addressing comments

hudi-client/hudi-client-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hudi/client/BaseHoodieWriteClient.java

@@ -337,7 +337,7 @@ protected void preCommit(HoodieInstant inflightInstant, HoodieCommitMetadata met
   protected void writeTableMetadata(HoodieTable table, String instantTime, String actionType, HoodieCommitMetadata metadata) {
     context.setJobStatus(this.getClass().getSimpleName(), "Committing to metadata table: " + config.getTableName());
     table.getMetadataWriter(instantTime).ifPresent(w -> ((HoodieTableMetadataWriter) w).update(metadata, instantTime,
-        table.isTableServiceAction(new HoodieInstant(State.INFLIGHT, actionType, instantTime))));
+        table.isTableServiceAction(actionType, instantTime)));
   }
 
   /**

hudi-client/hudi-client-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hudi/table/HoodieTable.java

@@ -860,19 +860,20 @@ public final Option<HoodieTableMetadataWriter> getMetadataWriter(String triggeri
 
   /**
    * Check if action type is a table service.
-   * @param instant instant of interest
+   * @param actionType action type of the instant
+   * @param instantTime instant time of the instant.
    * @return true if action represents a table service. false otherwise.
    */
-  public boolean isTableServiceAction(HoodieInstant instant) {
-    if (instant.getAction().equals(HoodieTimeline.REPLACE_COMMIT_ACTION)) {
-      Option<Pair<HoodieInstant, HoodieClusteringPlan>> instantPlan = ClusteringUtils.getClusteringPlan(metaClient, instant);
+  public boolean isTableServiceAction(String actionType, String instantTime) {
+    if (actionType.equals(HoodieTimeline.REPLACE_COMMIT_ACTION)) {
+      Option<Pair<HoodieInstant, HoodieClusteringPlan>> instantPlan = ClusteringUtils.getClusteringPlan(metaClient, new HoodieInstant(HoodieInstant.State.NIL, actionType, instantTime));
       // only clustering is table service with replace commit action
       return instantPlan.isPresent();
     } else {
       if (this.metaClient.getTableType() == HoodieTableType.COPY_ON_WRITE) {
-        return !instant.getAction().equals(HoodieTimeline.COMMIT_ACTION);
+        return !actionType.equals(HoodieTimeline.COMMIT_ACTION);
       } else {
-        return !instant.getAction().equals(HoodieTimeline.DELTA_COMMIT_ACTION);
+        return !actionType.equals(HoodieTimeline.DELTA_COMMIT_ACTION);
       }
     }
   }

hudi-client/hudi-client-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hudi/table/action/BaseActionExecutor.java

@@ -27,7 +27,6 @@
 import org.apache.hudi.common.engine.HoodieEngineContext;
 import org.apache.hudi.common.model.HoodieCommitMetadata;
 import org.apache.hudi.common.model.HoodieRecordPayload;
-import org.apache.hudi.common.table.timeline.HoodieInstant;
 import org.apache.hudi.common.util.Option;
 import org.apache.hudi.config.HoodieWriteConfig;
 import org.apache.hudi.table.HoodieTable;
@@ -59,7 +58,7 @@ public BaseActionExecutor(HoodieEngineContext context, HoodieWriteConfig config,
    */
   protected final void writeTableMetadata(HoodieCommitMetadata metadata, String actionType) {
     table.getMetadataWriter(instantTime).ifPresent(w -> w.update(
-        metadata, instantTime, table.isTableServiceAction(new HoodieInstant(HoodieInstant.State.INFLIGHT, actionType, instantTime))));
+        metadata, instantTime, table.isTableServiceAction(actionType, instantTime)));
   }
 
   /**

hudi-client/hudi-flink-client/src/main/java/org/apache/hudi/client/HoodieFlinkWriteClient.java

@@ -287,7 +287,7 @@ protected void writeTableMetadata(HoodieTable table, String instantTime, String
       // the schema expects to be immutable for SQL jobs but may be not for non-SQL
       // jobs.
       this.metadataWriter.initTableMetadata();
-      this.metadataWriter.update(metadata, instantTime, getHoodieTable().isTableServiceAction(new HoodieInstant(HoodieInstant.State.INFLIGHT, actionType, instantTime)));
+      this.metadataWriter.update(metadata, instantTime, getHoodieTable().isTableServiceAction(actionType, instantTime));
     } finally {
       this.txnManager.getLockManager().unlock();
     }

hudi-client/hudi-spark-client/src/main/java/org/apache/hudi/client/SparkRDDWriteClient.java

@@ -483,7 +483,7 @@ private void validateClusteringCommit(HoodieWriteMetadata<JavaRDD<WriteStatus>>
 
   private void updateTableMetadata(HoodieTable table, HoodieCommitMetadata commitMetadata,
                                    HoodieInstant hoodieInstant) {
-    boolean isTableServiceAction = table.isTableServiceAction(hoodieInstant);
+    boolean isTableServiceAction = table.isTableServiceAction(hoodieInstant.getAction(), hoodieInstant.getTimestamp());
     // Do not do any conflict resolution here as we do with regular writes. We take the lock here to ensure all writes to metadata table happens within a
     // single lock (single writer). Because more than one write to metadata table will result in conflicts since all of them updates the same partition.
     table.getMetadataWriter(hoodieInstant.getTimestamp())

hudi-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hudi/common/table/timeline/HoodieInstant.java

@@ -67,7 +67,7 @@ public enum State {
     // Committed instant
     COMPLETED,
     // Invalid instant
-    INVALID
+    NIL
   }
 
   private State state = State.COMPLETED;

hudi-common/src/test/java/org/apache/hudi/common/table/timeline/TestHoodieActiveTimeline.java

@@ -657,7 +657,7 @@ private List<HoodieInstant> getAllInstants() {
     List<HoodieInstant> allInstants = new ArrayList<>();
     long instantTime = 1;
     for (State state : State.values()) {
-      if (state == State.INVALID) {
+      if (state == State.NIL) {
         continue;
       }
       for (String action : HoodieTimeline.VALID_ACTIONS_IN_TIMELINE) {