diff --git a/codex/utils/statemachine.nim b/codex/utils/statemachine.nim
index 9b7a4309..51c3ac15 100644
--- a/codex/utils/statemachine.nim
+++ b/codex/utils/statemachine.nim
@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
+import std/typetraits
+import pkg/chronicles
 import pkg/questionable
 import pkg/chronos
 import ./optionalcast
@@ -62,6 +64,9 @@ type
   State* = ref object of RootObj
     context: ?StateMachine
 
+method `$`*(state: State): string {.base.} =
+  (typeof state).name
+
 method enter(state: State) {.base.} =
   discard
 
@@ -88,6 +93,8 @@ proc switch*(oldState, newState: State) =
 
 type
   AsyncState* = ref object of State
+    activeTransition: ?Future[void]
+  StateMachineAsync* =  ref object of StateMachine
 
 method enterAsync(state: AsyncState) {.base, async.} =
   discard
@@ -100,3 +107,26 @@ method enter(state: AsyncState) =
 
 method exit(state: AsyncState) =
   asyncSpawn state.exitAsync()
+
+proc switchAsync*(machine: StateMachineAsync, newState: AsyncState) {.async.} =
+  if state =? (machine.state as AsyncState):
+    trace "Switching sales state", `from`=state, to=newState
+    debugEcho "switching from ", state, " to ", newState
+    if activeTransition =? state.activeTransition and
+        not activeTransition.completed:
+      await activeTransition.cancelAndWait()
+    # should wait for exit before switch. could add a transition option during
+    # switch if we don't need to wait
+    await state.exitAsync()
+    state.context = none StateMachine
+  else:
+    trace "Switching sales state", `from`="no state", to=newState
+    debugEcho "switching from no state to ", newState
+
+  machine.state = some State(newState)
+  newState.context = some StateMachine(machine)
+  newState.activeTransition = some newState.enterAsync()
+
+proc switchAsync*(oldState, newState: AsyncState) {.async.} =
+  if context =? oldState.context:
+    await StateMachineAsync(context).switchAsync(newState)
diff --git a/tests/codex/testutils.nim b/tests/codex/testutils.nim
index 3b3b7c24..e174d07f 100644
--- a/tests/codex/testutils.nim
+++ b/tests/codex/testutils.nim
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 import ./utils/teststatemachine
+import ./utils/teststatemachineasync
 import ./utils/testoptionalcast
 import ./utils/testkeyutils
 
diff --git a/tests/codex/utils/teststatemachineasync.nim b/tests/codex/utils/teststatemachineasync.nim
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..38431b41
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/codex/utils/teststatemachineasync.nim
@@ -0,0 +1,30 @@
+import pkg/asynctest
+import pkg/chronos
+import pkg/questionable
+import codex/utils/statemachine
+
+type
+  AsyncMachine = ref object of StateMachineAsync
+  LongRunningStart = ref object of AsyncState
+  LongRunningFinish = ref object of AsyncState
+  LongRunningError = ref object of AsyncState
+  Callback = proc(): Future[void] {.gcsafe.}
+
+proc triggerIn(time: Duration, cb: Callback) {.async.} =
+  await sleepAsync(time)
+  await cb()
+
+method enterAsync(state: LongRunningStart) {.async.} =
+  proc cb() {.async.} =
+    await state.switchAsync(LongRunningFinish())
+  asyncSpawn triggerIn(500.milliseconds, cb)
+  await sleepAsync(1.seconds)
+  await state.switchAsync(LongRunningError())
+
+suite "async state machines":
+
+  test "can cancel a state":
+    let am = AsyncMachine()
+    await am.switchAsync(LongRunningStart())
+    await sleepAsync(2.seconds)
+    check (am.state as LongRunningFinish).isSome