Document Statuses
What each document status means and how documents move through the processing pipeline.
Every document in CargoLint has a status that tells you exactly where it is in the processing pipeline. Statuses update automatically as the document moves from upload through extraction, review, and completion.
Status reference
● Uploaded
The document has been received and is queued for processing. This is the initial state immediately after upload. No extraction has started yet - the document is waiting to be sent to the AI service.
You don’t need to do anything. Processing begins automatically within a few seconds.
● Processing
The AI extraction service is actively working on the document - detecting the language, classifying the document type, and extracting every field with a confidence score. This typically takes less than 5 seconds.
You’ll see this status briefly after upload. If a document stays in Processing for more than 30 seconds, something may have gone wrong - check the troubleshooting guide.
● Pending Approval
Extraction is complete and the overall confidence score is above 70%. The document is ready for you to review and approve, but it doesn’t require urgent attention - the AI is reasonably confident in its extractions.
These documents appear in your review queue. You can approve them as-is, make corrections to specific fields, or skip them to review later.
● Review
Extraction is complete but the overall confidence score is below 70%. The AI flagged one or more fields as uncertain and the document needs your attention before it can be finalized.
Common reasons a document lands here: poor scan quality, handwritten text, unusual document layouts, mixed languages, or fields that don’t match expected patterns. The compliance panel will show exactly which fields were flagged and why.
Tip: Documents in this status are highlighted in your review queue so they’re easy to spot and prioritize.
● Completed
A reviewer has approved this document. All fields have been validated (either by the AI with high confidence or by a human reviewer), compliance rules have passed, and the data is ready for export.
Completed documents can be exported as JSON or CSV, used to generate related documents (like a packing list from an invoice), or sent to your customs system via the API or webhooks.
● Skipped
A reviewer chose to defer this document for later. It’s been set aside but not finalized - you can come back to it at any time from the review queue.
Skipping is useful when you need more information before you can review (waiting for a corrected scan, confirming an HS code with a colleague, etc.) or when you’re triaging a batch and want to focus on higher-priority documents first.
● Failed
The extraction service was unable to process this document. This could happen if the file is corrupted, the format is unsupported, the image quality is too poor for any text recognition, or an unexpected error occurred during processing.
To resolve a failed document: check that the file is a valid PDF, PNG, JPG, or TIFF under 5 MB, ensure the scan is legible, and try re-uploading. If the problem persists, check the troubleshooting guide or contact support.
How documents flow through statuses
The typical lifecycle follows a linear path:
Uploaded → Processing → Pending Approval or Review → Completed
The branch after Processing depends on the AI’s confidence. Documents scoring above 70% overall go to Pending Approval; those below 70% go to Review. Both paths lead to Completed once a reviewer approves.
Two alternative paths exist: a reviewer can Skip a document to defer it, and a document can be reprocessed (which sends a Completed document back to Processing for a fresh extraction).
Status transitions at a glance
| From | To | Trigger |
|---|---|---|
| Uploaded | Processing | Automatic - begins within seconds of upload |
| Processing | Pending Approval | Extraction completes with confidence ≥ 70% |
| Processing | Review | Extraction completes with confidence < 70% |
| Processing | Failed | Extraction encounters an unrecoverable error |
| Pending Approval | Completed | Reviewer approves (with or without corrections) |
| Review | Completed | Reviewer approves (with or without corrections) |
| Pending Approval | Skipped | Reviewer defers the document |
| Review | Skipped | Reviewer defers the document |
| Completed | Processing | Document is reprocessed (re-extraction triggered) |
Filtering by status
On the Documents page, you can filter the list by status to focus on what needs attention. The filter bar shows counts for each status so you can see at a glance how many documents are waiting for review, how many have been completed, and whether any have failed.
The review queue automatically surfaces Pending Approval and Review documents, with Review items highlighted for priority handling.
Webhooks and status changes
If you’ve configured webhooks, CargoLint fires events on key status transitions: document.reviewed when a document moves to Completed, document.completed as a confirmation event, and document.skipped when a document is deferred. See webhook setup for details.
What’s next
- Reviewing documents - the full review workflow for Pending Approval and Review documents
- How confidence scoring works - understand the 70% threshold that determines review routing
- Uploading documents - best practices for uploads that lead to higher confidence scores