DEV Community

Cover image for Feature Flags vs Branching
Vitor Amaral
Vitor Amaral

Posted on

Feature Flags vs Branching

Feature branching allows developers to effectively collaborate around a central code base by keeping all changes to a specific feature in its own branch. With the addition of feature flags, feature branching becomes even more powerful and faster by separating feature release management from code deployment.

Feature flagging allows developers to take full control of their feature lifecycles without depending on code deployments. When you merge a feature branch into master (production), it is already wrapped in a feature flag. This allows you to deploy the feature โ€œoffโ€ and then gradually roll it out to users. It also allows you to quickly โ€œkillโ€ the feature if it is not working well, without having to redeploy.

Therefore, feature flagging does not replace branching, it is complementary and makes it more powerful. Feature branching provides the flexibility to decide when and what to release, while feature flagging lets you take full control of the release itself. Together, branching and flagging help you maintain and integrate short-lived branches faster and with less risk.

This allows many small incremental versions of software to be delivered without the cost of constant branching and merging.

What is UpStamps?

UpStamps is a Feature Flag Management Platform to separate code from different environments and projects.

UpStamps helps teams manage their projects using feature management with a Central control to progressively deliver features to users with confidence.

Sign Up for Free

๐Ÿ›ณ Ship when you're ready
๐Ÿš€ Accelerate feature release
๐Ÿ™ˆ Hide unfinished features

UpStamps Control Center

Useful links about UpStamps:

Useful links about Feature Flags:

Top comments (5)

Collapse
 
elmuerte profile image
Michiel Hendriks

A big selling point of Feature Flags is that it allows developers to practice Continuous Integration rather than Feature Branching.

Collapse
 
vacom profile image
Vitor Amaral

Martin Fowler has an excellent article on this subject. With feature flags, you have more control over visibility than changing code and deploying again

Collapse
 
caelinsutch profile image
caelinsutch

Very good examples in this article!

Collapse
 
johntran profile image
johntran

Why use this over LaunchDarkly?

Collapse
 
vacom profile image
Vitor Amaral

Hey, the two major differences between LaunchDarkly and UpStamps are price and requests limits. UpStamps is more accessible for developers and small teams that want to implement Feature Flags in their projects. UpStamps does not limit the number of Monthy Active Users (MAU). UpStamps uses users to improve segments and not to limit.