An introduction to feature flags

In the current rapidly changing world, developers need to make changes and roll out new features almost every single day, if not quicker. Sometimes, this requires features to be built even before there are any user needs. Having the ability to deploy features into production without disruption is the holy grail of software development.

Features that are deployed to production may or may not be made available to users; this all depends on tactical decisions on the business side. Developers will keep on releasing features to production and, when the time is right, the feature will be made available with a click of a button from the business side. This kind of facility is provided by the feature flag.

In simple terms, feature flags are like on/off switches that we can use to enable/disable features in our applications without creating disruption. Enabling features will also allow companies to strategically enable or disable features depending on...