AI Drift Detector
VSCode extension that watches your Claude Code and OpenAI Codex chats and warns when sessions drift — losing focus, repeating mistakes, or wasting your time.
What it does
- Auto-detects new Claude Code transcripts at
~/.claude/projects/**/*.jsonl and Codex rollouts at ~/.codex/sessions/**/rollout-*.jsonl
- Creates a drift session per chat tab and posts turns as they happen
- Live status bar showing the active profile; click it to switch profiles
- Notification with actions when drift is detected
- Sidebar list of recent sessions (AI Drift activity-bar view)
- Reports VSCode task and terminal outcomes (lint/build/test pass/fail) for the active turn
- Watches
.git/refs/ for commits and pushes and attaches them to the session timeline
Install
AI Drift is in private beta. The extension is not yet on the VS Code Marketplace — install it from the code-gated .vsix:
# 1. Open the gated download page and paste your invite code
open "https://drift.geniohub.com/download?code=YOUR_CODE"
# 2. Install the downloaded .vsix
code --install-extension ~/Downloads/aidrift-*.vsix
Request an invite code at https://drift.geniohub.com/request-access.
Setup
Requires an AI Drift backend. The default profile points at https://drift.geniohub.com. For local dev, run docker compose up -d in the repo root, then use Drift: Add Profile to register http://localhost:3331/api and switch to it.
Sign in via the welcome view in the AI Drift sidebar, the walkthrough, or Drift: Sign In. Browser sign-in is the recommended path — it opens the dashboard, you log in or register, and the token is delivered back to the editor via the vscode:// URI handler.
Commands
All commands are available from the Command Palette (Cmd+Shift+P) under the Drift: prefix. Some are also surfaced from the status bar, the sidebar welcome view, and the walkthrough.
Authentication
| Command |
How to use |
Drift: Sign In |
Opens a quick-pick with three sign-in methods (browser / token / email+password). Pick one and follow the prompts. |
Drift: Sign In with Browser |
Opens the active profile's dashboard at /cli-signin?callback=vscode://…. After you log in or sign up, the dashboard redirects back and the token is stored automatically. |
Drift: Sign In with Token |
Prompts for a Personal Access Token (aidrift_pat_…) copied from the dashboard. Paste and confirm. |
Drift: Sign In with Email + Password |
Prompts for email, then password. Only works for accounts registered with a password. |
Drift: Sign Out |
Clears the stored token for the active profile, stops all watchers, and resets the status bar. |
Drift: Show Signed-In User |
Calls /auth/me and shows the current email + user id, or warns if the session expired. |
Profiles (multi-host support)
A "profile" is a named {apiBaseUrl, dashboardUrl} pair with its own stored token. The active profile name is shown in the status bar; clicking it runs Drift: Switch Profile.
| Command |
How to use |
Drift: Switch Profile |
Quick-pick of profiles; the active one has a check mark. Also includes Add profile… and Edit profile… shortcuts. Switching restarts the watchers against the new host. |
Drift: Add Profile |
Prompts for name (letters/digits/_/-), API base URL, and dashboard URL. Offers to switch to the new profile immediately. |
Drift: Edit Profile |
Pick a profile, then edit its name, API URL, and dashboard URL. |
Drift: Remove Profile |
Pick a non-active profile; confirms with a modal before deleting the profile and its stored credentials. Cannot remove the active profile — switch first. |
Drift: Show Current Profile |
Shows the active profile name, API URL, and signed-in email (or "not signed in"). |
Session control
These operate on the currently tracked session (the most recent chat the watcher attached to).
| Command |
How to use |
Drift: Show Status for Active Session |
Shows a notification with the last cached drift score, trend, task description, and any active alert reasons. |
Drift: Mark Last Turn Accepted |
Marks the most recent turn as accepted via PATCH /turns/:id/outcome. Feeds the acceptance-rate signal. |
Drift: Mark Last Turn Rejected |
Same as above but marks the turn rejected. |
Drift: Create Checkpoint for Active Session |
Prompts for a summary, then creates a manual checkpoint on the latest turn and records the current git rev-parse HEAD if available. |
Drift: Open Last Stable Checkpoint |
Opens the dashboard at the most recent checkpointed turn (anchor #turn-…). Warns if no stable checkpoint exists yet. |
Dashboard + diagnostics
| Command |
How to use |
Drift: Open Active Session in Dashboard |
Opens {dashboardUrl}/sessions/{activeId}?workspacePath=… in the system browser. Falls back to /sessions if no active session. |
Drift: Open Session in Dashboard |
Programmatic variant that takes a sessionId argument (used by the sidebar tree; not normally invoked by hand). |
Drift: Refresh Sessions |
Refreshes the sidebar tree. Also exposed as the refresh icon in the AI Drift view title. |
Drift: Debug Tracking |
Dumps watcher state, workspace root, active session id, and a call to /tracking/health into a new AI Drift Tracking output channel. Use when sessions aren't appearing. |
UI surfaces
- Activity bar view
AI Drift — tree of recent sessions. Auto-refreshes. Shows a welcome view with sign-in buttons when signed out.
- Status bar item —
$(pulse) aidrift: {profile}. Click to switch profiles. Tooltip shows the API URL.
- Walkthrough
Get Started with AI Drift — three steps: sign in, switch profiles, open the view. Available from the VSCode Walkthroughs page.
- URI handler —
vscode://geniohub.aidrift/signin-callback?token=… is how the browser sign-in delivers the token back. vscode://geniohub.aidrift/open-diff?... opens a diff from the dashboard.
Settings
aidrift.watchClaudeCode (default true) — watch ~/.claude/projects/ for transcripts.aidrift.watchCodex (default true) — watch ~/.codex/sessions/ for rollouts.aidrift.trackTaskExecution (default true) — report VSCode task/terminal outcomes for the active turn. Terminal coverage requires shell integration (VSCode 1.93+).aidrift.watchGitEvents (default true) — watch .git/refs/ for commits and pushes.aidrift.statusPollIntervalSeconds (default 30) — poll interval for /sessions/:id/status. Backs off exponentially on failure, cap 5 min.aidrift.requestTimeoutSeconds (default 10, min 2) — HTTP timeout for extension → API calls.aidrift.driftAlertThreshold (default 65) — score below which a drift alert fires.aidrift.autoCheckpoint (default true) — auto-checkpoint on every accepted turn.aidrift.implicitAcceptTimeoutSeconds (default 300) — seconds without a follow-up before a turn is treated as implicitly accepted.aidrift.apiBaseUrl, aidrift.dashboardUrl — deprecated, ignored once profiles are configured. Use Drift: Add Profile / Drift: Switch Profile instead.
