Configuration #

Feature Flags is incredibly extensible. Including the ability to set which sources to test for if a feature is enabled this is done via a pipeline. These pipes are referred to as Gateways. Each Gateway is visited until a Boolean result is returned.

To choose your gateways, you need to modify the values within config/features.php. The name of each gateways must exist within the gateways key of the same config file.

'pipeline' => ['in_memory', 'database'],

The order of the pipeline is determined by the order of these values.

Gateways #

You may configure as many Gateways as you want to be a part of your pipeline and also use as many of the same driver as you like. The build in drivers are database, in_memory, redis and gate.

Database Driver #

To use the Database driver you will need to add the migration. You can do this by using the publish command.

php artisan vendor:publish --provider="YlsIdeas\FeatureFlags\FeatureFlagsServiceProvider" --tag=features-migration

This driver will use the nominated Database connection & table for your gateway.

'gateways' => [
    'database' => [
        'driver' => 'database',
        'cache' => [
            'ttl' => 600,
        ],
        'connection' => env('FEATURE_FLAG_DATABASE_CONNECTION'),
        'table' => env('FEATURE_FLAG_DATABASE_TABLE', 'features'),
    ],
],

You may also use the on/off commands to affect the state of the features with this driver.

Redis Driver #

This driver will use the nominated Redis connection for your gateway. You may add a prefix as well making it easier to delete the keys stored by the gateway.

'gateways' => [
    'redis' => [
        'driver' => 'redis',
        'prefix' => env('FEATURE_FLAG_REDIS_PREFIX', 'features'),
        'connection' => env('FEATURE_FLAG_REDIS_CONNECTION', 'default'),
    ],
],

You may also use the on/off commands to affect the state of the features with this driver.

InMemory Driver #

This driver will use a .features.php file in the base of the project to configure the in memory features. You may wish to also create a .features.php.dist file. This file will be used when a .features.php does not exist.

'gateways' => [
    'in_memory' => [
        'file' => env('FEATURE_FLAG_IN_MEMORY_FILE', '.features.php'),
        'driver' => 'in_memory',
        'caching' => [
            'ttl' => 300,
        ],
    ],
],

You can create the .features.php file using the following command:

php artisan vendor:publish --provider="YlsIdeas\FeatureFlags\FeatureFlagsServiceProvider" --tag=inmemory-config

You can then use the returning function to provide an array which will be used by the InMemory gateway.

<?php

use Illuminate\Contracts\Foundation\Application;

/**
 * @returns array<string, bool>
 */
return static function (Application $app): array {
    return [
        'my.feature.flag' => true,
    ];
};

You can not use the on/off commands to affect the state of the features with this driver.

Gate Driver #

The gate driver will allow you to use a gate defined in Laravel. This gate will then receive the feature being accessed, you may apply logic based on a user or guest accessing the site through the gate chosen.

'gateways' => [
    'gate' => [
        'driver' => 'gate',
        'gate' => env('FEATURE_FLAG_GATE_GATE', 'feature'),
        'guard' => env('FEATURE_FLAG_GATE_GUARD'),
        'cache' => [
            'ttl' => 600,
        ],
    ],
],

Gate::define('feature', function (?User $user, $feature) {
    return true;
});

The gate behaviour is different to other gateways in that it will always provide a true or false result. If you put this gateway before any others their will always be a result meaning gateways after the gate will not be executed.

You can not use the on/off commands to affect the state of the features with this driver.

Caching with Gateways #

You may implement a cache per gateway. This is done by providing a cache key.

'gateways' => [
    'database' => [
        'driver' => 'database',
        'cache' => [
            'store' => 'file' //Optional. Tells which cache store to use, will otherwise use the default cache.
            'ttl' => 300, // Optional. Tells how long to cache for, defaults to 5 minutes.
        ],
        'connection' => env('FEATURE_FLAG_DATABASE_CONNECTION'),
        'table' => env('FEATURE_FLAG_DATABASE_TABLE', 'features'),
    ],
],

The default is for all items to be cached for 5 minutes. You can set the value to null if you wish to not have the cache items expire. This is not recommended.

Filtering features by Gateway #

You may also tell some gateways to not response to certain feature prefixes. For example if you have a feature called system.my-feature you can apply a filter of system.*, this will mean only features with the prefix of system. will interact with that gateway. You may also flip that logic with !system.* meaning that any feature that does start with that prefix will not interact with the gateway and move onto the next.

'gateways' => [
    'mysql' => [
        'driver' => 'database',
        'connection' => 'mysql',
        'filter' => 'system.*',
    ],
    'sqlite' => [
        'driver' => 'database',
        'connection' => 'sqlite',
        'filter' => '!system.*',
    ],
],

You may apply multiple filters in the configuration of a gateway using an array.

'gateways' => [
    'mysql' => [
        'driver' => 'database',
        'filter' => ['system.*', 'user.*'],
    ],
]

Turning off functionality #

Everything is enabled by default but if you want to turn off several features add the following method calls to the boot method of app/Providers/AppServiceProvider.php in your project.

Features::noBlade();
Features::noScheduling();
Features::noValidations();
Features::noCommands();
Features::noMiddlewares();

Implementing your Own Gateway Drivers #

You can create your own gateway drivers. To do so you will need to make your own class which implements that YlsIdeas\FeatureFlags\Contracts\Gateway interface.

public class CustomGateway implements \YlsIdeas\FeatureFlags\Contracts\Gateway
{
    public function __construct(protected $option)
    {
    }

    public function accessible(string $feature): ?bool
    {
        return true; // Decision logic should occur here
    }

}

You will then need to register this with the Features manager. This can be done using the following code placed inside a register method of a Service Provider.

public function register()
{
    $this->app->extend(\YlsIdeas\FeatureFlags\Manager::class, function (\YlsIdeas\FeatureFlags\Manager $manager) {
        return $manager->extend('custom', function (array $config) {
            return new CustomGateway($config['option']);
        });
    })
}

Then you only need use it in your features.php config.

'gateways' => [
    'custom' => [
        'driver' => 'custom',
        'option' => true,
        'cache' => [
            'ttl' => 600,
        ],
    ],
],

You may also make your driver be Toggleable and Cacheable

Maintenance Mode #

If you wish to you may use Feature Flags for Laravel directly with maintenance mode and have different scenarios mapped out when features are enabled or disabled.

Adding the following to a service provider's boot method for example in the AppServiceProvider will configure these scenarios.

class AppServiceProvider
{
    public function boot()
    {
        Features::maintenanceMode()
            ->onEnabled('system.down')
            ->retry(60);
            
        Features::maintenanceMode()
            ->onEnabled('system.ok')
            ->except(['/nova/*']);
    }
}

Then to enable the driver, simply set the following in config/app.php.

'maintenance' => [
    'driver' => 'features',
],

To be able to use the 'excepts' method you will need to change the \App\Http\Middleware\PreventRequestsDuringMaintenance class within your application to extend \YlsIdeas\FeatureFlags\Middlewares\PreventRequestsDuringMaintenance.

You can automate this process by running the publish command but please take note this will override the PreventRequestsDuringMaintenance middleware that already exists within your Laravel project.

php artisan vendor:publish --force --provider="YlsIdeas\FeatureFlags\FeatureFlagsServiceProvider" --tag=maintenance-middleware