_{JavaScript state machines and statecharts}

JavaScript and TypeScript finite state machines and statecharts for the modern web.

📖 Read the documentation 📑 Adheres to the SCXML specification.

Super quick start

npm install xstate

import { Machine, interpret } from 'xstate';

// Stateless machine definition
// machine.transition(...) is a pure function used by the interpreter.
const toggleMachine = Machine({
  id: 'toggle',
  initial: 'inactive',
  states: {
    inactive: { on: { TOGGLE: 'active' } },
    active: { on: { TOGGLE: 'inactive' } }
  }
});

// Machine instance with internal state
const toggleService = interpret(toggleMachine)
  .onTransition(state => console.log(state.value))
  .start();
// => 'inactive'

toggleService.send('TOGGLE');
// => 'active'

toggleService.send('TOGGLE');
// => 'inactive'

• Visualizer
• Why? (info about statecharts)
• Installation
• Finite State Machines
• Hierarchical (Nested) State Machines
• Parallel State Machines
• History States

Visualizer

Visualize, simulate, and share your statecharts in XState Viz!

Why?

Statecharts are a formalism for modeling stateful, reactive systems. This is useful for declaratively describing the behavior of your application, from the individual components to the overall application logic.

Read 📽 the slides (🎥 video) or check out these resources for learning about the importance of finite state machines and statecharts in user interfaces:

• Statecharts - A Visual Formalism for Complex Systems by David Harel
• The World of Statecharts by Erik Mogensen
• Pure UI by Guillermo Rauch
• Pure UI Control by Adam Solove
• Spectrum - Statecharts Community

Finite State Machines

import { Machine } from 'xstate';

const lightMachine = Machine({
  id: 'light',
  initial: 'green',
  states: {
    green: {
      on: {
        TIMER: 'yellow'
      }
    },
    yellow: {
      on: {
        TIMER: 'red'
      }
    },
    red: {
      on: {
        TIMER: 'green'
      }
    }
  }
});

const currentState = 'green';

const nextState = lightMachine.transition(currentState, 'TIMER').value;

// => 'yellow'

Hierarchical (Nested) State Machines

import { Machine } from 'xstate';

const pedestrianStates = {
  initial: 'walk',
  states: {
    walk: {
      on: {
        PED_TIMER: 'wait'
      }
    },
    wait: {
      on: {
        PED_TIMER: 'stop'
      }
    },
    stop: {}
  }
};

const lightMachine = Machine({
  id: 'light',
  initial: 'green',
  states: {
    green: {
      on: {
        TIMER: 'yellow'
      }
    },
    yellow: {
      on: {
        TIMER: 'red'
      }
    },
    red: {
      on: {
        TIMER: 'green'
      },
      ...pedestrianStates
    }
  }
});

const currentState = 'yellow';

const nextState = lightMachine.transition(currentState, 'TIMER').value;
// => {
//   red: 'walk'
// }

lightMachine.transition('red.walk', 'PED_TIMER').value;
// => {
//   red: 'wait'
// }

Object notation for hierarchical states:

// ...
const waitState = lightMachine.transition({ red: 'walk' }, 'PED_TIMER').value;

// => { red: 'wait' }

lightMachine.transition(waitState, 'PED_TIMER').value;

// => { red: 'stop' }

lightMachine.transition({ red: 'stop' }, 'TIMER').value;

// => 'green'

Parallel State Machines

const wordMachine = Machine({
  id: 'word',
  type: 'parallel',
  states: {
    bold: {
      initial: 'off',
      states: {
        on: {
          on: { TOGGLE_BOLD: 'off' }
        },
        off: {
          on: { TOGGLE_BOLD: 'on' }
        }
      }
    },
    underline: {
      initial: 'off',
      states: {
        on: {
          on: { TOGGLE_UNDERLINE: 'off' }
        },
        off: {
          on: { TOGGLE_UNDERLINE: 'on' }
        }
      }
    },
    italics: {
      initial: 'off',
      states: {
        on: {
          on: { TOGGLE_ITALICS: 'off' }
        },
        off: {
          on: { TOGGLE_ITALICS: 'on' }
        }
      }
    },
    list: {
      initial: 'none',
      states: {
        none: {
          on: { BULLETS: 'bullets', NUMBERS: 'numbers' }
        },
        bullets: {
          on: { NONE: 'none', NUMBERS: 'numbers' }
        },
        numbers: {
          on: { BULLETS: 'bullets', NONE: 'none' }
        }
      }
    }
  }
});

const boldState = wordMachine.transition('bold.off', 'TOGGLE_BOLD').value;

// {
//   bold: 'on',
//   italics: 'off',
//   underline: 'off',
//   list: 'none'
// }

const nextState = wordMachine.transition(
  {
    bold: 'off',
    italics: 'off',
    underline: 'on',
    list: 'bullets'
  },
  'TOGGLE_ITALICS'
).value;

// {
//   bold: 'off',
//   italics: 'on',
//   underline: 'on',
//   list: 'bullets'
// }

History States

const paymentMachine = Machine({
  id: 'payment',
  initial: 'method',
  states: {
    method: {
      initial: 'cash',
      states: {
        cash: { on: { SWITCH_CHECK: 'check' } },
        check: { on: { SWITCH_CASH: 'cash' } },
        hist: { type: 'history' }
      },
      on: { NEXT: 'review' }
    },
    review: {
      on: { PREVIOUS: 'method.hist' }
    }
  }
});

const checkState = paymentMachine.transition('method.cash', 'SWITCH_CHECK');

// => State {
//   value: { method: 'check' },
//   history: State { ... }
// }

const reviewState = paymentMachine.transition(checkState, 'NEXT');

// => State {
//   value: 'review',
//   history: State { ... }
// }

const previousState = paymentMachine.transition(reviewState, 'PREVIOUS').value;

// => { method: 'check' }

Sponsors

Huge thanks to the following companies for sponsoring xstate. You can sponsor further xstate development on OpenCollective.