Introduction
Feature flags—also known as feature toggles, feature flippers, or feature bits provide an opportunity for a radical change in the way software engineers deliver software products at a breakneck pace. Feature flags have a long history in software configuration but have since “crossed the chasm,” with growing adoption over the past few years as more and more engineering organizations are discovering that feature flags allow faster, safer delivery of features to their users by decoupling code deployment from feature release.
Feature flags can be used for operational control, enabling “kill switches” that can dynamically reconfigure a live production system in response to high load or third-party outages. Feature flags also support continue‐integration/continuous delivery (CI/CD) practices via simpler merges into the main software branch.
