Feature Flags

Feature Flags

A feature flag in Abby is basically just a boolean that can be toggled via the Dashboard in Abby. This is useful for testing new features, or for hiding features that are not yet ready for production.

A feature flag is always toggled for a certain Environment which allows you to test features in different environments. For example, you can have a feature flag that is enabled in the development environment, but disabled in the production environment.

Basic Usage

When a feature flag is toggled for an environment, every user will see the same value for that feature flag. If you want to test a feature for a specific user, you can use A/B Tests.

User Segments & Conditional Rules

Feature flags can be made more powerful with user segments and conditional rules. This allows you to dynamically control flag values based on user properties.

User Properties

First, define the properties you want to use for targeting in your user segment schema. Common properties include:

  • User role/type (string)
  • Subscription status (boolean)
  • Usage metrics (number)
  • Location (string)
  • Custom attributes specific to your app

Conditional Rules

Once you have user properties defined, you can create conditional rules for your feature flags:

  • Single Rules: Simple conditions like "role equals admin" or "subscriptionActive equals true"
  • Rule Groups: Complex logic combining multiple conditions with AND/OR operators
  • Operators: Support for various comparisons:
    • Strings: equals, not equals, contains, not contains, starts with, ends with, regex
    • Numbers: equals, not equals, greater than, less than, greater/less than or equal
    • Booleans: equals

Example Usage

Here's how it works:

  1. Define your user properties in the Abby dashboard
  2. Create rules for your feature flags using these properties
  3. Update user properties in your application code:
// Update user properties
abby.updateUserProperties({
  role: "admin",
  subscriptionActive: true,
  usageCount: 100,
});

When evaluating feature flags, Abby will:

  1. Check the environment value first
  2. Evaluate any conditional rules based on user properties
  3. Return the appropriate flag value

This allows for powerful targeting scenarios like:

  • Enable features only for admin users
  • Show premium features to paid subscribers
  • Roll out features gradually based on usage metrics
  • Target specific user segments with custom rules
DevtoolsRemote Configuration