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Drift is a version control system built from the ground up for the AI agent era. It replaces git's commit with an intent, uses a semantic engine to understand code at the structural level, and captures AI agent sessions as first-class data.

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# Drift

**Version Control for the AI Agent Era**

[![DOI](https://zenodo.org/badge/DOI/10.5281/zenodo.18607389.svg)](https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.18607389)

---

Git was designed in 2005 for a world where humans typed every character of code. Twenty years later, AI coding agents produce a growing share of production software, and the fundamental question of version control has changed.

It is no longer sufficient to track *what lines were modified*. Teams need to know **what was intended**, **who or what fulfilled that intent**, and **whether the approach was sound**.

Drift is a version control system built from the ground up for this new reality.

## Core Ideas

- **Intent-first.** The primary object is a *goal*, not a snapshot. Code changes are downstream artifacts of goals.
- **Session-native.** AI agent interactions (conversations, reasoning, tool calls, cost) are first-class data, not metadata bolted onto commits.
- **Semantic, not textual.** Drift understands code at the structural level via tree-sitter. It parses, diffs, and merges at the AST level.
- **Multi-agent aware.** Multiple agents and humans work concurrently with semantic conflict resolution that understands intent overlap, not just line overlap.
- **No LLM required.** Every feature works without a language model. An optional provider interface lets configured models enhance search, suggest merges, and generate summaries. But the tool never breaks because an API is down.
- **Radically simple surface.** Twelve commands. One configuration file. Learnable in ten minutes.

## Data Model

Drift replaces git's **commit** with an **intent** -- a goal plus the work that fulfilled it, plus a status (achieved, abandoned, superseded). Intents are immutable and content-addressable.

Where git sees text diffs, Drift sees structural changes: functions added, types modified, parameters renamed, dependencies upgraded. This makes merging smarter, blame more useful, and review more meaningful.

```
Workspace
  └── Stream (replaces branches)
        └── Intent (replaces commits)
              ├── Session (agent interaction record)
              │     ├── Conversation trace
              │     ├── Tool calls & results
              │     └── Reasoning steps
              ├── Changeset (semantic diff)
              │     ├── Structural changes (functions added/modified/removed)
              │     ├── Dependency changes
              │     └── Raw file changes (fallback for non-code files)
              └── Snapshot (full state reference, content-addressable)
```

## Architecture

Drift is structured as an eight-layer system, each with a well-defined responsibility:

| Layer | Responsibilities |
|-------|-----------------|
| **CLI / Interface** | Twelve core commands. Status dashboard. Interactive conflict resolver. IDE plugin API. |
| **Intent Engine** | Manages the directed acyclic graph of intents. Handles status transitions. Full-text search index. |
| **Session Recorder** | Captures AI agent interactions via the Drift Agent Protocol. Redaction engine for privacy. |
| **Semantic Engine** | Parses source code via tree-sitter. Computes semantic diffs. Performs semantic merge. Maintains CodeGraph. |
| **Storage Engine** | Content-addressable blob store. Tiered lifecycle management (hot, warm, cold). Large file handling. |
| **Sync / Transport** | Push and pull over HTTPS or SSH. Resumable transfers. Git bridge mode for dual-write compatibility. |
| **Config / Policy** | Parses drift.toml. Enforces stream policies. Runs automation hooks. File behaviours for lock files. |
| **Identity / Signing** | SSH-based key management. Multi-party attribution (human + agent + platform). Cryptographic signing. |

Implemented in **Rust** for performance, memory safety, and single-binary distribution.

## 12 Core Commands

| Command | Purpose | Git Equivalent |
|---------|---------|---------------|
| `drift init` | Initialize a workspace or clone from remote | `git init` / `git clone` |
| `drift begin` | Start a new intent with a goal description | *(no equivalent)* |
| `drift save` | Create a checkpoint within the current intent | `git stash` *(loosely)* |
| `drift finish` | Complete the current intent | `git add -A && git commit` |
| `drift abandon` | Mark current intent as abandoned (preserved in history) | `git reset` / `git revert` |
| `drift log` | Show intent history with goals, status, agents | `git log` |
| `drift replay` | Replay the session that produced an intent | *(no equivalent)* |
| `drift rewind` | Jump to a checkpoint within a session | `git checkout` / `git reset` |
| `drift search` | Full-text search across intents, sessions, and code | `git log --grep` / `git grep` |
| `drift stream` | Create, switch, or list streams | `git branch` / `git switch` |
| `drift flow` | Integrate work between streams (semantic merge) | `git merge` |
| `drift sync` | Push and pull in a single command | `git push` / `git pull` |

**What's intentionally missing:** No staging area. No rebase. No force push. No detached HEAD. No cherry-pick. History is append-only -- you cannot lose work.

## Documentation

- [Technical White Paper (PDF)](docs/drift-whitepaper-full.pdf) -- Full architecture, data model, command interface, semantic engine, agent integration, and migration path (16 pages).
- [Technical White Paper (DOCX)](docs/drift-whitepaper-full.docx) -- Same content in Word format.

## Contributing

See [CONTRIBUTING.md](CONTRIBUTING.md) for how to get involved.

## Author

Sebastian Haan

## Licence

Code is licensed under the [Apache License 2.0](LICENSE). Documentation and whitepaper content are licensed under [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

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