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Every envelope moves through a defined set of states. The same lifecycle applies no matter which surface created the envelope.

States

StateMeaning
draftCreated; fully editable. Detection may still be running.
reviewDetection complete; fields assigned. Awaiting the Send action.
in_progressSent; one or more participants still need to act.
completedAll participants signed. Signed PDF and certificate available.
voidedCancelled before completion.
declinedA participant declined; the envelope is terminated.
expiredReached its expiration before completing.

Transitions

1

Create → draft

Submitting a document and participants creates the envelope in draft and kicks off detection asynchronously. The response returns immediately with the envelope ID and a review URL.
2

draft → review

Detection finishes and assigns every field to a participant. Anything in draft or review is fully editable — fields, participants, and policy.
3

review → in_progress

On Send, a credit is consumed and the first participant is emailed their link. With review-first (the default), a human clicks Send; with auto-send or a trusted template, Atlas sends as soon as detection completes.
4

in_progress → completed

The last participant submits. Atlas stamps the final PDF, generates the audit certificate, notifies sender and signers, and fires webhooks.

Mid-flight actions

Available to the sender via the REST API, MCP, and dashboard equivalently:
  • Remind — re-send the current participant’s signing email (free, rate-limited).
  • Resend / recover link — reissue a participant’s link.
  • Void — cancel any envelope before completion. Signers who open a voided link see a clear “this document was canceled” state.
  • Edit draftsdraft/review envelopes are fully editable; nothing is editable after send except voiding.
  • Scheduled send & auto-reminders — the envelope policy can schedule a future send, a reminder cadence, and an expiration, all handled without caller involvement.

After completion

  • Signed PDF — the original with all signatures, values, and completion stamps embedded.
  • Audit certificate — the companion PDF documenting the evidentiary record.
  • Structured extraction — on request, Atlas extracts the contract’s substantive terms (parties, dates, amounts, renewal, governing law) as structured data, optionally delivered by webhook.
  • Verification — a public surface to confirm a signed document’s integrity.
Track lifecycle transitions with webhooks rather than polling — every transition above emits an event.