Various embodiments of the present disclosure provide for an asynchronous state engine incorporated within a host application program. The state engine may operate based on a state transition table that may be updated independently of the host application. The state transition table may instruct the asynchronous state engine as to actions that should be performed prior to changing states. Such actions may include interacting with external applications. The state transition table may also instruct the host application to reside in a hold state until responses from external applications are received. Furthermore, the state transition table may instruct the host application as to follow up actions that should be performed when a state is entered. By allowing an external application to plug-in criteria for state changes within the host application, development of the host application may maintain a significant level of flexibility.