What is a drift event
A drift event is created whenever a comparison detects differences between an incoming file and a contract baseline. It is the permanent audit record of that detection.
Each drift event contains:
- The names of the source and target files compared
- The full diff report (added, removed, changed, renamed fields)
- Counts for each change category
- Severity (
trivial,minor,major) - Status (
pending,resolved,ignored,rejected) - Timestamps for creation and any resolution
- A reference to the linked contract
- The monitor or cloud connection that triggered it (if automated)
Events are scoped to your organization. No two organizations share event data.
Event statuses
Default state when a drift event is created. Requires review.
The drift was reviewed and accepted. Can optionally update the linked contract schema, creating a new version.
Acknowledged but no action taken. Use for expected variance that does not need to be tracked. Contract schema is not updated.
The incoming file was flagged as invalid. Use when the drift indicates an error on the sender side rather than a legitimate schema change.
Severity levels
Severity is set at creation time and does not change.
Only new fields were added. Backward compatible.
Renames or value changes. No fields were removed.
Fields were removed or types changed. Breaking. Review these first.
Resolving events
To resolve an event:
- Open the event from the Drift Inbox.
- Review the diff. Check each added, removed, and changed field.
- Choose a resolution action:
- Resolve - accept the drift. Optionally update the contract to reflect the new schema.
- Ignore - acknowledge without acting.
- Reject - mark as invalid.
- Optionally add resolution notes.
When you resolve and update the contract, DriftOps saves a new contract version with the accepted changes recorded. The event’s resolved_via field is set to inbox.
Resolution actions are logged in the audit trail.
Drift Inbox
The Drift Inbox is the main interface for managing pending events.
Filters available:
- Status: pending, resolved, ignored, rejected
- Severity: trivial, minor, major
- Contract: filter to a specific contract
- Date range
Events are sorted by creation time, newest first. The inbox shows the change counts at a glance so you can prioritize major events.
Pagination is cursor-based. Large organizations with high event volumes will see consistent performance regardless of total event count.
Notifications
When a drift event is created, DriftOps can send a Slack notification.
Notifications include:
- The event severity and status
- A summary of what changed (field counts)
- A direct link to the event in the Drift Inbox
Configure Slack notifications in Settings > Notifications. You can also set a per-monitor Slack webhook to override the organization-level setting for specific sources.
See Slack integration for setup details.