diff --git a/esphome/core/string_ref.h b/esphome/core/string_ref.h
index da07128704..4c0ce28a5a 100644
--- a/esphome/core/string_ref.h
+++ b/esphome/core/string_ref.h
@@ -279,7 +279,9 @@ inline void convertToJson(const StringRef &src, JsonVariant dst) {
     dst.set("");
     return;
   }
-  dst.set(JsonString(src.c_str(), src.size()));
+  // The explicit isStatic is load bearing: without it clang-tidy reads size() as the bool of the two argument
+  // constructor and asks for empty() instead
+  dst.set(JsonString(src.c_str(), src.size(), /* isStatic= */ false));
 }
 #endif  // USE_JSON