We've built an open-source feature flag server for 11 years

Re:We've built an open-source feature flag server for 11 years by ivarconr on Friday November 06, 2026 @08:56AM (#50392333)

Thanks, "I could build that" → "oh, that's what the other 90% is" is pretty much how Unleash started for us too. What does your homegrown version do? Always interested in where people draw the line between building and adopting.

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Re:We've built an open-source feature flag server for 11 years by kleiba2 on Friday November 06, 2026 @09:41AM (#50392870)

Great comeback!

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Re:We've built an open-source feature flag server for 11 years by sgt on Friday November 06, 2026 @03:01PM (#50397595)

Just basically various means of turning features on/off based on static rules. Settings mostly but occasionally user based or URL params.

Your platform has that and a ton of other things that would be useful for larger platforms, but it would be a pain to develop when you're already building a complicated roadmap.

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Re:We've built an open-source feature flag server for 11 years by aussieguy1234 on Friday November 06, 2026 @04:57PM (#50399054)

If it's settings, its better off being in your apps settings rather than implemented as a long running feature flag.

Feature flags are meant to be temporary.

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Re:We've built an open-source feature flag server for 11 years by sgt on Saturday November 07, 2026 @05:43AM (#50403353)

Well, I mean.. settings can also be temporary. Could be constants or from the DB, etc.

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Re:We've built an open-source feature flag server for 11 years by aussieguy1234 on Sunday November 08, 2026 @01:03AM (#50410817)

Perfect candidate for a FF if it really is temporary. I have my own personal rule. If the FF lives beyond a certain amount of time, it gets turned into a setting.

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Re:We've built an open-source feature flag server for 11 years by k4rli on Sunday November 08, 2026 @09:50AM (#50413826)

End of the day it seems like only semantics. Feature-flag and a boolean "setting" to enable a feature are the same thing.

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Re:We've built an open-source feature flag server for 11 years by a4isms on Friday November 06, 2026 @05:42PM (#50399479)

At $lastJob$ we had a home-grown solution. My contribution was a simple expression language that created an algebra of flags. Things like `(A | B) && C` or `from: 2027-01-01 && to: 2027-12-31` and so forth. The idea was to enable PMs to do a lot of the feature management directly, and then to use the patterns that arise organically to discover what we would need when we were ready to pay for a SaaS solution.

If you have any questions about what this unlocked for us... Or anything else... "My obfuscated email is in my bio." Happy to help anyone trying to make shipping easier for teams, I self-identify as a toolsmith.

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