Desired State

​​ Infrastructure as Code

In the context of Infrastructure as Code a Desired State is a declaration of what an infrastructure should look like.

An Infrastructure as Code implementation could then compare the Desired State to the Current State to determine what changes need to be made in order to get from the Current State to the Desired State; by executing those actions the Current State becomes identical to the Desired State.

​​ Other applications

The mechanism of defining a Desired State, determining the Current State, and then identifying actions to make the Current State identical to the Desired State can basically be applied to anything, including realizing a (long term) vision, for example.