This topic discusses using feature management at a high level, describes some key parts of the LaunchDarkly user interface (UI), and suggests different ways to learn more about working in LaunchDarkly.
Feature management is a framework for feature flag-driven development, testing, and experimentation. The basic unit of feature management is a feature flag.
To start using feature management, first create a feature flag in LaunchDarkly. A feature flag describes the different variations of a feature and the rules that allow different entities to access them. Different entities that access your features could be a percentage of your application’s traffic, individuals, or people or software entities who share common characteristics like location, email domain, or type of mobile device. The entities that encounter feature flags in your product are called “contexts.” To learn more, read Create flags and Contexts.
Next, you need to connect your application to LaunchDarkly. You can connect to LaunchDarkly using any of our 20+ SDKs. To learn more, read SDKs.
Then, in your application, use the SDK to make a function call any time you want to determine whether a context should receive a feature, and what variation of the feature it should receive. The SDKs use local caching to make these variation checks as efficient as possible. To learn more, read Evaluating flags.
The SDKs send analytics events to LaunchDarkly to record each context that encounters a flag and which variation it received. If you want LaunchDarkly to use certain data for flag evaluation but not store it, you can designate that data as private.
To begin, try our Quickstart guide. To learn more, read the Getting started in different roles section that best describes your role.
After you join an account, you have access to the Flags list:
From the Flags list, you can navigate to LaunchDarkly’s primary features:
Additional help is available, including the command palette, a chatbot, and a link to your personal settings.
You can use the command palette to navigate the app, search for resources, and perform common actions using only your keyboard. Use CMD+K (Mac) or CTRL+K (PC) to open the command palette.
Here are some additional resources for learning how to get started with LaunchDarkly:
After you join an account, set up your SDK, and begin using feature flags, you may want to ask some questions about your organization’s implementation:
To learn more about making these determinations, read our Guides.