Core Concepts
NoDrift is built around a handful of distinctions that keep AI-assisted work clear when the project matters.
Proposed design is not project truth.
Story problem: The AI mixed a proposed design with the real codebase.
NoDrift answer: NoDrift keeps generated output separate from project truth until the work is checked against the actual project.
Generated Output And Project Truth
Drafts, code, summaries, searches, and suggestions begin as output. They do not become project truth until the work session checks their meaning against the actual project.
A suggestion is not an approved decision.
Story problem: Ethan treated an unverified manager-override path as if it already existed.
NoDrift answer: NoDrift keeps suggestions separate from decisions until they are checked, accepted, and recorded.
Suggestion And Approved Decision
A useful suggestion is not automatically an approved decision. Decisions stay separate until the user has actually approved them.
Ability And Permission
A model may be able to edit, publish, delete, connect an outside service, or move files. That ability is not the same thing as permission to act.
Memory And Governed Continuity
Chat memory can help an AI recall what was said. It does not automatically prove which source controls, which wording was approved, which action needs permission, or which tangent belongs in a separate workstream.
Candidate And Confirmed
NoDrift keeps candidate incidents visible while the final classification is unsupported. Clean confirmed counts and incomplete review coverage are reported separately.
Transmission And Reception
The LLM transmits. NoDrift governs reception: what the user and the active session accept, verify, record, correct, reject, or act on after output arrives.