ConfigDrift: catch config drift before it causes incidents

Keep staging and prod consistent. ConfigDrift compares config files and environment directories, flags drift, and exits non-zero on breaking changes so CI can block the PR before it ships.

Last updated: 2026-07-17 · ConfigDrift on GitHub

Install

Or via Homebrew: brew tap Coding-Dev-Tools/tap && brew install configdrift

Or via Scoop: scoop bucket add Coding-Dev-Tools https://github.com/Coding-Dev-Tools/scoop-bucket && scoop install configdrift

One license covers all 11 DevForge CLI tools. The free CLI works fully offline — no telemetry, no phone-home.

Why config drift matters

Configuration drift — when staging and production quietly diverge — is a leading cause of "works on my machine" incidents. ConfigDrift turns drift detection into a routine, automatable check:

• Multi-environment compliance — ensure staging and prod configs are identical before every deploy.
• Secrets audit — detect env vars that exist in one environment but are missing in another.
• CI/CD gating — block PRs that introduce config drift across environments.
• Incident prevention — catch a changed database endpoint before it causes a production outage.

Quick start

Compare two config files:

configdrift check dev.yaml prod.yaml

Scan entire directories as environments:

configdrift scan ./config/dev ./config/staging ./config/prod

Generate a config file that defines your environments:

configdrift init
configdrift scan --config .configdrift.yaml

Commands

check — compare config files

configdrift check <file1> <file2> [--output table|json|silent] [--baseline dev] [--target prod]

• table (default) — rich colored table output.
• json — machine-readable JSON for CI integration.
• silent — exit code only (0 = no breaking drift, 1 = breaking drift found).

scan — compare environment directories

configdrift scan ./dev ./staging ./prod --baseline dev

Scans all config files in each directory, merges them, and compares against a baseline environment.

init — generate a config file

configdrift init .

Creates .configdrift.yaml in the specified directory.

CI/CD gating

Use --output silent so a breaking drift fails the build:

configdrift check dev.yaml prod.yaml --output silent || echo "Drift detected!"

GitHub Actions:

 - name: Detect config drift
   run: |
     pip install git+https://github.com/Coding-Dev-Tools/configdrift.git
     configdrift check ./config/staging/app.yaml ./config/prod/app.yaml --output silent

Supported formats

Severity levels

• Info — non-critical value changes.
• Warning — added or removed optional keys.
• Breaking — changes to critical keys: database*, auth*, api_key*, secret*, password*, token*, endpoint*.

Pricing

ConfigDrift is part of the DevForge / Coding Dev Tools suite. One license covers all 11 CLI tools.

No lock-in: the CLI works fully offline on the free tier — no telemetry, no phone-home. Annual billing saves 20%.

FAQ

Is ConfigDrift on public PyPI?

No. Install via git+https://github.com/Coding-Dev-Tools/configdrift.git, Homebrew (brew tap Coding-Dev-Tools/tap && brew install configdrift), or Scoop. There is no public pip install configdrift.

Which config formats are supported?

YAML, JSON, TOML (Python 3.11+), and .env (KEY=VALUE).

Can I gate CI on drift?

Yes. Run configdrift check a.yaml b.yaml --output silent; it exits 1 on breaking drift so the pipeline fails before merge.