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. By analyzing how non-Pydantic sub-schemas and nested configurations were handled, Foster implemented a Python and YAML-based solution that prevents immutable-field validation errors when sub-schemas are not Pydantic models. This work included adding targeted tests to ensure robust behavior for user overrides, such as those in jupyterhub.overrides.singleuser.extraEnv, and to guard against future regressions. The result was a more reliable validation process, reducing deployment risk for users with custom configuration requirements in Terraform state handling.