Docs / Data & bulk sync

a9script authoring pack — state functions

The state functions, with their arguments and a line of real script each. Called by bare name; nothing is imported. A call marked pauses does real work outside the script: the run is saved, and continues on the next line with the result.

This is one part of the authoring pack — how a script is executed at all is the model part, and the other groups of functions are parts of their own. All of them are named at the end.

Generated — do not edit. Every block of script below is executed by the platform’s own test suite, and every error message is the one the platform produces today, so none of this can be what was true when someone last wrote it down.

getState(key) — pauses

Reads a small durable value this environment stored earlier — a delta token, a watermark, a cursor. What setState put there is what comes back, across runs.

• key (string) — The key setState stored under.

Answers: The stored value, or undefined for a key that was never set. A stored null comes back as null — the two stay distinguishable, so a cleared marker and a missing one read differently.

const watermark = getState("orders-watermark");
if (watermark === undefined) { log("first sync — start from the beginning"); }

setState(key, value) — pauses

Stores one small durable value under a key — the place for delta tokens, watermarks and cursors between runs. A later set replaces the value.

• key (string) — The key to store under.
• value (any) — Any JSON value. State is for SMALL things: a value over 64 KiB as JSON is refused, naming the limit — pages of records belong in a dataset.

Answers: Nothing.

setState("orders-watermark", { since: "2026-07-01T00:00:00Z" });
log("watermark moved");

The rest of this pack

The page above is everything that is true only HERE. Ask for these parts by name for the rest:

• model — how a script is executed, the shape of its input, the rules enforced while it runs, and the mistakes that do not work here.
• functions-core — the core functions — what each one does, its arguments, whether it pauses the run, and a line of real script.
• functions-encoding — the encoding functions — what each one does, its arguments, whether it pauses the run, and a line of real script.
• functions-crypto — the crypto functions — what each one does, its arguments, whether it pauses the run, and a line of real script.
• functions-text — the text functions — what each one does, its arguments, whether it pauses the run, and a line of real script.
• functions-number — the numbers functions — what each one does, its arguments, whether it pauses the run, and a line of real script.
• functions-structured — the structured data functions — what each one does, its arguments, whether it pauses the run, and a line of real script.
• functions-document — the documents functions — what each one does, its arguments, whether it pauses the run, and a line of real script.
• functions-markdown — the markdown functions — what each one does, its arguments, whether it pauses the run, and a line of real script.
• functions-datetime — the date & time functions — what each one does, its arguments, whether it pauses the run, and a line of real script.
• functions-email — the email functions — what each one does, its arguments, whether it pauses the run, and a line of real script.
• functions-blob — the files functions — what each one does, its arguments, whether it pauses the run, and a line of real script.
• functions-mapping — the mapping functions — what each one does, its arguments, whether it pauses the run, and a line of real script.
• functions-dataset — the datasets functions — what each one does, its arguments, whether it pauses the run, and a line of real script.
• functions-pagination — the pagination functions — what each one does, its arguments, whether it pauses the run, and a line of real script.
• functions-control — the run control functions — what each one does, its arguments, whether it pauses the run, and a line of real script.
• functions-functions — the config functions — what each one does, its arguments, whether it pauses the run, and a line of real script.
• mistakes — the habits from general JS that do not work here — each with the exact error it produces and the shape to write instead.
• standard-library — every built-in the language itself provides — JSON, Math, Object, String, Array, Number, Map, Set, Date, RegExp and the bare globals — one line each, with an example and its answer.