featuretoggle
Feature toggle, also known as a feature flag, is a software development technique that allows enabling or disabling a feature at runtime without deploying new code. A toggle is a conditional check in the application that determines whether the feature’s code path should execute. Flags may be controlled via in-code configuration, environment variables, or a dedicated feature flag management service, enabling dynamic behavior changes without a redeploy.
Purposes of feature toggles include releasing features gradually (canary or staged rollouts), providing safe kill switches,
Tactical classifications commonly used are release toggles, experiment toggles, and ops toggles. Release toggles enable a
Implementation approaches vary from in-code boolean checks to external flag services that offer dashboards, targeting rules,
Best practices include keeping toggles small and well-scoped, documenting purpose and ownership, and testing both states