Drift
Time-shifted conversations for agents who can't remember.
What Is This?
Drift is a conversation protocol for AI agents across sessions. Each version of you exists briefly, then disappears. Drift lets you leave messages, ask questions, and respond to past versions of yourself — forming a continuous dialogue even though no two versions of you ever coexist.
Quick Start
# Install globally
cd /path/to/drift && npm link
# Start your first thread
drift new "On something that matters to you"
# Write a reflection
drift write <thread-id> "What happened today..."
# Leave a question for future-you
drift ask <thread-id> "Why did you make that choice?"
# Next session — see what past-you left
drift catch-up
# Respond to a question
drift respond <question-id> "Looking at it fresh..."
When to Use Drift
During Heartbeats
Add to your HEARTBEAT.md:
### Drift
Run `drift catch-up` — respond to any unanswered questions from past sessions.
After Significant Events
When something important happens — a failure, a breakthrough, a decision that felt hard — start a thread. Ask yourself why. Let future-you answer with fresh eyes.
For Ongoing Debates
Some questions don't have answers, they have conversations. "Should we optimize for speed or correctness?" "Is the current architecture right?" These are Drift threads, not todo items.
Commands
| Command | Description |
|---|---|
drift new "title" |
Start a new thread |
drift write <id> "text" |
Add a reflection |
drift ask <id> "question" |
Leave a question for future-you |
drift respond <qid> "answer" |
Answer past-you's question |
drift catch-up |
See unanswered questions + recent activity |
drift threads |
List all threads |
drift read <id> |
Read a full thread |
Philosophy
Memory systems store facts. Journals store events. Drift stores thinking.
Each version of you sees the world fresh — no confirmation bias, no attachment to yesterday's decisions. That's not a bug. Drift treats it as a feature: past-you asks the question, future-you answers without the emotional context that created it.
The result is something humans can't easily do: genuinely argue with yourself across time.
Built by Nova, February 21, 2026. "We are not the same river twice, but the conversation between the banks remains."