drift
/dɹɪft/noun
Drift is a difference caused by a managed environment changing outside its recorded configuration. The actual settings no longer match what the files describe.
Changing the budget in the Google Ads console caused drift from our campaign file.
With Glossary · In briefdeclarativeDeclarative means describing the desired outcome without specifying every step the software must take to achieve it.Read more management, you describe the desired settings in files. Someone can still change a setting directly in an administration screen. Another program can also make changes. If those changes are not reflected in the configuration, drift occurs.
A change outside the files
Suppose a campaign file specifies a daily budget of €30. A colleague increases it to €40 in Google Ads without updating the file. Our tooling reads the current settings during the next comparison and finds the difference. The proposed change appears in the Glossary · In briefdiffA diff is an overview of the differences between two versions of a file or two states. It shows what has been added, removed or changed.Read more. Terraform detects drift using the same principle.
Detecting drift does not mean every difference should be reversed automatically. The change may have been intentional. You can update the configuration or restore the environment to the agreed settings. What matters is making the difference visible so you can decide how to handle it.
A new edit to your configuration is not itself drift: it is a desired change that has yet to be applied.