Drive9

Server-side workspace kernel for AI agents

Sandboxes are disposable. Workspaces should not be.

Drive9 gives AI agents a durable workspace that can be mounted from any sandbox, forked for parallel attempts, checkpointed, rolled back, and committed with server-side conflict detection.

Local disks run the process. Git stores the final result. Drive9 keeps the working state in between.

# Sandbox A mounts the workspace and starts working.
drive9 mount --mode=fuse :/repo ./work
mkdir -p ./work/notes
printf 'fix attempt A\n' > ./work/notes/run-42.txt
drive9 umount ./work

# Sandbox A is gone. Sandbox B mounts the same workspace and continues.
drive9 mount --mode=fuse :/repo ./work
cat ./work/notes/run-42.txt

Why Drive9

Agents now clone repositories, edit files, install dependencies, run tests, produce logs, create artifacts, and try multiple approaches. The sandbox may last minutes; the work often needs to last longer.

Most stacks treat workspace state as an after-the-fact handoff: sync a folder, commit to Git, dump files into object storage, or serialize session state into a database. Drive9 moves those runtime questions into the workspace layer:

• Which files, logs, and artifacts survive sandbox replacement?
• Where do parallel attempts stay isolated, commit, or roll back?
• Who decides whether an agent can write this path right now?
• What happens when two attempts started from the same base both want to commit?

Drive9 is runtime-managed workspace state, not just a network folder.

What It Gives Agents

Ordinary Filesystem Tools

Mount a server-side workspace and keep using Git, npm, grep, test runners, and shell scripts. Agents do not need a new file API.

drive9 ctx add --name prod --server https://api.drive9.ai --api-key "$DRIVE9_API_KEY"
drive9 ctx use prod
drive9 mount --mode=fuse :/ ~/drive9
git clone https://github.com/mem9-ai/drive9.git ~/drive9/drive9

Two-Tier Workspace State

Source files and work products are durable workspace state. .git, dependencies, build outputs, and tool caches can stay in the local execution layer and be restored with pack/unpack when a replacement sandbox needs a warm workspace.

drive9 mount --mode=fuse --profile=portable :/workspace /mnt/workspace
# work with normal tools; local overlay paths stay local for tool performance
drive9 pack --mount /mnt/workspace

drive9 unpack --local-root /tmp/new-local --remote-root /workspace --profile portable
drive9 mount --mode=fuse --profile=portable :/workspace /mnt/workspace

Scoped Workspace Access

Issue short-lived filesystem credentials scoped by path, operation, and time. Agents get the workspace surface they need, not a full workspace key.

drive9 token issue agent-17 \
  --ttl 1h \
  --allow /repo/src:read,list,search,write \
  --allow /repo/tests:read,list,search

Expected behavior under that token:

cat /repo/src/main.go          # allowed
cat /repo/tests/auth_test.go   # allowed
echo x > /repo/tests/new.log   # denied: write not granted
cat /repo/secrets/token.txt    # denied: path outside scope

Fast Git Workspaces

Clone repositories into a Drive9 mount with Git-aware fast clone support. Use a blobless local .git and hydrate clean tree content as needed.

drive9 mount --mode=fuse :/ ~/drive9
drive9 git clone --fast --blobless --hydrate=background \
  https://github.com/mem9-ai/drive9.git ~/drive9/drive9

Server-Side Context Forks

Create a copy-on-write workspace context for heavier exploration. A fork can be mounted from another sandbox without copying the whole workspace up front.

drive9 ctx fork experiment-auth --from prod
drive9 ctx use experiment-auth
drive9 mount --mode=fuse :/ ./work

LayerFS Attempts

Run writable attempts over a read-only base. Failed attempts roll back without polluting the base; successful attempts commit back after Drive9 checks whether the base changed.

# Two agents start from the same base workspace.
drive9 fs layer create :/repo --name fix-auth-a --tag agent=a
drive9 fs layer create :/repo --name fix-auth-b --tag agent=b

drive9 mount --mode=fuse --layer fix-auth-a :/repo ./attempt-a
drive9 mount --mode=fuse --layer fix-auth-b :/repo ./attempt-b

# Each agent edits, tests, and checkpoints independently.
drive9 fs layer checkpoint fix-auth-a --label tests-pass
drive9 fs layer checkpoint fix-auth-b --label alternative-pass

# The first commit updates the base. The second is preserved if it conflicts.
drive9 fs layer commit fix-auth-a
drive9 fs layer commit fix-auth-b   # becomes conflicted if the base moved

A conflicted layer is not silently overwritten or discarded. It stays available for review, diff, rollback, or manual resolution.

