---
title: "Overwrites The Manifest"
source: dbt Core Documentation
source_url: https://github.com/dbt-labs/docs.getdbt.com
licence: Apache-2.0
domain: data-and-analysis
subdomain: dbt-docs
date_added: 2026-04-25
---

dbt overwrites the `manifest.json` file during parsing, which means when you reference `--state` from the `target/ directory`, you may encounter a warning indicating that the saved manifest wasn't found.

<Lightbox src="/img/docs/reference/saved-manifest-not-found.png" title="Saved manifest not found error" /> 

During the next job run, dbt follows a sequence of steps that lead to the issue. First, it overwrites `target/manifest.json` before it can be used for change detection. Then, when dbt tries to read `target/manifest.json` again to detect changes, it finds none because the previous state has already been overwritten/erased.

Avoid setting `--state` and `--target-path` to the same path with state-dependent features like `--defer` and `state:modified` as it can lead to non-idempotent behavior and won't work as expected.
