How Do I Define a Lifecycle?

Use a lifecycle when a capability has meaningful progression over time. A lifecycle names where work begins, which steps it can occupy, what it waits for, and what causes movement.

Make Movement Explicit

A transition should always say what caused it. Deadlines should cause an explicit outcome, and that outcome can then move the lifecycle.

payment-processing.dcl

language dcl 0.9

actor Customer is human

shape PaymentInput {
  orderId: Uuid required
  amount: Money required
}

event PaymentReceived is {
  orderId: Uuid required
}

capability CollectPayment {
  intent PaymentInput from Customer

  outcomes {
    PaymentRequested
    PaymentExpired
  }

  when {
    always then PaymentRequested
  }

  events {
    emits PaymentReceived
  }

  lifecycle {
    begin AwaitingPayment

    step AwaitingPayment waits for event PaymentReceived {
      deadline 15 minutes causing outcome PaymentExpired
    }

    end Paid
    end Expired

    move AwaitingPayment to Paid
      on event PaymentReceived

    move AwaitingPayment to Expired
      on outcome PaymentExpired
  }
}

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