diff --git a/labgrid/run/run.py b/labgrid/run/run.py
index 71584b7667b7e108df410db09a773113bba72cb2..c75f47ceabaaceb946f211be9d474e393e6cd435 100644
--- a/labgrid/run/run.py
+++ b/labgrid/run/run.py
@@ -1,17 +1,24 @@
 #! /usr/bin/env python3
 from __future__ import annotations
 
-import argparse
-import os
-from argparse import REMAINDER, Action, ArgumentParser
-from contextlib import contextmanager
-from dataclasses import dataclass
+from argparse import REMAINDER, Action, ArgumentParser, Namespace
+from dataclasses import dataclass, replace
 from os import environ, linesep
 from pathlib import Path, PurePath
 from shlex import join
 from subprocess import CalledProcessError
 from sys import argv, stderr, stdout
-from typing import Collection, Iterator, Protocol, Tuple
+from typing import (
+    Any,
+    Final,
+    Iterator,
+    MutableMapping,
+    Optional,
+    Sequence,
+    Text,
+    TypeVar,
+    Union,
+)
 
 from python.runfiles import Runfiles
 
@@ -19,6 +26,8 @@ from bazel.labgrid.strategy import transition
 from bazel.labgrid.util.target import TemporaryDirectory
 from labgrid import Environment
 
+T = TypeVar("T")
+
 
 class RunfileNotFoundError(FileNotFoundError):
     pass
@@ -32,6 +41,65 @@ def runfile(path: str) -> Path:
     return resolved
 
 
+@dataclass(frozen=True)
+class State:
+    desired: str
+    initial: str | None = None
+    final: str | None = None
+
+
+class StateAction(Action):
+    __default: Final[MutableMapping] = {}
+
+    def __init__(
+        self,
+        option_strings: Sequence[str],
+        dest: str,
+        default: str | None,
+        const: Optional[T] = None,
+        help: Optional[str] = None,
+    ):
+        dest, found, attr = dest.partition(".")
+        if not found:
+            raise ValueError("`dest` must contain `.`")
+        self.attr = attr
+        super().__init__(
+            option_strings,
+            dest,
+            nargs=0,
+            const=const,
+            default=default,
+            type=None,
+            choices=None,
+            required=False,
+            help=help,
+            metavar=None,
+        )
+
+    @property
+    def default(self) -> State:
+        return State(**self.__default)
+
+    @default.setter
+    def default(self, value: str | None) -> None:
+        self.__default[self.attr] = value
+
+    def __call__(
+        self,
+        parser: ArgumentParser,
+        namespace: Namespace,
+        values: Union[str, Sequence[Any], None],
+        option_string: Optional[Text] = None,
+    ) -> None:
+        assert isinstance(values, str)
+        try:
+            state = getattr(namespace, self.dest)
+        except AttributeError:
+            state = self.default
+        state = replace(state, **{self.attr: values})
+        setattr(namespace, self.dest, state)
+
+
 def arguments(prsr: ArgumentParser) -> None:
     prsr.add_argument(
         "program", metavar="PROG", help="The program to run on the device.", type=Path
@@ -48,20 +116,23 @@ def arguments(prsr: ArgumentParser) -> None:
     prsr.add_argument(
         "--initial-state",
         help="The state to transition the LabGrid strategy to initially",
-        dest="initial",
+        dest="state.initial",
         action=StateAction,
+        default=environ.get("LG_INITIAL_STATE", None),
     )
     prsr.add_argument(
         "--state",
         help="The state to transition the LabGrid strategy to",
-        dest="desired",
+        dest="state.desired",
         action=StateAction,
+        default=environ["LG_STATE"],
     )
     prsr.add_argument(
         "--final-state",
         help="The state to transition the LabGrid strategy to at the end",
-        dest="final",
+        dest="state.final",
         action=StateAction,
+        default=environ.get("BZL_LG_FINAL_STATE", None),
     )
     prsr.add_argument(
         "--mktemp",
@@ -116,18 +187,6 @@ class Get:
         return path
 
 
-@dataclass
-class State:
-    initial: str | None = environ.get("LG_INITIAL_STATE", None)
-    desired: str = environ["LG_STATE"]
-    final: str | None = environ.get("BZL_LG_FINAL_STATE", None)
-
-
-class StateAction(argparse.Action):
-    def __call__(self, parser, namespace, values, option_string=None):
-        setattr(namespace.state, self.dest, values)
-
-
 # TODO: move this out to `bazel.labgrid.run` on day to allow downstream to re-use
 def run(
     program: Path,
@@ -186,7 +245,6 @@ def main(exe: Path, *args: str) -> int:
     prsr = ArgumentParser(
         prog=str(exe), description="Runs a command on a LabGrid device."
     )
-    prsr.set_defaults(state=State())
 
     arguments(prsr)
     parsed = prsr.parse_args(args)