Flag statuses in Feature Experimentation

Flag statuses show where each flag is in its lifecycle: draft, testing, live, paused, stale, or archived. Feature Experimentation calculates all statuses automatically (using the ruleset state, rule state, environment type, and time-based activity signals), except archived, which you set manually. Use flag statuses to identify which flags need attention and prevent forgotten or unused flags from accumulating.

Flags dashboard

Go to Flags.

The Flags dashboard shows the status and rules for each flag in your Feature Experimentation project. To learn how to create a flag, see Manage flags.

Flag statuses

A flag can take on one of the following statuses:

• Draft
• Testing
• Live
• Paused
• Stale
• Archived

Draft

The flag is still in the configuration phase and does not serve traffic in any environment. Each newly created ruleset (which includes the flag's environment and rules) starts in Draft status. The following conditions determine this status:

• Ruleset environment – Production (Primary environment) and Non-production (Development).
• Ruleset status – Draft
• Rule status – Any or none.
• Last modified – Any

Testing

The flag is actively tested in Non-production environments only. Review the results before promoting to Production. The following conditions determine this status:

• Ruleset environment – Production (Primary environment) and Non-production (Development).
• Ruleset status –
  • Production (Primary Environment) – Draft or Paused
  • Non-Production (Dev) – Running
• Rule status –
  • Production (Primary Environment) – Any status or no rules.
  • Non-Production (Dev) – At least one Running rule.
• Last modified – Any

Live

The flag is active in Production and serving traffic. This includes flags with running experiments or recently concluded experiments still being observed. The following conditions determine this status:

• Ruleset environment – Production (Primary environment) and Non-production (Development).
• Ruleset status – At least one Running ruleset in Production.
• Rule status – At least one Running rule in Production.
• Last modified – Any

Paused

The flag is paused and is not serving new traffic. The following conditions determine this status:

• Ruleset environment – Production (Primary environment) and Non-production (Development).
• Ruleset status – Paused
• Rule status – Any or none.
• Last modified – Any

Stale

The flag is no longer in active use and is a candidate for cleanup or archiving. Flags that have not been modified for more than 30 days and are not delivering traffic enter this state. The following conditions determine this status:

• Ruleset environment – Production (Primary environment) and Non-production (Development).
• Ruleset status – Any status other than Running.
• Rule status – Any or none.
• Last modified – Last modified more than 30 days ago.

Use the Stale status to identify flags that are ready for removal or archiving.

Archived

Archive flags that are no longer needed. Archiving a flag also removes it from the datafile (the JSON configuration file Feature Experimentation uses to deliver flag rules to your application).

Filter by flag status

1. Go to Flags.
2. Click Apply Filters.
3. Click + Add Filter.

4. Use the field drop-down list and select Status in the Flag section.

   

5. Use the operator drop-down list and select is.
6. Select the statuses you want to filter by using the value drop-down list.

Flag history

Every flag has its own change history. Complete the following steps to view a flag's change history:

1. Go to Flags.
2. Click a flag.
3. Click History.

4. Use Type drop-down list and select Flag.

   

The flag's change history works similarly to the project's change history. Use the drop-down lists to filter by Type, Date, and Source.

To expand all change details, press Alt (Windows) or Option ⌥ (Mac) and click Show details. To collapse all, press the same keys and click Hide details.

See Flag history for a full list of tracked change types.