🔍 Drift

Make AI write code that actually fits your codebase.

Drift scans your code, learns your patterns, and tells AI how you do things. No more fixing AI output.

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⚡ Quick Start (30 seconds)

npm install -g driftdetect
cd your-project
drift setup

That's it. The setup wizard walks you through everything:

• Pattern scanning
• Auto-approval of high confidence patterns
• Call graph analysis
• Test topology mapping
• Cortex memory initialization

Want defaults without prompts? Run drift setup -y

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🚫 Delete Your AGENTS.md

You know that AGENTS.md or CLAUDE.md file you wrote once and forgot about? It's stale. Delete it.

Drift's Cortex Memory System replaces static instruction files with living memory:

# Instead of maintaining a static file:
drift memory add tribal "Always use bcrypt for passwords" --importance critical
drift memory add tribal "Services should not call controllers" --topic Architecture

# AI gets context dynamically:
drift memory why "authentication"

# And learns from corrections:
drift memory learn --original "Used MD5" --feedback "Use bcrypt instead"

Static AGENTS.md	Cortex Memory
Written once, forgotten	Learns from corrections
Gets stale immediately	Confidence decays naturally
Manual updates required	Self-correcting through feedback
One-size-fits-all dump	Intent-aware retrieval

→ Learn more about Cortex

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📋 What You Need

• Node.js 18 or newer — Download here
• npm — Comes with Node.js

Check if you have them:

node --version   # Should show v18.x.x or higher
npm --version    # Should show 9.x.x or higher

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🚀 Three Ways to Use Drift

Path	Best For	Time to Setup
1. CLI Only	Exploring your codebase manually	2 minutes
2. AI + CLI	AI runs drift commands for you	2 minutes
3. MCP Server	Full AI integration (recommended)	5 minutes

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1. Use Drift Without AI (CLI Only)

Perfect for: Exploring what Drift finds in your codebase before connecting AI.

Install & Setup

npm install -g driftdetect
cd your-project
drift setup

The setup wizard handles everything. Just answer the prompts (or use drift setup -y for defaults).

See What Drift Found

drift status

You'll see something like:

Patterns: 47 discovered, 12 approved
Health Score: 85/100
Languages: TypeScript, Python

Useful Commands

Command	What It Does
drift status	Quick overview of your codebase
drift patterns list	See all discovered patterns
drift callgraph reach src/api/users.ts:42	What data can line 42 access?
drift coupling cycles	Find circular dependencies
drift test-topology affected src/auth.ts	Which tests cover this file?

Upgrade to Latest Version

npm install -g driftdetect@latest

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2. Let AI Use Drift (AI + CLI)

Perfect for: Using AI assistants that can run terminal commands (Cursor, Windsurf, Kiro, etc.)

Install & Setup

npm install -g driftdetect
cd your-project
drift setup

Tell Your AI About Drift

Copy this into your AI chat:

I have Drift installed. Before writing code, run these commands:

1. `drift status` - See codebase overview
2. `drift similar --intent api_endpoint --description "what you're building"` - Find similar code

Use what you learn to match my patterns.

That's it! Your AI will run drift commands and use the output to write better code.

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3. Set Up MCP (Full AI Integration)

Perfect for: The best experience. AI automatically gets context without you asking.

What is MCP?

MCP (Model Context Protocol) lets AI tools directly query Drift. Instead of you running commands and pasting output, the AI calls Drift tools automatically.

Install & Setup

# Install both packages
npm install -g driftdetect driftdetect-mcp

# Run the setup wizard
cd your-project
drift setup

Configure Your AI Tool

Pick your AI tool and follow the instructions:

Claude Desktop

1. Open this file (create it if it doesn't exist):

   • Mac: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
   • Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json

2. Add this:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "drift": {
      "command": "driftdetect-mcp"
    }
  }
}

3. Restart Claude Desktop

Cursor

1. Create .cursor/mcp.json in your project folder

2. Add this:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "drift": {
      "command": "driftdetect-mcp"
    }
  }
}

3. Restart Cursor

Windsurf

1. Open Settings → MCP Servers

2. Add a new server with command: driftdetect-mcp

3. Restart Windsurf

Kiro

1. Create .kiro/settings/mcp.json in your project folder

2. Add this:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "drift": {
      "command": "driftdetect-mcp"
    }
  }
}

3. Restart Kiro

VS Code + Copilot

1. Create .vscode/mcp.json in your project folder

2. Add this:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "drift": {
      "command": "driftdetect-mcp"
    }
  }
}

3. Restart VS Code

Test It Works

Ask your AI: "What patterns does Drift see in my codebase?"

If it responds with pattern information, you're all set! 🎉

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❓ Troubleshooting

"command not found: drift"

The CLI isn't installed. Run:

npm install -g driftdetect

"drift_status does nothing" or "MCP not working"

1. Make sure you installed the MCP server:

   npm install -g driftdetect-mcp

2. Make sure you ran drift scan in your project first

3. Make sure you restarted your AI tool after configuring

"No patterns found"

Run a full scan:

drift scan --full

Check Your Versions

drift --version        # CLI version
driftdetect-mcp --version  # MCP server version

Upgrade Everything

npm install -g driftdetect@latest driftdetect-mcp@latest

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📊 What Drift Supports

Category	Count	Examples
Languages	10	TypeScript, JavaScript, Python, Java, C#, PHP, Go, Rust, C, C++
Web Frameworks	21	Next.js, Express, NestJS, Spring Boot, ASP.NET, Laravel, FastAPI, Gin, Actix, Axum
ORMs	16	Prisma, TypeORM, Sequelize, Django ORM, Entity Framework, Eloquent
Pattern Detectors	101+	API, Auth, Security, Errors, Logging, Testing, and more

See SUPPORTED_LANGUAGES_FRAMEWORKS.md for the full list.

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🔒 Privacy

Drift runs 100% locally. Your code never leaves your machine.

• ✅ All analysis happens on your computer
• ✅ No code sent to external servers
• ✅ Data stored in .drift/ folder only
• ✅ Optional anonymous telemetry (disable with drift telemetry disable)

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📚 Learn More

• Wiki — Full documentation
• MCP Tools Reference — All 50 MCP tools
• CLI Reference — All CLI commands
• FAQ — Common questions

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📜 License

Open Core — Free for individuals and small teams.

• Core packages: Apache 2.0 (open source)
• Enterprise features: BSL 1.1 (converts to Apache 2.0 after 4 years)

See licenses/LICENSING.md for details.

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Stop fixing AI output. Start shipping.