Stately core concepts

Learn about states, transitions, events, actions, and actors in the Stately Studio.

• Introducing states

  A state describes the machine’s status or mode, which could be as simple as Paused and Playing. A state machine can only be in one state at a time.

• Initial states

  When a state machine starts, it enters the initial state first. A machine can only have one top-level initial state; if there were multiple initial states, the machine wouldn’t know where to start!

• Final states

  When a machine reaches the final state, it can no longer receive any events, and anything running inside it is canceled and cleaned up. The box with a surrounding border icon represents the final state.

• Parent states

  States can contain more states, also known as child states. These child states are only active when the parent state is active.

• Parallel states

  A parallel state is a state separated into multiple regions of child states, where each region is active simultaneously.

• History states

  A history state returns the parent state to its most recently active child state. The box with an H inside represents the history state.

• Transitions and events

  8 pages.

• Actions and actors

  2 pages.