Drift Station is a native macOS app that snapshots your Mac — Homebrew, App Store apps, dotfiles, app configs, CLI tools, and curated defaults — into a portable .driftstation archive you can version, sync, and diff.
Inventory
Inventory scanning, three-way drift diffs, secret detection, and an apply engine that writes safely. Free to audit; Pro unlocks the actions where bytes move.
Scans your Mac and builds an inventory you can browse: Homebrew formulae and casks, Mac App Store apps (via mas), npm and pip globals, VS Code and Cursor extensions, dotfiles, curated macOS defaults, and app configs.
At sync time Drift Station compares the source, the destination, and the last-written state. If you've edited a file locally, it surfaces a conflict instead of overwriting you.
Pair two Macs on the same network, browse each other's inventory, and sync selected items peer-to-peer. No account, no relay — the app doesn't host anything for you.
A gzipped archive around a canonical TOML manifest plus content-addressed sidecar files. Human-readable, inspectable with tar and gzip, and designed to live in iCloud Drive, a git repo, or a USB stick.
Scans your dotfiles and app configs before export so accidental API keys, tokens, or passwords never leave the machine. Opt-in redaction for anything that matches.
Writes bytes safely: copy-based (no symlinks), SHA-256 hashed, and idempotent. Dry-run every change before it lands, and roll back from the activity log.
Sandboxed app with an SMAppService helper for the writes that need it — defaults plist changes, protected directory writes — not a shell script running as root.
Whether it's one Mac you replace every few years, two Macs you keep honest, or a team you onboard — Drift Station adapts.
Export a .driftstation once, restore it on the next Mac. Homebrew, dotfiles, defaults, app configs — one file, one import, one apply.
Single Mac user
Every item lands in a TOML manifest with content-addressed sidecar files. Inspectable with tar and gzip — you don't need the app to open one.
The tools that install your tools.
The shell environment that follows you around.
The editor and terminal settings you've tuned over years.
A hand-picked set of defaults keys that actually matter — not a full domain dump.
Free to audit. Pro is a one-time unlock for the three actions where bytes actually move. Updates included for a year.
An audit tier — enough to answer "does it understand my setup?"
Everything free, plus the actions where bytes actually move.
| Capability | Free | Pro |
|---|---|---|
| Audit | ||
| Scan this Mac | ||
| Pair over LAN | ||
| Three-way diff | ||
| Move bytes | ||
| Import a .driftstation | ||
| Export a .driftstation | ||
| Apply to this machine | ||
| Updates | ||
| Updates window | Major bug fixes | 1 year included |
One-year updates included. Renew for $14.99 to extend another year — older builds keep working indefinitely. Up to 5 devices per licence.
Scan, snapshot, sync. Every write goes through the apply engine with a dry-run and an activity log.
Drift Station walks your Mac and builds an inventory: packages, dotfiles, app configs, curated defaults. Free tier — no licence required.
Export a .driftstation archive — a TOML manifest plus content-addressed sidecar files, gzipped into one portable file.
Import on another Mac, apply to this one, or pair over the LAN and drift-diff against a peer. Every write is logged and dry-runnable.
Free tier works immediately. No account required.
Your Mac, perfectly captured