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 project

The whole-project verbs: ship everything the Driftfile declares, or run the same thing on your laptop.

CommandDescription
drift project deploy [env]Deploy everything declared in your Driftfile. Unchanged functions are skipped.
drift project deploy --planPrint the slice diff and the cost, then exit. Nothing is applied and no hooks run.
drift project diff [env]The same diff as its own verb: resource counts, envelope shape, and the cost change a deploy would apply. Never applies; exits non-zero if the manifest would abort the deploy.
drift project run [env]Build and run the whole project locally in Docker, with no account and no cloud
drift project test [env]Run it locally, wait for health, then run the Driftfile's tests.e2e commands against it
drift project stop [env]Stop the local run
drift project logs [env]Tail logs from the local run

The four local verbs are one loop: run boots the whole project in Docker, test runs the Driftfile's tests.e2e commands against it, logs tails it, and stop tears it down.

Deploy flags

FlagWhat it does
--planDry run: render the diff and the monthly cost, apply nothing. Exits non-zero if the deploy would abort.
--forceRedeploy every function, even ones whose source is unchanged
--yes, -yAuto-confirm the cost prompt (for CI)
--env <name>Same as the positional environment argument; also sets ${ENV}
--secret KEY=valueOverride one variable for ${VAR} / $ENVREF resolution. Repeatable.
--no-env-fileDon't read the .env / .env.<env> file beside the Driftfile
--no-slice-reconcileSkip the slice diff entirely and deploy code into the active slice as it stands
--billing-period-months NBilling period for a slice this deploy creates or grows

A deploy only ever creates or grows a slice.

To lower a limit or drop a resource, use drift slice resize --from Driftfile --allow-destructive. Secrets declared in a Driftfile can pull values from your shell with $ENV references, resolved at deploy time.

Testing before you ship

drift project test is run plus your own e2e commands. It starts the project locally, waits for it to report healthy, exports the instance URL as DRIFT_TEST_URL (the port is chosen at runtime, so read it rather than hardcoding one), and runs every command under tests.e2e. The first non-zero exit fails the run, and the instance is torn down either way.

Driftfile
# Driftfile
tests:
  e2e:
    - npx playwright test

# then, with no account and no cloud:
$ drift project test