Approvals for flag changes
Enabling approvals for flag changes introduces a request-and-review mechanism for feature flag edits. Team members can request changes, and designated approvers can review and approve (or reject) these requests before they are applied.
Flag approvals allow you to better control which changes are applied to your flags. Once approval settings are set up, flag changes made by certain users pass through a request and review process so that only approved changes are pushed to end users.
Activating approvals for a project
Approvals can only be configured by users with Admin rights. To activate flag approvals:
- Click Features > Flags & Experiments in the left sidebar.
- Click the three-dots menu > Approval settings.
- Select the project on which you want to enable flag approvals from the dropdown.
- Select the users that can review requests and click Save.
Environments, integrations, and the flag toggle are not controlled by Approvals. Only users who have Production permissions can change the flag's state (on/off).
Request approval for flag changes
Once approvals are active for a project, non-reviewer users will see an approval request popup when they save their changes. You can customize the title of the request and add a comment that will be visible to the approver.
Requesters can make and request changes in bulk across different sections of the setup or environments. Approvers are notified of pending requests and can review the proposed changes.
All approval requests are visible in the Review section. Individual requests that are still Pending review can be withdrawn. Click the request you'd like to withdraw > Withdraw request.
Approving change requests
On the main dashboard, approvers can get an overview of flags' review status, which can be Pending or Reviewed.
- Pending: The flag has at least one pending request.
- Reviewed: All requests have either been approved or rejected.
Hovering over the review stage will display additional information.
When editing a feature flag, reviewers can navigate to the Review section and view all requests.
Click on a request to view details, including the proposed changes and comments. Requests can be in one of four total states:
- Pending: Awaiting review.
- Approved: The change has been approved and implemented.
- Rejected: The change was declined.
- Invalid: The changes requested are no longer applicable because of more recently applied changes. This request is rejected by default.
For each request, approvers can either approve or decline changes. Changes associated with the request will be applied or discarded respectively.
Requests can only be reviewed in a top-down order only (newest request first).
FAQs
Can a flag be exempt from the approval process?
No, once approvals are enabled, all flags in a project must go through the approval workflow. Consider revising the list of approvers if the process seems stringent.
What happens to rejected requests?
Rejected requests are discarded, but requesters can always submit their changes again.
What if users request conflicting changes or change the same value/entity?
A newest-first review process ensures invalidated requests are flagged and ignored without creating any risk of data conflicts.