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A toggle is a user interface component that enforces a mutually exclusive state, either on or off. It’s often used to enable or disable features, but it can also be implemented in a responsive web design to enable different layouts depending on screen size or device type.

Toggles are commonly used to perform A/B testing and multivariate experiments. For example, an e-commerce company may be unsure which suggestion algorithm best provides the best experience for users and wants to run an experiment to see which is more effective at increasing the number of orders completed. They add an Experiment Toggle to their production configurator that will send a percentage of users down one of two different codepaths at runtime, based on the modulo. Once the results are in the team can determine which algorithm to go live with for all users.

Savvy teams view Feature Toggle configurations as inventory that comes with a carrying cost, and seek to minimize the amount of inventory in their system by being proactive about removing toggles once they’ve achieved their desired result. They also make a habit of adding an item to the team’s backlog every time they create a new Release Toggle to ensure they remove any toggle configuration once it’s no longer needed.