 <p>I'm using.</p> <pre><code>$status = Mage::getModel('sales/order_status'); $status-&gt;setStatus('xyz')-&gt;setLabel('Your Status Label'); $status-&gt;save(); $status-&gt;assignState(Mage_Sales_Model_Order::STATE_PROCESSING); </code></pre> <p>You can use it in installer or not.</p>