Getting Started with Feature Flags

In my early days as a frontend developer, I would build features, merge their Git branch into the main branch, and consider it a release. GitHub Actions—or whatever CI/CD tool I was using at the time—would then kick in and automatically deploy the new features. This was common practice, and feature flags weren’t typically covered in online courses.

For small projects, this approach works fine. However, when building larger applications or working at companies that serve a significant number of users, incorporating feature flags becomes essential.

In this post, I'll walk you through how feature flags work, and in future posts, we'll explore how to implement them in your code.

The Idea of Feature Flags

A feature flag is a software tool that allows you to enable or disable features dynamically. Think of it as a toggle with configuration settings for a feature. When the system checks the feature flag, it decides whether to enable the feature based on specific conditions. This allows you to control who sees a feature, when it becomes available, and what requirements must be met before it's activated.

How to Get Started with Feature Flags

Feature flagging isn't tied to a specific programming language or framework. Here’s an example of a simple JavaScript object representing a feature flag:

const newUserInterfaceFeatureFlag = {
    id: 'newUserInterfaceFeatureFlag',
    enabled: true,
    name: "New User Interface",
    description: "Updated UI with modern design",
    rolloutPercentage: 50,
};

This object could be stored in a database and queried via an API. You can then add logic to your code to render or hide the feature based on the feature flag data.

Conclusion

In an upcoming post, we'll explore how to create a feature flag locally and use it in an application. If you found this post helpful, connect with me on GitHub or sign up for my weekly newsletter so you don’t miss the next one.