Feature flags done right: beyond the LaunchDarkly bill
NEO Campus Editorial30 March 20266 min read
Feature flags decouple deploy from release. Used well, they are a superpower. Used badly, they turn a codebase into a maze of dead branches.
Three flag types, three lifecycles
Release flags die after launch. Experiment flags die after the test. Permission flags live forever. Treating them the same is the root of most flag debt.
Clean up religiously
Every flag needs an owner and an expiry. A quarterly flag review prevents the long tail.
Build vs buy
A simple in-house service works at small scale. Past a few hundred flags or any compliance need, buy.
