CI Integration

CI Integration

Integrate Drift into your CI/CD pipeline for automated pattern drift detection.

Quick Start

Add Drift to your CI pipeline in 3 steps:

# 1. Install
npm install -g driftdetect

# 2. Initialize (if not already)
drift init --yes

# 3. Run quality gate
drift gate --ci --fail-on error

---

GitHub Actions

Basic Pattern Check

name: Drift Pattern Check

on:
  pull_request:
    branches: [main, develop]

jobs:
  drift:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      
      - name: Setup Node.js
        uses: actions/setup-node@v4
        with:
          node-version: '20'
          
      - name: Install Drift
        run: npm install -g driftdetect
        
      - name: Initialize Drift
        run: drift init --yes
        
      - name: Scan for patterns
        run: drift scan
        
      - name: Run quality gate
        run: drift gate --ci --format github

With Caching (Recommended)

Cache the .drift folder to speed up subsequent runs:

name: Drift Pattern Check

on:
  pull_request:
    branches: [main, develop]
  push:
    branches: [main]

jobs:
  drift:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      
      - name: Setup Node.js
        uses: actions/setup-node@v4
        with:
          node-version: '20'
          
      - name: Cache Drift data
        uses: actions/cache@v4
        with:
          path: .drift
          key: drift-${{ runner.os }}-${{ hashFiles('**/*.ts', '**/*.tsx', '**/*.js', '**/*.jsx', '**/*.py') }}
          restore-keys: |
            drift-${{ runner.os }}-
            
      - name: Install Drift
        run: npm install -g driftdetect
        
      - name: Initialize Drift
        run: drift init --yes
        
      - name: Incremental scan
        run: drift scan --incremental
        
      - name: Run quality gate
        run: drift gate --ci --format github

Full Pipeline with Artifacts

name: Drift Full Pipeline

on:
  pull_request:
    branches: [main]
  push:
    branches: [main]

jobs:
  drift-scan:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
        with:
          fetch-depth: 0  # Full history for better analysis
      
      - name: Setup Node.js
        uses: actions/setup-node@v4
        with:
          node-version: '20'
          
      - name: Cache Drift data
        uses: actions/cache@v4
        with:
          path: .drift
          key: drift-${{ runner.os }}-${{ github.sha }}
          restore-keys: |
            drift-${{ runner.os }}-
            
      - name: Install Drift
        run: npm install -g driftdetect
        
      - name: Initialize Drift
        run: drift init --yes
        
      - name: Full scan
        run: drift scan --verbose
        
      - name: Run quality gate
        id: gate
        run: drift gate --ci --format sarif --output drift-results.sarif
        continue-on-error: true
        
      - name: Upload SARIF results
        uses: github/codeql-action/upload-sarif@v3
        with:
          sarif_file: drift-results.sarif
          
      - name: Upload Drift artifacts
        uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
        with:
          name: drift-analysis
          path: |
            .drift/patterns/
            .drift/views/
            drift-results.sarif
          retention-days: 30
          
      - name: Check gate result
        if: steps.gate.outcome == 'failure'
        run: exit 1

Monorepo Support

For monorepos, scan each package separately:

name: Drift Monorepo Check

on:
  pull_request:
    branches: [main]

jobs:
  detect-changes:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    outputs:
      packages: ${{ steps.changes.outputs.packages }}
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - id: changes
        uses: dorny/paths-filter@v3
        with:
          filters: |
            backend:
              - 'packages/backend/**'
            frontend:
              - 'packages/frontend/**'
            shared:
              - 'packages/shared/**'

  drift-check:
    needs: detect-changes
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    strategy:
      matrix:
        package: [backend, frontend, shared]
    if: needs.detect-changes.outputs.packages != '[]'
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      
      - name: Setup Node.js
        uses: actions/setup-node@v4
        with:
          node-version: '20'
          
      - name: Install Drift
        run: npm install -g driftdetect
        
      - name: Scan package
        run: |
          cd packages/${{ matrix.package }}
          drift init --yes
          drift scan
          drift gate --ci --format github

---

GitLab CI

Basic Configuration

# .gitlab-ci.yml
drift:
  image: node:20
  stage: test
  script:
    - npm install -g driftdetect
    - drift init --yes
    - drift scan
    - drift gate --ci --format gitlab
  artifacts:
    reports:
      codequality: drift-report.json
    paths:
      - .drift/
    expire_in: 1 week
  cache:
    key: drift-${CI_COMMIT_REF_SLUG}
    paths:
      - .drift/

