State Machine Design

Use this skill when

• defining statuses
• changing lifecycle logic
• adding retries or resume
• fixing invalid transitions
• reviewing execution safety

Goals

• make states explicit
• prevent illegal transitions
• improve recoverability
• support clear debugging

Process

1. Define the entity.
2. List valid states.
3. Define allowed transitions.
4. Define transition triggers.
5. Define terminal states.
6. Define retry and resume behaviour.
7. Define forbidden transitions and invariants.

Output contract

Return:

• state list
• allowed transitions
• transition triggers
• terminal states
• retry/resume notes
• invariants
• forbidden transitions