Machine Models
A machine model arranges behavior as a system with configurations, typed inputs, admissible actions, and decisions. Its surface exposes the actions offered in each configuration. A configuration may be a predicate over authoritative entity state; it need not be a separately stored field.
An edge selects a decision from the current configuration, an input, and explicit observations. Evaluation can propose a state change and owed effects. It does not itself commit an entity transition or perform an effect. Connecting two machines still requires checking their protocol roles, assumptions, and outstanding obligations.
A lifecycle machine may constrain a single entity. A machine coordinating work over time may participate in a process graph. Neither choice implies a process manager, durable execution, or a runtime process. State machines supply the general modeling principle; process theories explain the different senses of process.