OpenFeature - making feature flags a commodity

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Standardizing Feature Flagging for Everyone openfeature.dev Last updated: Aug 25, 2022 Data on Kubernetes Community Meetup

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My first feature flag Image source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jumper _%28computing%29 Jumper - a short length of conductor used to close, open or bypass part of an electronic circuit

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> whoami ● In open source since 2012 ● Was doing feature flags before is was a mainstream ● Dynatrace OSPO, ex. CloudBees/Synopsys/Intel ● Wood chopper & water carrier in OpenFeature LibreCores

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Dynatrace OSPO engineering.dynatrace.com/open-source

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This talk ● Feature Flags 101 ● OpenFeature Introduction ● Live Demo ● What’s next? https://bit.ly/dokc-openfeature These slides

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Feature Flags 101

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Feature Flag Use-Cases ● Preview Features ● A/B testing ● Progressive delivery ● (?) Settings ● … Classification: ● Temporary or permanent ● Runtime or not ● Boolean, numeric, etc.

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Example. GitHub

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Example. Jenkins jenkins.io/doc/book/managing/system-properties or System.setProperty(name, value)

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Example. Jenkins Not so temporary :)

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Feature flags are NOT just tumblers Source: https://www.bennadel.com/blog/3612-vie wing-the-launchdarkly-feature-flag-evalu ation-process-as-a-pure-function.htm ● Complex evaluation ● Based on context ○ user ○ location/language ○ instanceId, etc. ○ control plane inputs ○ user defined settings

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There are [open-source] frameworks for it! ● SDKs are usually open source ● Technology-specific libraries ● Services ○ Flagsmith, Unleash, FeatureHub, GO Feature Flag, Flipt… Source: optimizely.com/insights/blog/manage-outdated-feature-flags

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Feature Flagging ecosystem ● Many SDKs solving essentially the same problem ● SDKs are generally open source but have a limited ecosystem ● Open Source projects cannot use existing SDKs, not vendor neutral ● Vendor lock-in at the code-level ● No solution fully utilizes cloud native capabilities ● Missing integration with observability tools (e.g. OpenTelemetry)

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https://xkcd.com/927/

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So, what’s next?

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Let’s build OpenTelemetry of Feature Flagging ● Define an open standard, vendor-neutral specification ● Develop a unified API and SDK ● Provide a developer-first, cloud-native reference implementation ● Support extensibility for commercial offerings (open core)

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Proposed solution ● Publish an open standard that allows new and existing feature flag solutions to become spec-compliant ● Develop spec-compliant, vendor agnostic SDKs ● Integrate with cloud native technologies, such as OpenTelemetery, allowing for enhanced distributed traces, metrics, and request scoped context ● Provide a Kubernetes focused reference implementation

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OpenFeature is an open standard for feature flag management, created to support a robust feature flag ecosystem using cloud native technologies. OpenFeature will provide a unified API and SDK, and a developer-first, cloud-native implementation, with extensibility for open source and commercial offerings. openfeature.dev

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OpenFeature Idea dynatrace.com/news/blog/new-openfeat ure-standard-for-feature-flagging Local Open Feature manager

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OpenFeature ● Started in Feb 2022 by Dynatrace ● Many founding companies - end users and vendors ● 20+ interested companies by now ● CNCF Sandbox Project https://github.com/open-feature/community/blob/ main/interested-parties.md

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What’s inside? ● Open Specification ● Open Source SDKs for common technology stacks ● FOSS reference implementations for control plane ● Vendor-neutral community

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Specification ● https://github.com/open-feature/spec ● Ready for evaluation ● Pending research on details

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OpenFeature SDKs Done/Preview: ● Node.js ● Java ● Golang ● .NET & .NET Framework In progress ● Python Backlog: Ruby & Co github.com/orgs/open-feature/projects/1/views/8

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Providers For OpenFeature

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OpenFeature Providers ● Split ● CloudBees Feature Management ● LaunchDarkly ● Flagsmith ● Go-feature-flag ● flagD ● … Demos: github.com/open-feature/playgroun d#demo-providers Providers roadmap: https://github.com/orgs/open-featur e/projects/2

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Flagd - Simple generic daemon github.com/open-feature/flagd ● OpenFeature sub-project ● Implementation for demos and prototyping

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Kubernetes-native Reference Implementation github.com/open-feature/open-feature-operator ● K8s operator ● Injects flagD sidecar

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Native OpenTelemetry Support demo:github.com/open-feature/playground/blob/m ain/README.md#opentelemetry-integration

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Demo time!

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How to try? Find demos here: github.com/open-feature/playground Guided tour No Kubernetes today

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Project state

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February 2022 Define and contact stakeholders. Organize initial team. March 2022 Define the mission, governance, vision, initial scope, and architecture. May 2022 Announce the project at KubeCon EU. August 2022 Beta release with observability integrations. October 2022 Announce GA release at KubeCon US. Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sept Oct Nov Dec Milestones Project Roadmap

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Open Future of OpenFeature Now: ● Outreach to potential contributors ● Summarizing research results, spec drafts ● Prototyping and reference implementations ● Specification - Beta release Next: ● Kubecon! ● General Availability release Public Roadmap: github.com/orgs/open-feature/projects/2

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Takeaways 1. OpenFeature grows fast, many vendors are onboard 2. OpenFeature is ready for evaluation 3. Try it out! github.com/open-feature/playground

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Participate in OpenFeature! ● Join our Slack ● Join us for project meetings ● Add yourself to Interested Parties ● Develop SDKs ● Share your feedback! github.com/open-feature/community

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Links ● Website: openfeature.dev ● GitHub: github.com/open-feature ● Specification: github.com/open-feature/spec ● Community and Governance: github.com/open-feature/community ● Project roadmap: github.com/orgs/open-feature/projects/2

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QUESTIONS? openfeature.dev ! Join our Slack