I added the restic cache directory to the exclude list with no effect. I assume adding my Documents folder to the exclude list should remove this overhead since that is the directory I am trying to back up. But that is just a workaround.
Huh? The new code should be modifying the files that are being backed up? Are you trying to clear the Windows Archive Bit?
In my test restic is writing to a repository on another machine via SFTP so I assumed the only thing being modified on the local machine is the cache directory.