Local file backend

The local file backend persists state to a JSON file on the local filesystem. It’s the simplest option — good for a single operator, or for checking state into source control.

Declare it with a BACKEND file config block:

BACKEND file (
  path = './nschema.state.json'
);

Attributes

Attribute	Type	Description
path	string	Path to the state file. Relative paths resolve against the project directory (--directory).

Any attribute not listed here is rejected — a typo surfaces as an error rather than being silently ignored.

When to use it

A file backend is ideal when a single machine or person owns the state — local development, or a setup where the state file is committed to the repository. For a team or CI where many runners need one shared source of truth, prefer the Amazon S3 backend.

Locking

NSchema locks the state file during write operations so concurrent runs can’t corrupt it. See Locking.