The life of an entry.
Nine states, and at every one of them the console says which it is and what has to happen next. These are the console's own words, not a paraphrase.
| State | What it means | Whose move |
|---|---|---|
| Draft | Being prepared. Send it for approval once the lines are complete. | The entry writer |
| Waiting for approval | A licensed broker has to approve it before it can be filed. | The licensed broker |
| Sent back for correction | A licensed broker returned it with a reason. Fix it and send it again. | The entry writer |
| Approved — ready to file | Approved by a licensed broker. Filing it charges the wallet. | The licensed broker |
| Sent to filing | Handed to the filing system. CBP has not answered yet. | The filing system |
| Filed through ABI | The entry has left through the brokerage's ABI system. CBP has it and is working through it. | CBP |
| Released by CBP | The shipment is cleared to move. | Nobody — it is done |
| Held by CBP | CBP is holding the shipment. The disposition message says what they want. | The licensed broker |
| Rejected by CBP | CBP refused the filing. Correct it and file again. | The entry writer |
Where the desk stops.
Entries are prepared, checked and approved on Declarly by a licensed broker; filings leave through the ABI system your brokerage already uses.
Sent to filing is the moment of handover, and it is why it exists as its own state rather than being folded into the one before or after it. Up to that point the entry is on somebody's desk in your workspace and somebody can still change it. After it, it is out of the desk's hands and what happens next is reported, not decided: Filed through ABI, then whatever CBP says.
That is also why Waiting for approval and Approved — ready to file are shown the same colour in the console. Both are still sitting with the desk. The distinction that matters to a supervisor scanning a screen is not which of the two it is, but whether it is still theirs at all.
Nobody approves their own work.
Only a licensed broker can approve an entry, and the platform will not accept an approval from the person who prepared it. That is not a setting.
An approval is recorded against the person who gave it, with the entry as it stood at that moment. Editing an entry after approval sends it back: the approval described a document, and a different document has not been approved.
Filing an approved entry charges the workspace's prepaid wallet at its agreed rate, which is why the console says so on the state itself — Approved by a licensed broker. Filing it charges the wallet. What it charges and how the wallet works.
Two checks that stop a filing.
Both are refused when the entry is sent for approval and again when it is filed, because an entry can be edited in between and the second check is the last moment before the wallet is charged.
A line with a quantity and no unit of measure
Ten pieces and ten kilograms are different filings. The entry names the unit before it can leave.
A line that names no manufacturer
An entry summary states the manufacturer ID for the goods on every line. Declarly stores the MID as it was given to it; it does not build one from a name and address, and it does not verify one.
Both refusals name the lines they are about, so the preparer is told which line to fix rather than that something, somewhere, is wrong.
What the co-pilot suggests, and what it does not.
Declarly suggests to the six-digit heading. The licensed broker decides the statistical code and completes the line.
That is a deliberate limit, not a limitation of the model. CBP Headquarters ruling H350722 (16 January 2026) treats HTS suggestions beyond six digits that feed an entry on the same platform as customs business. Declarly is a software company, so it stops at the heading.
When one of your own supervisors has confirmed a classification for a description before, the platform recognises it as yours and says so on the line, with the score it issued at the time. A suggestion the model made and a classification your broker confirmed are different things and the record keeps them apart.
Declarly is not a customs broker and does not give classification advice. Ask us anything about this at hello@declarly.com.