drift

README

drift

Lightweight project tracker for vibe coders. Track dozens of AI-assisted projects without leaving your terminal.

drift — 53 projects

  STATUS  NAME                      PROGRESS  LAST
  ●  bot/intra-day-bot                  0%    2d
  ●  new inc/drift                     82%    5m
  ✓  new inc/mydeadprojects           100%    1h
  ○  tools/marketing-tracker             0%    3d
  ◇  flow-exp/cinema                    0%    1w

The Problem

You vibe-code 3-7 projects a day with Claude, Cursor, v0. After a week you have 20+ folders and can't remember what each one does, where you left off, or which ones are worth continuing.

Jira is overkill. Notion is too slow. You need something that works at the speed of ls.

Install

Go install (requires Go 1.21+):

go install github.com/snowtema/drift/cmd@latest

Homebrew (macOS/Linux):

brew install drift-codes/tap/drift

Binary download: Grab a prebuilt binary from Releases.

From source:

git clone https://github.com/snowtema/drift
cd drift
go build -o drift ./cmd/

Quick Start

# Initialize drift in your project
cd ~/my-project
drift init

# Add goals and notes
drift goal "MVP landing page"
drift goal "Stripe integration"
drift note "scaffolded with create-next-app"

# Mark goal done
drift goal done 1

# See status
drift status

# Scan a directory for all projects
drift scan ~/Develop --depth=2 --init

# Open fullscreen TUI
drift

TUI

Fullscreen dual-panel interface. No flicker. Keyboard-driven.

drift               # launch TUI

Press ? inside for full keyboard reference. Highlights:

Key	Action
j/k or arrows	Navigate
Enter	Open project detail
Esc	Back to list
Tab	Cycle sections (info/goals/notes)
Space/Enter	Toggle goal done
n	Add note
g	Add goal
1-5	Set status (active/idea/paused/done/abandoned)
s	Cycle sort (recent/progress/name/status)
t	Toggle tree/flat view
/	Live filter
c	Open Claude Code in project
?	Full help

CLI

All commands work without the TUI:

drift init [dir]              # Initialize project
drift status                  # Show current project
drift list [--sort=MODE]      # List all projects
drift note "text"             # Add a note
drift goal "text"             # Add a goal
drift goal done N             # Mark goal #N done
drift progress N              # Set progress (0-100)
drift set-status STATUS       # Change status
drift describe "text"         # Set description
drift tag tag1 tag2           # Add tags
drift link type url           # Set a link (repo/deploy/design)
drift scan [dir] [--depth=N]  # Find untracked projects
drift scan --init [dir]       # Find and init all
drift open name               # Get project path
drift help                    # Show help

Claude Code Integration

drift integrates with Claude Code in two ways:

1. Launch from TUI: Press c in project detail to open an interactive Claude Code session in that project directory.

2. Auto-tracking via CLAUDE.md: drift init adds a ## drift section to the project's CLAUDE.md. Claude Code reads this at session start and automatically maintains notes and goals in .drift/project.json as it works.

3. Claude Code skill: Copy skills/drift/SKILL.md to ~/.claude/skills/drift/ for /drift commands inside Claude Code sessions.

Protocol

drift is protocol-first. The .drift/ file format is the product. CLI and TUI are just consumers.

your-project/
  .drift/
    project.json    # project metadata, goals, notes

~/.drift/
  registry.json     # index of all your projects

Anyone can build a drift-compatible tool. As long as it reads/writes .drift/project.json, it works.

• Protocol Specification
• JSON Schema: project.json
• JSON Schema: registry.json

Design Principles

• File-based — plain JSON, no database, no server
• Zero-friction — drift init and you're done
• Auto-enrichment — detects stack, repo URL from git/package.json/etc.
• Tool-agnostic — works with Claude, Cursor, any AI, or no AI at all
• Local-first — your data stays on your machine
• Single binary — 5MB Go binary, zero runtime dependencies

License

MIT