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History Behavior

History powers deterministic back navigation.

history vs visited​

  • history: previous-step stack used by HISTORY_TARGET.
  • visited: unique ordered list of all reached steps.

visited survives history trimming.

HISTORY_TARGET Resolution​

When transition target is HISTORY_TARGET:

  1. Read latest entry from history.
  2. Skip invalid entries.
  3. Move to first valid prior step.
  4. Remove consumed entry from history.

If no valid entry exists, machine stays on current step.

Common Back Pattern​

import { HISTORY_TARGET } from "@rxova/journey-core";

{ from: "*", event: "back", to: HISTORY_TARGET }

Capacity and Trimming​

Defaults:

  • maxHistory = 50
  • maxHistory = null disables trimming.

onOverflow gets:

  • previous
  • next
  • trimmed
  • reason: "auto" | "hydrate" | "manual"

Manual APIs​

machine.trimHistory(10);
machine.clearHistory();

Design Guidance​

  • Keep global back rule near top-level transitions.
  • For restricted back paths, add specific transitions before wildcard back.
  • Use visited for analytics/progress, not history.