---
title: "Case states and errors"
description: "Read normal case states, review-required states, and failures that prevent the contract from opening."
updated: "30 August 2026"
availability: "CONTRACT REVIEW · TEST_ONLY"
candidate_route: "/docs/polya/reference/states-errors"
---

# Case states and errors

Read normal case states, review-required states, and failures that prevent the contract from opening.

**CONTRACT REVIEW · TEST_ONLY:** Review-candidate contract and local fixture evidence only · no distributed SDK, operational API, publisher parity, or decision authority

## DecisionCase states

- DRAFT — assembling the review boundary
- OPEN — ready for human comparison
- REVIEW_REQUIRED — new evidence or changed assumptions require another review
- DECIDED — a human recorded an Option; no execution authority
- CLOSED — the current review flow ended
- ARCHIVED — retained with no outgoing transition

## External-reference failures

A failure means the reference cannot be trusted or consumed. Do not soften it into a successful UI state or bypass it through automatic retry.

- SCHEMA_VERSION_UNSUPPORTED
- REFERENCE_SCOPE_MISMATCH
- REFERENCE_EXPIRED
- PUBLISHER_SIGNATURE_INVALID
- REPLAY_DETECTED
- GATE_CASE_REF_MISMATCH

## Graph-structure failures

- MISSING_FIELD or UNKNOWN_FIELD
- BINDING_CASE_VERSION_MISMATCH
- Invalid node or edge direction
- Cyclic lineage or missing endpoint
- Decision recorded by a non-human actor
- occurredAt outside the case time range

> **Operating rule:** Do not partially persist invalid input or fill the missing contract by inference.

---

Published route: /docs/polya/reference/states-errors