Overview
Feature Flags (also known as Feature Toggles) enable teams to decouple feature release from code deployment. This allows for safer testing in production, canary releases, and the ability to quickly disable a feature if it causes issues.
Key Concepts
- Toggle Point: The location in the code where the decision is made to enable or disable a feature.
- Toggle Router: A centralized system that manages the state of all flags and decides which users see which features.
- Contextual Toggling: Enabling features based on user attributes, such as location, subscription level, or internal status.
Benefits
- Reduced Risk: Quickly disable buggy features.
- Continuous Delivery: Merge unfinished code into the main branch behind a flag.
- A/B Testing: Test different versions of a feature with different user segments.