Concepts: Feature flag delivery
Feature flag delivery describes how flag state is made available to applications and services. Feato is designed to support different delivery strategies depending on the environment, platform, and use case.
Feature flags define behavior. How that behavior is delivered to clients is an implementation detail.
Delivery strategies
Different systems have different requirements. Some benefit from immediate updates, while others prioritize stability, predictability, or resource efficiency.
Feato does not enforce a single delivery model. Instead, it provides flexible mechanisms that SDKs and integrations can use appropriately.
- On-demand fetch
- Cached evaluation
- Event-driven updates where applicable
Event-driven updates
In environments where persistent connections are appropriate, Feato can deliver feature flag changes using event-driven mechanisms.
When a flag is updated in the Feato Console, an update event is emitted and made available to connected consumers.
- No periodic polling
- No artificial refresh intervals
- Updates only when changes occur
Event-driven delivery works best in long-lived processes such as web applications or dashboards where immediate feedback is valuable.
Cached evaluation
Some platforms benefit from evaluating feature flags using locally cached state. This approach reduces network usage and avoids long-lived connections.
Cached evaluation ensures applications can continue operating reliably even when connectivity is limited or unavailable.
- Local flag storage
- Predictable behavior
- Graceful operation offline
Cached delivery is commonly used in mobile applications, background workers, and short-lived processes.
Failure behavior
Feature flag systems must fail safely. Feato is designed to degrade gracefully when delivery mechanisms are unavailable.
- Applications continue using the last known flag state
- Temporary network issues do not break runtime behavior
- Blocked or limited projects resolve flags safely
Feature flag evaluation never blocks application execution. When delivery is unavailable, Feato prioritizes stability over freshness.
Next steps
Now that you understand how feature flag delivery works, you can explore how it is exposed through SDKs and integrations.