# Menu metadata lives in JSON manifests, not a database

Menu Sets, their Page order, labels, dates and state are recorded in JSON manifests beside the images rather than in SQLite. The state is small and single-writer, and a manifest the owner can read and repair by hand was preferred over a database file that needs a tool to inspect.

**Consequences**: invariants such as "exactly one Current Menu Set per Section" are enforced by the app at boot rather than by a storage engine, and `publish`/`archive` serialize behind an in-process lock instead of a transaction. Publication state is carried by the directory layout, so manifests can be rebuilt from disk if one is lost.