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.

drift file

Driftfile questions answered on your laptop. Every subcommand is offline, with no account, no slice and no network, so “is line 9 a typo?” costs milliseconds instead of a failed deploy.

Command Description
drift file lint [path]Validate a Driftfile exactly as a deploy would. Exits non-zero on the first invalid file, so it can gate a CI job.
drift file explain [path]Print the shape the file resolves to, inherited defaults included. Pass --env staging to apply that environment's overlay first.
drift file fmt [path]Rewrite in canonical key order and 2-space indentation. --write updates in place; comments and short forms survive.
drift file new [path]Write a starter Driftfile with the knobs a first deploy needs filled in. --name, --canvas <dir>, --force.

A bare path argument defaults to ./Driftfile, and a directory argument means the Driftfile inside it.

explain is the one that pays for itself. An environment block that sets three knobs looks like it describes the slice, when it describes three knobs on top of a base you're holding in your head. It prints no price: the server is the single authority on cost, and drift project deploy --plan is where that number comes from. It prints names of secrets, never values.

The platform owns the format, so the CLI needs a copy of it.

The Driftfile schema is fetched on first contact and cached at ~/.drift/driftfile.schema.json. On a machine that has never run an online command, lint refuses rather than printing a tick it can't stand behind so run drift account login or drift slice list once and it's cached permanently.

Every key the file accepts is in the Driftfile reference.