With Code Quality Report

drift:
  image: node:20
  stage: test
  script:
    - npm install -g driftdetect
    - drift init --yes
    - drift scan --incremental
    - drift gate --ci --format gitlab --output drift-report.json
  artifacts:
    reports:
      codequality: drift-report.json
  rules:
    - if: $CI_PIPELINE_SOURCE == "merge_request_event"

---

Azure DevOps

# azure-pipelines.yml
trigger:
  - main

pool:
  vmImage: 'ubuntu-latest'

steps:
  - task: NodeTool@0
    inputs:
      versionSpec: '20.x'
      
  - script: npm install -g driftdetect
    displayName: 'Install Drift'
    
  - script: drift init --yes
    displayName: 'Initialize Drift'
    
  - script: drift scan
    displayName: 'Scan codebase'
    
  - script: drift gate --ci --format json --output $(Build.ArtifactStagingDirectory)/drift-results.json
    displayName: 'Run quality gate'
    
  - task: PublishBuildArtifacts@1
    inputs:
      pathToPublish: '$(Build.ArtifactStagingDirectory)'
      artifactName: 'drift-results'

---

CircleCI

# .circleci/config.yml
version: 2.1

jobs:
  drift-check:
    docker:
      - image: cimg/node:20.0
    steps:
      - checkout
      - restore_cache:
          keys:
            - drift-{{ checksum "package.json" }}
            - drift-
      - run:
          name: Install Drift
          command: npm install -g driftdetect
      - run:
          name: Initialize and Scan
          command: |
            drift init --yes
            drift scan --incremental
      - run:
          name: Quality Gate
          command: drift gate --ci --format json --output drift-results.json
      - save_cache:
          key: drift-{{ checksum "package.json" }}
          paths:
            - .drift
      - store_artifacts:
          path: drift-results.json

workflows:
  main:
    jobs:
      - drift-check

---

Output Formats

GitHub Annotations (--format github)

Creates inline annotations on PR diffs:

::error file=src/api/users.ts,line=42::Pattern violation: Missing error handling
::warning file=src/utils/auth.ts,line=15::New outlier detected in auth-middleware pattern

GitLab Code Quality (--format gitlab)

Generates GitLab Code Quality report:

[
  {
    "description": "Pattern violation: Missing error handling",
    "fingerprint": "abc123",
    "severity": "major",
    "location": {
      "path": "src/api/users.ts",
      "lines": { "begin": 42 }
    }
  }
]

SARIF (--format sarif)

Standard format for security/quality tools:

{
  "$schema": "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/oasis-tcs/sarif-spec/master/Schemata/sarif-schema-2.1.0.json",
  "version": "2.1.0",
  "runs": [...]
}

JSON (--format json)

Raw JSON for custom processing:

{
  "passed": false,
  "score": 72,
  "violations": [...],
  "gates": {...}
}

---

Best Practices

1. Cache the .drift folder

The .drift folder contains learned patterns and call graph data. Caching it:

• Speeds up incremental scans by 10-50x
• Preserves pattern history for regression detection
• Reduces CI minutes

2. Use incremental scans for PRs

drift scan --incremental

Only scans files that changed since last scan, dramatically faster for large codebases.

3. Run full scans on main branch

- name: Full scan on main
  if: github.ref == 'refs/heads/main'
  run: drift scan --force
  
- name: Incremental scan on PR
  if: github.event_name == 'pull_request'
  run: drift scan --incremental

4. Fail on errors, warn on warnings

drift gate --fail-on error  # Only fail on errors
drift gate --fail-on warning  # Fail on warnings too
drift gate --fail-on none  # Never fail (report only)

5. Upload artifacts for debugging

Always upload the .drift folder and reports as artifacts for debugging failed builds.

---

Troubleshooting

Scan takes too long

1. Check .driftignore excludes node_modules/, dist/
2. Use --incremental for PR checks
3. Increase timeout: drift scan --timeout 600
4. Scan specific directories: drift scan src/

No patterns found

1. Ensure source files are being scanned (not just config)
2. Check language is supported
3. Run drift status to see what was detected

Cache not working

1. Ensure cache key includes source file hashes
2. Check cache path is .drift (not .drift/)
3. Verify cache is restored before scan

Quality gate always fails

1. Check --fail-on setting
2. Review violations with drift gate --verbose
3. Approve legitimate patterns: drift approve <id>

---

Next Steps

• Git Hooks — Run Drift on commit/push
• Quality Gates — Configure gate policies
• MCP Setup — Connect to AI assistants