BE-032 — Implement Feature Flag & Configuration Management Service
📚 Overview
The Feature Flag & Configuration Management Service provides dynamic control over backend functionality without requiring application redeployments. It enables administrators to safely roll out new features, perform staged releases, conduct A/B testing, disable problematic functionality during incidents, and manage environment-specific configuration.
As TruthBounty evolves, new capabilities should be deployable independently of code releases. This service forms the operational control layer that allows the engineering team to activate, deactivate, or gradually roll out features across different environments and user segments.
🧠 Background
Modern distributed systems should not require redeployment whenever operational behaviour changes.
Without feature flags:
- emergency fixes require redeployment
- new features cannot be progressively released
- experiments become difficult
- production incidents are harder to mitigate
- environment configuration becomes error-prone
A centralised Feature Flag Service enables safe deployment strategies while reducing operational risk.
🎯 Objectives
Implement a feature management platform that:
- supports dynamic feature flags
- manages runtime configuration
- enables gradual rollouts
- supports user segmentation
- caches configuration efficiently
- records configuration history
- exposes management APIs
- integrates with backend services
🧩 Technical Scope
1. Feature Flag Registry
Implement a central registry containing:
- feature identifier
- display name
- description
- owner
- status
- rollout percentage
- target environments
- creation date
- modification history
Each feature must have a globally unique identifier.
2. Runtime Configuration
Support runtime configuration for:
- API behaviour
- protocol parameters
- notification settings
- cache settings
- timeout values
- integration settings
- security options
Configuration changes should be applied without restarting services where possible.
3. Gradual Rollouts
Support deployment strategies including:
- percentage rollout
- user-based rollout
- wallet-based rollout
- environment-specific rollout
- organisation rollout
- whitelist rollout
- blacklist rollout
4. Environment Profiles
Maintain separate configuration profiles for:
- Development
- Testing
- Staging
- Production
Each environment should maintain independent values.
5. Configuration Validation
Validate:
- required values
- data types
- acceptable ranges
- dependency rules
- conflicting settings
Invalid configurations must never be activated.
6. Audit Trail
Record:
- configuration changes
- feature activations
- feature deactivations
- rollout updates
- administrator actions
- timestamps
Support full configuration history.
7. Caching
Optimise configuration delivery using:
- Redis caching
- local memory cache
- cache invalidation
- automatic refresh
- version tracking
8. Administrative APIs
Expose secure APIs to:
- create flags
- update flags
- activate features
- deactivate features
- manage rollouts
- retrieve configuration history
9. Monitoring
Expose metrics including:
- active features
- rollout progress
- configuration updates
- cache hit ratio
- failed validations
- configuration latency
10. Future Extensibility
Design for future support of:
- multivariate feature flags
- experimentation framework
- AI-assisted rollout recommendations
- scheduled activations
- scheduled deactivations
- remote configuration SDKs
✅ Acceptance Criteria
- Feature flags can be created.
- Runtime configuration updates function correctly.
- Rollout percentages operate as expected.
- Environment profiles remain isolated.
- Configuration validation prevents invalid updates.
- Audit history is maintained.
- Monitoring metrics are available.
- Integration tests pass.
🧪 Testing Requirements
Implement tests covering:
- feature creation
- feature activation
- gradual rollout
- environment isolation
- cache invalidation
- validation rules
- audit history
- administrative APIs
- monitoring metrics
Target test coverage: 90%+
📚 Documentation
Update:
- Backend Documentation
- Operations Manual
- Administrator Guide
- API Documentation
- Configuration Reference
- Deployment Guide
🔗 Dependencies
Depends on:
- BE-001 — Implement Backend Authentication Gateway
- BE-006 — Implement Structured Logging Service
- BE-021 — Implement Redis Cache & Distributed Session Management
- BE-022 — Implement Audit Logging & Compliance API
Blocks:
- Progressive Feature Releases
- Runtime Configuration
- Administrative Dashboard
- Experimentation Framework
- Production Operations
🏷 Labels
- backend
- devops
- architecture
- protocol-critical
- complexity-medium
- stellar-wave
📊 Complexity
Medium
Although feature flags appear simple, they become a critical operational component that must guarantee consistency, low latency, auditability, and safe rollout behaviour across distributed backend services.
⏱ Estimated Effort
5–7 days
🚀 Definition of Done
- Feature Flag Service implemented.
- Runtime configuration operational.
- Rollout strategies supported.
- Environment profiles isolated.
- Validation rules enforced.
- Audit history maintained.
- Monitoring metrics exposed.
- Tests passing.
- Documentation updated.
- Ready for integration with Progressive Feature Releases, Runtime Configuration, Administrative Dashboard, Experimentation Framework, and Production Operations.
BE-032 — Implement Feature Flag & Configuration Management Service
📚 Overview
The Feature Flag & Configuration Management Service provides dynamic control over backend functionality without requiring application redeployments. It enables administrators to safely roll out new features, perform staged releases, conduct A/B testing, disable problematic functionality during incidents, and manage environment-specific configuration.
As TruthBounty evolves, new capabilities should be deployable independently of code releases. This service forms the operational control layer that allows the engineering team to activate, deactivate, or gradually roll out features across different environments and user segments.
🧠 Background
Modern distributed systems should not require redeployment whenever operational behaviour changes.
Without feature flags:
A centralised Feature Flag Service enables safe deployment strategies while reducing operational risk.
🎯 Objectives
Implement a feature management platform that:
🧩 Technical Scope
1. Feature Flag Registry
Implement a central registry containing:
Each feature must have a globally unique identifier.
2. Runtime Configuration
Support runtime configuration for:
Configuration changes should be applied without restarting services where possible.
3. Gradual Rollouts
Support deployment strategies including:
4. Environment Profiles
Maintain separate configuration profiles for:
Each environment should maintain independent values.
5. Configuration Validation
Validate:
Invalid configurations must never be activated.
6. Audit Trail
Record:
Support full configuration history.
7. Caching
Optimise configuration delivery using:
8. Administrative APIs
Expose secure APIs to:
9. Monitoring
Expose metrics including:
10. Future Extensibility
Design for future support of:
✅ Acceptance Criteria
🧪 Testing Requirements
Implement tests covering:
Target test coverage: 90%+
📚 Documentation
Update:
🔗 Dependencies
Depends on:
Blocks:
🏷 Labels
📊 Complexity
Medium
Although feature flags appear simple, they become a critical operational component that must guarantee consistency, low latency, auditability, and safe rollout behaviour across distributed backend services.
⏱ Estimated Effort
5–7 days
🚀 Definition of Done