States And Transitions

Purpose

This page defines the stable listing workflow and visibility states.

Core State Model

A listing has two separate dimensions:

• workflow
• visibility

These must not be collapsed into one field.

Workflow States

The target workflow states are:

• draft
• in_review
• active
• sold
• archived

draft

Meaning:

• work in progress
• incomplete or not ready for external viewing

in_review

Meaning:

• seller submitted
• waiting for moderation or internal review

active

Meaning:

• publicly marketable
• considered live inventory

sold

Meaning:

• transaction completed or listing closed as sold

archived

Meaning:

• no longer active inventory
• retained for history, reporting, and controlled restore flows

Visibility States

The stable visibility states are:

• private
• unlisted
• public

private

Meaning:

• not available through public browse
• intended for owner or authorized team use

unlisted

Meaning:

• reduced discovery
• not part of normal public browse
• not a security boundary

public

Meaning:

• available to public marketplace users
• eligible for browse and detail exposure

Locked Defaults

• new listings start as draft + private
• seller activation normally moves the listing to active + public
• unlisted is manual, not default
• sold stays public unless policy changes later

Transition Direction

The important durable transitions are:

• create -> draft + private
• submit -> in_review
• approve and activate -> active + public
• close as sold -> sold
• remove from market -> archived

The server must own readiness and transition validation.