feature flag pattern
A runtime toggle that turns code paths on or off without a deploy. Decouples release from deploy: ship the code dark, flip the flag when ready, kill the flag instantly if it goes wrong.
A runtime toggle that turns code paths on or off without a deploy. Decouples release from deploy: ship the code dark, flip the flag when ready, kill the flag instantly if it goes wrong.
symptoms
- bad code shipped is hard to revert without a redeploy
- want gradual rollout (1% → 10% → 100%)
- need per-customer / per-tenant variation
causes
- release coupled to deploy
- no kill switches for risky changes
fixes
- feature flag service (LaunchDarkly, GrowthBook, in-house)
- kill switches on critical paths
- hygiene: remove flags after rollout
you might say
- flag it off
- flag-rollout
- kill switch