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.

A worked example

A permit-intake app, with a public submission portal, a reviewer dashboard, and the data behind both, written out in full so every section appears at least once. It is an illustration rather than something to clone, and it is deliberately larger than the everyday shape: it spans several languages, which is why it does list its functions explicitly. Each name is its own element folder, one per language, and that is what an explicit functions list is for. Most backends are a single language in flat files: one element, auto-discovered, with the list dropped entirely.

Driftfile
name: permit-intake
atomic:
  function_memory:  32MB
  function_timeout: 60s
  rate_limit:       1000/min
  functions:
    - submit
    - permit-types-list
    - status-get
    - reviewer-login
    - reviewer-queue
    - reviewer-submission
    - reviewer-mailbox
    - reviewer-blob
    - decision-apply
    - validator
    - notifier
backbone:
  blob_max_size:    10MB
  blob_max_count:   200
  queue_max_depth:  500
  nosql:
    - name: submissions
      size: 200MB
    - name: audit-log
      size: 100MB
    - name: mailbox
      size: 50MB
    - name: reviewers
      size: 20MB
      seed: ./backbone/reviewers.jsonl
    - name: permit-types
      size: 20MB
      seed: ./backbone/permit-types.jsonl
  blobs:
    - name: uploads
      size: 500MB
  queues:
    - validate
    - notify
  secrets:
    MUNICIPALITY_NAME:  "Amsterdam"
    SUBMITTER_BASE_URL: "/status.html"
canvas:
  canvas_size: 50MB
  sites:
    - ./canvas/public
    - dir: ./canvas/reviewer
      route: /reviewer

Every section it uses has a page of its own: Atomic, Backbone and Canvas.