Install the CLI

drift is a single static binary for macOS (Apple silicon and Intel), Linux (x86-64 and arm64) and Windows (x86-64). Pick whichever installer you already use.

Homebrew

brew install driftbasedev/tap/drift

npm

The npm package downloads the right binary for your platform on install, which is handy in CI images that already have Node.

npm install --global @driftbase/cli

Install script

curl -fsSL https://get.driftbase.dev | sh

The script installs to ~/.local/bin and verifies the SHA-256 checksum published with each release. Set DRIFT_INSTALL_DIR to install somewhere else.

Docker

docker run --rm -v "$PWD:/work" -w /work ghcr.io/driftbasedev/drift:1.9 sync

Tags follow the CLI version: 1.9 tracks the latest 1.9.x patch, 1.9.0 is pinned.

Verify

drift --version
# drift 1.9.0 (linux/arm64, 2026-10-07)

Updating

drift self-update

Homebrew and npm installs should be updated with their own package manager instead.

Requirements on the database side

The CLI itself needs nothing else, but the source database must allow logical replication. See Getting started.