RS Glossary
State
State is the information a system keeps track of so it can continue behaving consistently across steps, turns, or events.
- Review state
- Reviewed in POC
- Freshness
- Current
- Version
- 2
- State
- System State
Remember it this wayState is what the system carries forward.
In plain language
State is the information a system currently carries that affects what it does next. State may include values, history, permissions, progress, or relationships that persist across an event or step.
Why it matters
Unclear or stale state causes inconsistent behavior, broken handoffs, and difficult debugging. Naming who owns state, when it changes, and what source is authoritative makes workflows more reliable.
Example
An order workflow stores whether payment is authorized, inventory is reserved, and shipment is released. Each event changes the order’s state and which actions are allowed next.
Common misconception
State is not every piece of data a system can access. It is the information whose current value influences present or future behavior.
Related terms
Sources
- David Harel, “Statecharts: A Visual Formalism for Complex Systems”provides a formal systems foundation for representing state and transitions in complex reactive systems.
Learn more
- Compare [[current-state|Current State]], [[relationship-state|Relationship State]], [[state-transition-protocol|State Transition Protocol]], and [[system|System]] to place State in the surrounding system.
- Follow the cited source material above for the method, standard, or research context behind this draft.
Public history
23 recorded events · 23 public summaries
A potential shared concept was discussed and selected for initial glossary drafting.
The captured candidate received a complete initial draft and entered section-level human review.
Radar reviewed the initial definition draft for human consideration.
Radar reviewed the initial plain-language-explanation draft for human consideration.
Radar reviewed the initial why-it-matters draft for human consideration.
Radar reviewed the initial example draft for human consideration.
Radar reviewed the initial common-misconception draft for human consideration.
Radar reviewed the initial remember-it-this-way draft for human consideration.
Radar reviewed the initial related-terms draft for human consideration.
Radar reviewed the initial sources draft for human consideration.
Radar reviewed the initial learn-more draft for human consideration.
Definition review recorded as approve.
Plain-Language Explanation review recorded as approve.
Why It Matters review recorded as approve.
Example review recorded as approve.
Common Misconception review recorded as approve.
Remember It This Way review recorded as approve.
Related Terms review recorded as approve.
Sources review recorded as approve.
Learn More review recorded as approve.
Sources review recorded as replace.
Radar verified the learner-facing sources after personal origin provenance was removed.
All nine current wording approvals were reconciled to Approved term status.
Source: vault/Glossary/terms/state/term.md · sha256:a0bd5f170fa167889de81948e364a2af712789618628b7068a17d4b624e4f878 · Release: rs-glossary-glossary-team-poc-0.5.5-2026-09-02