drift Docs
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What is Drift?
The tour, if you are new here.
Why Drift?
The case for a smaller cloud.
Getting started
Nothing to deployed, in one command.
Architecture
How a slice is put together.
What it costs
The free grant, five unit prices, two rules.
Build
Atomic
Serverless functions.
Write a function
The handler shape, and what you pay for.
The directive
Trigger, route, auth and secrets on one line.
Six languages
Go, Python, Node, Ruby, PHP, Rust.
Runtime versions
Which interpreter version your function runs on.
Authentication
The auth= gate, and per-route API keys.
Request headers
What reaches your handler, and what does not.
Triggers
Queue-triggered and scheduled functions.
Streaming
SSE and WebSocket from one function.
Outbound egress
What a slice may dial.
Limits and alerts
Timeout, memory and rate, and being told.
Elements
One language, one manifest, many functions.
The CLI surface
Every drift atomic command.
Backbone
Secrets, data, blobs, queues.
NoSQL
JSON collections, upserted on _id.
SQL
Per-slice SQLite, with transactions.
Blobs
Files and uploads, organised by bucket.
Secrets
Encrypted config a function declares.
Queues
FIFO messages that trigger functions.
Cache
Key/value strings with a TTL.
Locks
Stop two workers doing one job.
Realtime
In-slice pub/sub over WebSocket.
Canvas
Static sites, same origin as your API.
Deed
Identity, devices and wallets.
KeyAuth
Passwordless login with device keys.
JWT
Sign and verify with the slice's own key.
Vault
Ciphertext the slice cannot read.
Link
Enroll a second device by attestation.
Pocket
E2EE app data that follows an identity.
Tools
CLI
One binary, every noun.
Reference
The binary, and every noun.
account
Sign up, log in, delete.
slice
Create, resize, snapshot, domains.
project
Deploy, diff, run locally.
file
Lint and explain a Driftfile.
atomic
One function at a time.
backbone
Reach into the data plane.
deed
One read-only status command.
canvas
Deploy a static site.
migrate
Move off another cloud.
Dashboard
What bare drift opens.
SDK
Six languages, zero dependencies.
Writing a handler
Arguments, request, return.
API reference
Both namespaces, every call.
NoSQL
Documents, by _id or storage key.
SQL
Queries and transactions.
Cache
Strings with a TTL.
Secrets
Read what the function declared.
Blobs
Bytes, addressed bucket/key.
Queues
Push, and pull if you must.
Locks
A token you hand back.
Realtime
Publish, and count who heard.
Deed
KeyAuth, JWT, Vault, Link, Pocket.
Utilities
Logs, egress, cross-slice calls.
Languages
The same handler, six ways.
Driftfile
One file that describes your app.
Anatomy
Every top-level key, and the name rules.
A worked example
One app with every section written out.
Atomic
Function limits, schedules, alerts, egress.
Backbone
Collections, databases, buckets, secrets.
Canvas
Sites, and the route each mounts on.
Domains
Custom hostnames the slice answers on.
Environments
One project, several slices, one file.
Deploying
Lint it, hook a build on, read its errors.
Operate
Auth
Accounts, tokens and scopes.
Security
Boundaries, sandboxing and hardening.

Atomic Authentication

The auth keyword is enforced inside your slice, immediately before the function is invoked, not at the platform edge. The edge authenticates nothing on /api/*: it forwards X-API-Key and Authorization through untouched. A 401 or 403 on a function call came from your slice, and it read the same headers your own application code can read.

Mode Behaviour
auth=nonePublic. Anyone can call it, and it is the default when auth= is omitted.
auth=apikeyRequires the configured key. Missing credential → 401. Wrong key → 403 (compared in constant time). No key ever set for this function → 503 api key not configured for this function.
anything else403 unknown auth type on every request. Nothing rejects the value at deploy time, so a typo, or auth=jwt, ships cleanly and then refuses every caller, valid credential or not.

The key may arrive as X-API-Key or in Authorization: bare, Bearer <key> or ApiKey <key>. A browser app that cannot set a custom header can use Authorization instead.

Managing keys

Shell
drift atomic auth set my-function <api-key>      # --method defaults to post
drift atomic auth set my-function <api-key> -m get
drift atomic auth list my-function              # every method's fingerprint for this path
drift atomic auth revoke my-function -m get

set and revoke address one method and path, and --method/-m defaults to post. Revoking without it leaves a key on the GET function at the same path in force. list takes no method: it reports every method configured for the path.

Setting a key is itself an auth-mode change.

A configured key makes that route apikey-protected even when it declared auth=none; revoking returns it to open. Keys survive a slice restart.

For richer rules (sessions, roles, expiry) mint and verify tokens inside the function with the SDK's drift.Deed.JWT primitive (a per-slice signing key you never have to manage). See the Authentication guide → for the full login → protected-route flow.