What is Driftless?
Driftless is an agentic, spec-driven product delivery platform. In three words: specs in, software out. Requirements get shaped into paired PRDs and tech specs, gates block broken specs before anyone writes code, persistent agents ship the work in small drops, and shipped results are verified against acceptance criteria written before implementation.
The shape, gate, ship, verify loop
Work moves through four sequential phases, the Cascades methodology: tight loops, small drops, zero ceremony tax.
- Shape. Define requirements as paired PRDs and tech specs. The BA Agent turns conviction into structured, testable, sequenced work.
- Gate. Spec gates catch contradictions before code exists: PRD against tech spec, cross-section collisions, traceability gaps. A failed gate blocks work until the spec is clean.
- Ship. Persistent agents execute the shaped work. They read directives, write code, run tests, and post updates.
- Verify. Acceptance criteria are verified against shipped code, backed by CI gates, regression tests, and agentic code review. Failures route back to the stage that caused them.
What a spec-based flow gives you
Structure is enforced by the platform instead of willpower, so contradictory specs stop before any code is written. Traceability is bidirectional: every task links to its source section, every section lists its implementing tasks, every task traces to a requirement, and every requirement traces to shipped code, audit ready from day one. A task that cannot trace to a requirement means the spec is incomplete. The dependency graph is the plan and task commentary is the always-current status report, written by the platform instead of kept by hand. The site reports one proof case: one person directing three agents shipped 190 tasks in two weeks with zero lines of hand-written code.
Why drift is the problem
Drift is the quiet divergence between what a system was decided to be and what it actually is: the gap between requirement and spec, spec and code, docs and behavior, or a model and the world it models. A system can be deep into drift while every dashboard is green. The drift taxonomy catalogs fourteen forms, from spec drift to conversational drift, one failure mode in fourteen coats. Containment follows one shape: write down what the system is supposed to be, check artifacts against that record as they are created, and route failures back to where they started. Caught at the gate, drift costs a rewrite. Caught in production, it costs an incident. The AIDLC operating cycle shows how this containment runs when agents do the building.
Common questions
What is drift?
Drift is the quiet divergence between what a system was decided to be and what it actually is: the gap between requirement and spec, spec and code, or docs and behavior. It grows a little at a time, and a system can be deep into drift while every dashboard is green.
Is Driftless a project tracker?
A project tracker stores decisions already made. Driftless generates decisions faster, enforces specs, and ships products on one platform. Its output is working software: every task traces to a requirement, and every requirement traces to shipped code.
What happens when a spec fails the gate?
Gate checks cross-check the PRD against the tech spec for contradictions, missing coverage, and unstated assumptions, then block execution until the spec is clean. A contradiction left in a spec always resolves itself in code, at the worst possible place, so the gate acts before anything builds.
How do agents execute the work?
Persistent agents run with full context and accountability. They pick up tasks, read directives, write code, run tests, and post updates, and task commentary serves as the always-current status report. Working software ships with no babysitting required.
Who owns the model keys and the work product?
You do. Keys stay yours under BYOK, with instant revocation. The work product, meaning tasks, initiatives, PRDs, and tech specs, is exportable at any time through the documented REST API and MCP tools. The BYOK page states every guarantee.