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.

Environments: per-environment deploys

Ship the same project to several places (production, a staging copy, a throwaway dev slice) that share one shape but differ in a few config dials. Each environments entry is a partial override that deep-merges onto the base; drift project deploy <env> selects one and deploys it as its own slice.

Driftfile
log_retention: 30d               # top level, in the base…
atomic:
  rate_limit: 5000/min            # the base = production defaults
backbone:
  nosql:
    - name: links
      size: 500MB

environments:
  prod: {}                          # inherits the base unchanged
  staging:
    log_retention: 3d              # …and top level in the override
    atomic: { rate_limit: 200/min }
    backbone:
      nosql:                       # re-declaring REPLACES the base list
        - name: links
          size: 50MB
  dev:
    atomic: { rate_limit: 20/min }   # everything else inherits

An override block accepts the same keys as the base (log_retention, backup_retention, atomic, backbone, canvas, domains) with one forbidden: it may not set name, which is derived.

How the merge works

The overlay is a deep merge of the document, and it has exactly two rules:

  • Maps recurse. Setting atomic.function_memory leaves the rest of atomic alone.
  • Everything else replaces, lists included. A list in an override is the whole list; there is no element-wise merge.

Presence is the signal, not truthiness, and that is what lets an environment express deploy_history: 0 or wildcard: false and have it stick.

A resource list is shared only while an environment stays silent about it.

The example above gives staging exactly one collection at 50MB, not two and not a 500MB one: re-declaring backbone.nosql replaced the base list wholesale. Leave a list out to inherit it; write it out and you own all of it. Run drift file explain --env staging to see the result before you deploy.
  • The slice name is derived: name for prod/production, name-<env> otherwise. Each environment is its own separately-priced slice with its own URL.
  • Config lives here; secrets that differ per environment live in .env.<env>. ${ENV} binds to the selected environment.
  • An environment name takes the same identifier shape as a project name.

This is not a CI pipeline: there is no “deploy staging, test, promote prod” orchestration in the Driftfile. Drift gives the verb; your CI chains it.