#10366 fix(core): Avoid overwriting state with an empty payload Pull request opened by edgarrmondragon Description A target that emits an empty state object, and crashed before emitting a more complete state payload, would result in the next run starting the tap with an empty state and thus a full-refresh sync in practice. Targets shouldn't behave like this, but Meltano can help here by preventing those empty payloads from being persisted. Checklist • I have read the contribution guide Was generative AI tooling used to co-author this PR? • Yes (please specify the tool below) Co-written-by: Claude Code following the agentic coding guidelines Related Issues • meltano/sdk#3040 Summary by Sourcery Preserve existing incremental state when targets emit empty Singer state payloads. Bug Fixes: • Prevent empty or null Singer state payloads from overwriting previously persisted incremental state, avoiding unintended full-refresh syncs after target failures. Tests: • Add coverage confirming empty state payloads are ignored, logged, and leave job and persisted state unchanged. meltano/meltano