diff --git a/internal/backends/nop/nop.go b/internal/backends/nop/nop.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..45e713608a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/internal/backends/nop/nop.go
@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+package nop
+
+import "context"
+
+func New() *Backend {
+	return &Backend{}
+}
+
+// Backend can be used in cases where no backend is specified to avoid the need to check for nil
+// pointers in all resolvers.
+type Backend struct{}
+
+func (*Backend) Set(_ context.Context, _, _, _ string) error {
+	return nil
+}
+
+func (*Backend) Get(_ context.Context, _, _ string) (string, error) {
+	return "", nil
+}
+
+func (*Backend) Close(_ context.Context) error {
+	return nil
+}
diff --git a/plugins/source/plugin.go b/plugins/source/plugin.go
index 66b630265c..57b7b3e56d 100644
--- a/plugins/source/plugin.go
+++ b/plugins/source/plugin.go
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ import (
 	"github.com/cloudquery/plugin-sdk/backend"
 	"github.com/cloudquery/plugin-sdk/caser"
 	"github.com/cloudquery/plugin-sdk/internal/backends/local"
+	"github.com/cloudquery/plugin-sdk/internal/backends/nop"
 	"github.com/cloudquery/plugin-sdk/schema"
 	"github.com/cloudquery/plugin-sdk/specs"
 	"github.com/rs/zerolog"
@@ -210,7 +211,7 @@ func (p *Plugin) Init(ctx context.Context, spec specs.Source) error {
 
 	switch spec.Backend {
 	case specs.BackendNone:
-		// do nothing
+		p.backend = nop.New()
 	case specs.BackendLocal:
 		p.backend, err = local.New(spec)
 		if err != nil {
diff --git a/specs/backend.go b/specs/backend.go
index 4a0254f732..6c6cea9153 100644
--- a/specs/backend.go
+++ b/specs/backend.go
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ const (
 	BackendLocal
 )
 
-var AllBackends = Backends{BackendLocal}
+var AllBackends = Backends{BackendNone, BackendLocal}
 var AllBackendNames = [...]string{
 	BackendNone:  "none",
 	BackendLocal: "local",