Reconciliation repeatedly compares a system’s actual state with its declarative desired state, then applies changes that reduce the difference. In infrastructure management, Terraform detects differences through a new plan and can correct them by applying that plan. section 8.3 section 8.6.4
A reconciliation system typically:
- Stores the desired configuration in a versioned, immutable source of truth such as a shared Git repository. section 8.3
- Pulls that configuration automatically and compares it with the running infrastructure. section 8.3
- Detects drift and applies the resulting plan when correction is authorized. section 8.3.2 section 8.6.4
Scheduled drift correction
Suppose running infrastructure no longer matches the configuration stored in Git. A delivery system periodically pulls the repository, runs Terraform to create a new plan, and applies that plan to restore the declared state. Running this only for pull requests or merges can miss later drift; scheduled reconciliation continues to check the system. Teams may detect drift without automatically correcting it, instead sending notifications such as Slack alerts for human review. section 8.3.2 section 8.6.4
“Continuously” means that reconciliation keeps occurring, not that it must happen instantaneously. Terraform provides detection and correction capabilities, while a larger delivery system supplies the repeated execution needed for continuous reconciliation. section 8.3 section 8.3.2
