w") as f:
-                yaml.dump(config, f)
-
-    except Timeout:
-        print(f"Another instance of tljh-config holds the lock {lock_file}")
-        exit(1)
+        with open(config_path, "w") as f:
+            yaml.dump(config, f)
 
 
 def add_config_value(config_path, key_path, value, validate=True):
     """
     Add value to list at key_path
     """
-    from filelock import FileLock, Timeout
+    with config_file_lock(config_path):
+        config = get_current_config(config_path)
+        config = add_item_to_config(config, key_path, value)
+        validate_config(config, validate)
 
-    lock_file = f"{config_path}.lock"
-    lock = FileLock(lock_file)
-    try:
-        with lock.acquire(timeout=1):
-            config = get_current_config(config_path)
-            config = add_item_to_config(config, key_path, value)
-            validate_config(config, validate)
-
-            with open(config_path, "w") as f:
-                yaml.dump(config, f)
-
-    except Timeout:
-        print(f"Another instance of tljh-config holds the lock {lock_file}")
-        exit(1)
+        with open(config_path, "w") as f:
+            yaml.dump(config, f)
 
 
 def remove_config_value(config_path, key_path, value, validate=True):
     """
     Remove value from list at key_path
     """
-    from filelock import FileLock, Timeout
+    with config_file_lock(config_path):
+        config = get_current_config(config_path)
+        config = remove_item_from_config(config, key_path, value)
+        validate_config(config, validate)
 
-    lock_file = f"{config_path}.lock"
-    lock = FileLock(lock_file)
-    try:
-        with lock.acquire(timeout=1):
-            config = get_current_config(config_path)
-            config = remove_item_from_config(config, key_path, value)
-            validate_config(config, validate)
-
-            with open(config_path, "w") as f:
-                yaml.dump(config, f)
-
-    except Timeout:
-        print(f"Another instance of tljh-config holds the lock {lock_file}")
-        exit(1)
+        with open(config_path, "w") as f:
+            yaml.dump(config, f)
 
 
 def get_current_config(config_path):
diff --git a/tljh/requirements-hub-env.txt b/tljh/requirements-hub-env.txt
index 25b29deb..0c455723 100644
--- a/tljh/requirements-hub-env.txt
+++ b/tljh/requirements-hub-env.txt
@@ -26,6 +26,3 @@ jupyterhub-idle-culler>=1.2.1,<2
 # ref: https://github.com/jupyterhub/the-littlest-jupyterhub/issues/289
 #
 pycurl>=7.45.2,<8
-
-# filelock is used to help us do atomic operations on config file(s)
-filelock>=3.15.4,<4