---
layout: docs
page_title: Strategy
sidebar_title: Strategy
description: Strategy plugins compare the current state of the system against the desired state.
---

# Strategy Plugins

Strategy plugins compare the current state of the system against the desired state
defined by the operator in the scaling policy and generate an action that will
bring the system closer to the desired state. In practical terms, strategies
receive the current count and a metric value for a task group or from servers in a
cluster, and output what the new count should be.

## Target Value Strategy Plugin

The target value strategy plugin will perform count calculations in order to keep
the value resulting from the APM query at or around a specified target.

### Agent Configuration Options

```hcl
strategy "target-value" {
  driver = "target-value"
}
```

### Policy Configuration Options

```hcl
check {
  ...
  strategy "target-value" {
    target    = 20
    threshold = 0.0001
  }
  ...
```

- `target` `(float: <required>)` - Specifies the metric value the Autscaler
  should try to meet.

- `threshold` `(float: 0.01)` - Specifies how significant a change in the input
  metric should be considered. Small threshold values can lead to output
  fluctuation.
