Add Feature Flag

Add Feature Flag Skill

You add a runtime feature flag to Sim that can change on prod with no redeploy (AWS AppConfig). Prefer a global on/off flag unless the rollout actually needs per-workspace, per-organization, per-user, or platform-admin targeting. When AppConfig isn't the source of truth, the flag falls back to a single secret (on/off only).

When to use this vs env-flags.ts

• Feature flag (@/lib/core/config/feature-flags.ts): runtime global on/off by default, optionally scoped by workspaceId/userId/orgId/admin. This skill.
• Env flag (@/lib/core/config/env-flags.ts): deploy-time capability/environment detection (isProd, isHosted, isBillingEnabled). A module-load boolean. Do not add gated flags here.

If the user wants a fixed per-deployment toggle, send them to env-flags.ts instead.

The flag model

A flag's gating rule lives only in the hosted AppConfig document. It is ON for a context when any configured clause matches:

interface FeatureFlagRule {
  enabled?: boolean       // global default for everyone
  workspaceIds?: string[] // allowlisted workspace ids
  orgIds?: string[]       // allowlisted organization ids
  userIds?: string[]      // allowlisted user ids
  adminEnabled?: boolean  // platform admins (user.role === 'admin')
}

Critically, none of this is expressible in code — gating (especially adminEnabled) can only be set through AppConfig, so no environment can grant access from a code literal. Off-AppConfig (self-hosted/OSS/local), a flag is simply on or off, derived from its fallback secret.

Steps

1. Confirm the granularity before editing code. If the user has not already specified it, stop and ask:

   Should <flag-name> be a global on/off flag (recommended), or does it need rollout targeting by workspace, organization, user, and/or platform admin?

   • Recommend global. Do not infer scoped gating merely because the call site already has a workspace, user, or organization id.
   • If the user chooses scoped gating but does not name the dimensions, ask which of workspace, organization, user, and platform admin it needs. Wire only the selected dimensions.
   • If the user wants a fixed per-deployment toggle rather than a runtime AppConfig flag, use env-flags.ts instead.

2. Define the flag. Add one entry to the FEATURE_FLAGS registry in apps/sim/lib/core/config/feature-flags.ts. Each entry is the flag's whole definition — name (kebab-case key), description, and the fallback secret consulted when AppConfig isn't the source of truth (truthy ⇒ on globally):

   const FEATURE_FLAGS = {
     '<flag-name>': {
       description: '<what this gates>',
       fallback: '<FLAG_SECRET>',
     },
   }

   fallback is the env/secret key (typed as keyof typeof env), so add <FLAG_SECRET> to apps/sim/lib/core/config/env.ts first (and the deployment's secret store) — it won't typecheck otherwise. Do not add workspace/org/user/admin defaults here — that gating exists only in AppConfig. Adding the entry makes <flag-name> a valid FeatureFlagName.

3. Gate the call site at the chosen granularity. For the recommended global mode, pass no context:

   import { isFeatureEnabled } from '@/lib/core/config/feature-flags'
   
   if (await isFeatureEnabled('<flag-name>')) {
     // gated behavior
   }

   Do not fetch, resolve, or thread through user or organization context solely for a global flag.

   For scoped rollout, pass only the dimensions the user selected. Admin status is resolved internally, so ordinary callers pass userId, not a role:

   import { isFeatureEnabled } from '@/lib/core/config/feature-flags'
   
   if (await isFeatureEnabled('<flag-name>', { workspaceId, userId, orgId })) {
     // gated behavior
   }

   • Workspace targeting uses workspaceId; organization targeting uses orgId; user and platform-admin targeting require userId.
   • Missing ids are fine — a clause with no matching id is skipped; with no userId, the admin clause resolves to false without a DB read.
   • Admin routes that already know the caller is an admin may pass { userId, isAdmin: true } to skip the role lookup.
   • Client/UI flags: resolve server-side (in a server component, route, or loader) and pass the boolean down as a prop. There is no client AppConfig.

4. (Prod) configure in AppConfig. The infra feature-flags profile schema is permissive, so a new flag needs no infra change. Operators add the flag to the hosted feature-flags document using enabled for global rollout or only the selected workspaceIds/orgIds/userIds/adminEnabled clauses for scoped rollout, then start a sim-<env>-fast deployment (see the AppConfig runbook in the infra README — same flow as access-control). The fallback secret only applies when AppConfig is disabled.

5. Test only new evaluation logic. A flag that reuses the existing clauses is already covered by apps/sim/lib/core/config/feature-flags.test.ts; add no per-flag case. When you change how flags evaluate (a new clause kind, a new fallback path), add a case there that passes the test-audit authoring gate.

6. Clean up after rollout. When the feature ships to everyone, delete the flag's entry from FEATURE_FLAGS, the <FLAG_SECRET> env entry, the AppConfig document, and the call sites. Leaving dead flags around is the main failure mode of flag systems.