During October 2024, K. Foster focused on backend development and configuration management for the nebari-dev/nebari repository, addressing a complex validation issue in TerraformStateStage. Foster identified and fixed a bug where immutable field validation failed for non-Pydantic sub-schemas, particularly affecting nested configurations such as jupyterhub overrides. Using Python and YAML, Foster implemented a robust solution that ensures TerraformStateStage correctly handles both Pydantic and non-Pydantic models, reducing deployment risk for users with custom configurations. Comprehensive tests were added to verify the new behavior and prevent regressions, demonstrating careful attention to reliability and maintainability in infrastructure-as-code workflows.