Every state, listed

The exact words DoneMark uses, and what each one means.

A requirement

State	Meaning
draft	Written, not yet frozen. Still editable.
approved	The words and the envelope are frozen. Ready to be built.
building	An attempt is running.
implemented	The attempt finished; evidence is still arriving.
validating	The door is open. Waiting on a person.
verified	Accepted. A DoneMark was sealed.
failed	Refused. The reason is on the record.
withdrawn	Taken off the board. Sealed records are unaffected.

An attempt

State	Meaning
queued	Dispatched; no runner has taken it yet.
running	A runner has it.
completed	The agent finished and reported.
failed	It ended without reporting. The record says what the tool said.
halted	Stopped at a cap, by a person, or because the runner never reported back.
waiting_for_quota	The agent's account had no allowance left. Recorded as work that never started; it holds the queue until the time the account names.
conflict_with_main	The default branch moved under it and git would not merge the two. The files that clashed are on the record.

A release

State	Meaning
waiting_for_ground	Pressed while an attempt of this project was still running. It is kept, not refused, and takes itself the moment the last attempt ends.
queued	The ground is free. Waiting for a runner to take it.
taken	A runner has it: merging the branch, then starting your deploy.
waiting_for_person	The default branch is protected; a pull request was opened instead.
merged	DoneMark has seen the merge commit on the default branch.
live	Observed answering at that commit.
refused	It did not go through, and the reason is recorded. Most often the branch no longer merges.
withdrawn	A person took the release back. Never a failure, and never confused with refused.

A release travels in one direction, and only two states end it:

pressed ──▶ waiting_for_ground ──▶ queued ──▶ taken ──┬──▶ merged ──▶ live
                (an attempt is        (the ground      │
                 still running)        is free)        ├──▶ waiting_for_person
                                                       └──▶ refused

withdrawn is the one way a release leaves without going through, and it is a person's own doing.

Sending accepted work round again

Work that a person accepted can still fail to reach the default branch: another attempt landed first and the branch no longer merges. The seal is untouched by that — it keeps its number, its verdict and its evidence — and the requirement page says the work is judged and not on the default branch, with one control: Send it round again.

That starts an attempt of a particular kind, called a landing. It is not a state, and it is not a fresh ask:

An ordinary attempt	A landing
Asks for work that has not been judged	Carries work a person already accepted
Opens a door, and waits for a verdict	Opens no door, and is never re-judged
May seal a new DoneMark	The seal keeps its number
Starts from the default branch	Rebuilds that judged work on today's default branch

If the rebuilt branch comes back green and merges cleanly, DoneMark releases it itself and the trail says so. If it still will not merge, it is refused in the same words as any release, and the way back round is offered again.

Evidence — what DoneMark observed

Type	What it is
ci_run	A run of your CI and what it concluded.
criterion_check	What CI said about the check a criterion named.
diff_stat	What the change actually touched.
artifact	What CI published: the report, the pictures.
screenshot	A screen at the moment a check passed.
preview	A running copy of the attempt, to try.
build	A build, where the project has one.
scope_violation	A change outside the files the envelope allowed.
method_substitution	The attempt used a different method than the ask named.
manual_review	A person's own look, recorded as a person's.
journey	One step of a journey walked on the running copy, with its picture.
main_basis	Which commit of the default branch the attempt was built on.
measurement_changed	The attempt changed how it is itself measured — a CI file, a test configuration — so the judge is told before reading the rest.

Evidence can also be cancelled: a CI run that was cancelled observed nothing, so it counts for neither pass nor fail.

Each piece carries its source. criterion_check is never something an agent promises to produce — it is what DoneMark reads out of CI's own report.

Claims — what the agent said

Type	What it means
tests_pass	The agent says the checks pass.
implemented	The agent says it built the thing.
files_changed	The agent's account of what it touched.
criteria_met	The agent's view of a criterion, met or not.
infeasible	It cannot be done as asked, and why. A complete, acceptable report.
other	Anything else the agent wanted on the record.

A claim is never used as a result. Independent evidence is collected to check it.

A release, while it is built

A release is built in rounds; these are the states of the round under way.

State	Meaning
planned	Its requirements are chosen; waiting for the runner.
building	Being built, one requirement after another, on the release's branch.
proving	Being tested, once, for all of them.
reviewing	Ready to look at.
fixing	A fix round, with the judge's reasons.
landing	Sealed and going live.
landed	Live, or merged where the project does not deploy.
stopped	Stopped by a person or at its hours.

A verdict

Outcome	On the screen	Meaning
accepted	Sign off	A DoneMark is sealed, numbered.
rejected	Not quite	Recorded with the reason; no number; the next attempt starts from it.
overtaken	seal it as overtaken	The requirement no longer stands. No judgement on the work.

A decision

State	Meaning
approved	Told to every attempt from the moment it was recorded.
withdrawn	No longer told. Kept, with who withdrew it and when.

Roles and seats

Role	May
admin	Everything, including people and settings.
author	Write requirements and dispatch attempts. Approving one needs the judge seat.
reader	Read.

Judge is granted per project and is what a verdict requires.