What is EventMachine?

EventMachine is an event-driven state machine library for Laravel, inspired by XState. It helps you model complex application workflows as predictable, testable state machines with full event sourcing support.

The Problem

Consider an order processing system. An order can be:

• Pending - waiting for payment
• Paid - payment received, ready to ship
• Shipped - on the way to customer
• Delivered - customer received it
• Cancelled - order was cancelled

Without a state machine, you might write code like this:

class Order extends Model
{
    public function pay(): void
    {
        if ($this->status !== 'pending') {
            throw new Exception('Can only pay pending orders');
        }

        $this->status = 'paid';
        $this->paid_at = now();
        $this->save();

        // Send confirmation email
        // Update inventory
        // Notify warehouse
    }

    public function ship(): void
    {
        if ($this->status !== 'paid') {
            throw new Exception('Can only ship paid orders');
        }

        // More conditional logic...
    }

    // ... more methods with more conditions
}

This approach has problems:

• Scattered logic - validation spread across methods
• Hidden states - possible states not explicitly defined
• Hard to test - need to test many conditional paths
• No history - can't see how order got to current state

The Solution

EventMachine models your workflow as an explicit state machine:

use Tarfinlabs\EventMachine\Actor\Machine;
use Tarfinlabs\EventMachine\Definition\MachineDefinition;

class OrderMachine extends Machine
{
    public static function definition(): MachineDefinition
    {
        return MachineDefinition::define(
            config: [
                'id' => 'order',
                'initial' => 'pending',
                'states' => [
                    'pending' => [
                        'on' => [
                            'PAY' => 'paid',
                            'CANCEL' => 'cancelled',
                        ],
                    ],
                    'paid' => [
                        'on' => [
                            'SHIP' => 'shipped',
                            'REFUND' => 'cancelled',
                        ],
                    ],
                    'shipped' => [
                        'on' => [
                            'DELIVER' => 'delivered',
                        ],
                    ],
                    'delivered' => [
                        'type' => 'final',
                    ],
                    'cancelled' => [
                        'type' => 'final',
                    ],
                ],
            ],
        );
    }
}

Now the workflow is:

• Explicit - all states and transitions visible at a glance
• Self-documenting - the code IS the documentation
• Predictable - invalid transitions are impossible
• Testable - test each state and transition independently

Key Concepts

States

A state represents a distinct phase in your workflow. An order is either pending, paid, shipped, etc. - never something in between.

Events

Events trigger transitions between states. When you send() a PAY event to a pending order, it transitions to paid.

Transitions

Transitions define how states connect. The arrow from pending to paid when PAY happens is a transition.

Context

Context is the data that travels with your machine. For an order, this might be the customer info, line items, total amount, etc.

Behaviors

Behaviors are the actions, guards, and calculations that happen during transitions:

• Actions - side effects like sending emails
• Guards - conditions that must be true for a transition
• Calculators - compute values before guards run

Parallel States

Parallel states (orthogonal states) allow multiple independent regions to be active simultaneously. For example, an order fulfillment might have payment, shipping, and document generation happening concurrently - each with their own states and transitions.

Event Sourcing Built-In

Every state transition is automatically persisted as an event:

$machine = OrderMachine::create();
$machine->send(['type' => 'PAY', 'amount' => 99.99]);
$machine->send(['type' => 'SHIP', 'tracking' => 'ABC123']);

This creates a complete audit trail:

Event	Payload	State After
(initial)	-	pending
PAY		paid
SHIP		shipped

You can restore the exact state at any point:

// Get the root event ID
$rootEventId = $machine->state->history->first()->root_event_id;

// Later: restore to the exact state
$restored = OrderMachine::create(state: $rootEventId);
$restored->state->matches('shipped'); // true

What is root_event_id?

The root_event_id is a unique identifier (UUID) that links all events belonging to the same machine instance. Think of it as a session ID for the machine - every event recorded during that machine's lifecycle shares the same root_event_id. When you restore a machine using this ID, EventMachine replays all events to reconstruct the exact state.

Why EventMachine?

Feature	Traditional Approach	EventMachine
State visibility	Implicit in code	Explicit configuration
Valid transitions	Runtime checks	Compile-time guarantees
History	Manual logging	Automatic event sourcing
Testing	Mock everything	Test states in isolation
Debugging	Print statements	Replay event history
Documentation	Separate docs	Code is documentation

When to Use EventMachine

EventMachine is ideal for:

• Business workflows - orders, subscriptions, approvals
• Multi-step processes - onboarding, checkout, wizards
• Long-running processes - background jobs with state
• Audit requirements - financial, compliance, legal
• Complex conditional logic - many if/else branches

Not sure if you need EventMachine?

See When Not to Use a State Machine for a decision framework with a flowchart, real-world examples, and graduation signals.

Testing

EventMachine is designed for testability. See Testing Overview to get started.