Vault and Journal Surfaces

Workspace state often depends on credentials and audit trails. Drive9 includes a vault namespace for scoped secrets and an append-only journal for agent/workflow events.

drive9 mount vault /n/vault
drive9 vault grant /n/vault/prod-db/DB_URL --agent alice --perm read --ttl 1h

drive9 journal new -id run-42 -title "run 42"
echo '{"type":"tool.call.completed","summary":{"tool":"pytest"}}' \
  | drive9 journal append run-42
drive9 journal verify run-42

Architecture

flowchart TB
    A[AI agents<br/>sandboxes<br/>humans] --> B[FUSE mount<br/>CLI<br/>Go SDK<br/>HTTP API]
    B --> C[Drive9 server]

    C --> D[Workspace state<br/>paths, revisions, layers,<br/>checkpoints, scoped tokens]
    C --> E[Local execution layer<br/>.git, deps, build cache,<br/>tool state, packs]
    C --> F[Vault + journal<br/>secrets, grants,<br/>agent/workflow audit]

    D --> G[(TiDB / MySQL-compatible<br/>metadata store)]
    F --> G
    D --> H[(S3-compatible<br/>object storage)]
    E --> H

Loading

Small files and metadata live in the metadata store. Large content, LayerFS objects, and local-state packs use S3-compatible object storage. Drive9 owns mount, fork, attempt, checkpoint, rollback, commit, conflict handling, scoped access, and audit/search metadata.

Runtime-Managed, Not After-the-Fact

Approach	Where state mainly lives	Best at	Limit
Local sandbox disk	One sandbox or VM	Fast execution	Dies with the sandbox
Git	Repository history	Final review and merge	Weak for logs, caches, failed attempts, and work-in-progress state
Object storage + database	Application code	Custom persistence	Every framework rebuilds branching, recovery, permissions, and conflicts
ArtifactFS-style FUSE + Git systems	Local overlay plus Git handoff	Repo cold start and Git-native workflow	Workspace state is mostly handed off after work happens
AgentFS-style session systems	Portable session database	Queryable agent/session state	Workspace files are not a live server-side runtime object
Drive9	Server-side workspace state	Runtime workspace lifecycle	Requires a Drive9 server and explicit workspace model

Use ArtifactFS-style systems when the main problem is opening repositories quickly. Use AgentFS-style systems when the main problem is carrying a portable session database. Use Drive9 when the main problem is managing the worksite while agents are still working.

Quick Start

Build the binaries:

go build -o bin/drive9 ./cmd/drive9
go build -o bin/drive9-server ./cmd/drive9-server
go build -o bin/drive9-server-local ./cmd/drive9-server-local

Connect to a Drive9 server and mount a workspace:

bin/drive9 ctx add --name dev --server https://api.drive9.ai --api-key "$DRIVE9_API_KEY"
bin/drive9 ctx use dev
bin/drive9 mount --mode=fuse :/ ~/drive9

Simulate a sandbox handoff:

# Sandbox A
printf 'notes from run 42\n' > ~/drive9/run-42.txt
bin/drive9 umount ~/drive9

# Sandbox B
bin/drive9 mount --mode=fuse :/ ~/drive9
cat ~/drive9/run-42.txt

Boundaries

• Drive9 keeps workspace state; another system still runs the sandbox process.
• It does not preserve live processes, sockets, terminals, or in-memory model context.
• It is not a Git replacement; Git remains the final review and history layer.
• It targets agent workspace workloads, not full general-purpose POSIX compatibility.
• Search and semantic metadata exist, but Drive9 is not a vector-memory product.

Documentation

• LayerFS V1 design
• Pack/unpack profile spec
• Git fast clone workspace design
• Quota CLI and API guide
• Go SDK integration guide
• Go SDK vs CLI parity notes
• Vault quickstart

Development

go test ./...
go test -race ./pkg/fuse ./pkg/backend ./pkg/server

Focused end-to-end suites live under e2e/, including FUSE write/read gates, Git workflow gates, portable pack/unpack, and LayerFS smoke tests.

The Go module path is github.com/mem9-ai/drive9. The old github.com/mem9-ai/dat9 path is intentionally unsupported after this module rename; update Go imports and go get commands to the Drive9 path. This PR does not rename legacy X-Dat9-* wire headers or internal Dat9 implementation identifiers.

License

Apache 2.0.