diff --git a/lib/xos-config/xosconfig/default.py b/lib/xos-config/xosconfig/default.py
index afed387..2e37229 100644
--- a/lib/xos-config/xosconfig/default.py
+++ b/lib/xos-config/xosconfig/default.py
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@
 
 DEFAULT_VALUES = {
     "xos_dir": "/opt/xos",
+    "desired_state": "load", # synchronizers - default to "load"
     # The configuration below inherits from the standard config of the Python logging module
     # See: https://docs.python.org/2/library/logging.config.html
     # multistructlog supports this config in all of its generality
diff --git a/lib/xos-config/xosconfig/synchronizer-config-schema.yaml b/lib/xos-config/xosconfig/synchronizer-config-schema.yaml
index 532ca3c..357e8d9 100644
--- a/lib/xos-config/xosconfig/synchronizer-config-schema.yaml
+++ b/lib/xos-config/xosconfig/synchronizer-config-schema.yaml
@@ -15,6 +15,8 @@
 map:
   name:
     type: str
+  desired_state:
+    type: str
   xos_dir:
     type: str
   logging: