Feature Flag

Feature flags are a software development practice that allows new features to be deployed but not made available to end users. Feature flags allow developers to ship code for an incomplete or unreleased feature, while preventing that code from being executed until the feature is considered ready.

Feature flags work by wrapping new feature code in conditional statements, like "if featureX is enabled". By default, the feature flag is off, so the code is deployed but does not run. When the feature is ready to be released, the feature flag can be toggled on remotely to allow the code to execute for specific users or groups. This provides a way to deploy often while controlling feature releases. For example, a developer could deploy a beta version of a feature to testers by enabling the flag only for their accounts. Feature flags help teams incrementally develop and test new functionality without impacting the experience for other users.