The Myth of 'Boolean Distribution'
When amateur tools automate web submissions, they usually maintain a single database column: `is_submitted: boolean`. If an agent clicks a submit button, it flips the flag to `true`. This causes massive operational failure.
What happens if the directory requires email confirmation? What if the listing is placed in a 4-week moderation line? What if a Cloudflare challenge blocked the POST request? Marking a submission as 'done' simply because a button was clicked is a recipe for silent failure.
The 12 Verified States
In LaunchNests Ship, every platform submission lifecycle is governed by an explicit 12-state machine enforced at the database level with Drizzle ORM:
1. Discovered → 2. Eligible → 3. Claimed → 4. In Progress → 5. Human Required → 6. Submitted → 7. Queued → 8. Under Review → 9. Published (verified via automated HTTP 200 checks) → 10. Declined → 11. Expired → 12. Archived.
Proof-Based Verification
An agent cannot transition a submission to `published` without providing verifiable cryptographic or network proof. Our verification worker actively pings the canonical directory URL; only when an HTTP 200 response confirms the presence of the product title does the listing count as live in your dashboard.