Togle is a noun that means “switch or alternate.” As a verb, toggle can be used to refer to the act of switching between two positions, like using your keys to switch on and off your caps lock. It is also used figuratively to refer to the way you switch between screens when video chatting with two friends at once.

Managing Toggle Configuration

Many organizations find that modifying toggle configuration via files is a relatively fiddly task, especially at scale. In response to this savvy teams often move toggle configuration into a centralized store, typically an existing application DB.

A Feature Flag is like Inventory

Savvy teams view the Feature Toggles in their codebase as inventory that comes with a carrying cost and seek to keep that inventory as low as possible. One of the ways that they achieve this is by being proactive in removing feature flags that are no longer needed, or even creating “expiration dates” on their toggles.

Keeping Toggles Consistent

A Feature Toggle should have a clear semantic when it’s flipped On or Off, and be implemented consistently across your system. This is accomplished by utilizing state descriptors and visual cues (color and movement) to help ensure that users aren’t confused by the toggles they see.

Re-Configuring Toggle Settings

A toggle is a very dynamic control mechanism and it is important to have a re-configuration process that allows for in-memory changes. Without this capability it’s not uncommon for a feature toggle to require a restart of an application or the re-deployment of a new artifact into a testing environment in order to change its configuration.