Toggle is a term used in everyday technology to describe a switch that can be changed between two states. In software programming, toggles are usually Boolean variables that can be either True or False and are based on events like button clicks or user input. Toggles are also found in user interfaces like menus, sidebars, and collapsible widgets that allow for users to update their preferences or settings. When designing these controls, it’s important to ensure that they have direct labels and utilize standard visual design for consistency.

In software development, toggles are a way to dynamically re-configure specific service instances without the need for restarting a process or redeploying an artifact. This can reduce the cycle time of validation testing and improve the overall feedback loop in a continuous integration/continuous deployment system. Toggle configuration can be based on many different conditions including fitness test results, a setting in your feature management software, or even a variable provided by a config file.

In addition to the obvious benefits of toggles in software development, they can also be used to support agile processes and practices. This can help teams to get their new features into production quickly without the need for the lengthy and expensive code branching that might be required under more traditional waterfall development models. For example, our e-commerce company might write a new algorithm in a separate branch of the codebase but then create a release toggle that hides this new functionality until they’re ready to do a Champagne Brunch or similar beta release with premium users.