A state is a condition or stage during a flow in which the processor satisfies some condition, performs some activity, or waits for some event. In a statechart diagram of the flow, each of the nodes relates to a specific state of the processor. Within the definition of a flow processor, there is a definition for every state that the process can attain. The state definition determines how the processor behaves in response to events that happen while the processor is in that state. A processor must have only one initial state, but it can have as much final states as wanted.

A state has a set of entry actions to execute whenever the processor enters the state. The state executes the actions in the order of appearance in the state's external definition rather than by name. The state also has a set of transitions that the processor uses to exit the state. Unlike actions, a state accesses transitions by name.

A state implements the State interface of the Automaton. The toolkit provides the DSEState as a parent class for states. The DSEHtmlState is an example of a state implementation.