At a Glance:
Flipt v2 is a Git-native, self-hosted feature management platform that stores feature flags as code directly in your own Git repositories, deploys them alongside your code via existing CI/CD pipelines, and provides real-time flag updates through a Server-Sent Events streaming API.
Overview:
Flipt v2 is a feature management platform built around a Git-native architecture, meaning feature flags are stored, versioned, and deployed as code within your existing Git repositories. It eliminates the need for a central database by default, operating as a single binary with no external dependencies. The platform is designed for engineering teams that want to integrate feature flag management into their existing Git workflows, supporting multi-environment setups mapped to branches, directories, or separate repositories. Flipt v2 provides real-time flag evaluation updates via Server-Sent Events, a REST and gRPC API, and an optional Pro tier that adds GPG commit signing, merge proposals, and integrated secrets management with providers like HashiCorp Vault and AWS Secrets Manager.
Key Decision Points:
Git-native storage: Feature flags are stored directly in your Git repositories, giving you full version history, blame, and diff support without a mandatory external database.
Deployment model: Flipt v2 runs as a self-hosted, single binary with no external dependencies by default; it can integrate with SCM platforms like GitHub, GitLab, and BitBucket for read/write Git operations.
Environment flexibility: Environments can be mapped to Git branches, directories, or repositories, allowing isolated configurations per team, microservice, or deployment stage.
Real-time updates: The platform pushes flag changes to client SDKs instantly using a Server-Sent Events streaming API instead of requiring client polling.
Pro feature boundaries: Advanced features such as GPG commit signing, merge proposals, and enterprise secrets management (HashiCorp Vault, AWS Secrets Manager, GCP Secret Manager, Azure Key Vault) are available through the paid Pro tier.
Core Features:
Git-native flag storage: Flags are stored as configuration files in your own Git repositories, enabling version control, branching, and merging alongside application code.
Multi-environment management: Environments can be created per Git branch, directory, or repository, with full isolation of namespaces, flags, and configurations for each environment.
Real-time flag streaming: Server-Sent Events (SSE) are used to push flag evaluation changes to client-side SDKs instantly, avoiding polling latency.
Secrets management: File-based providers for sensitive configuration data are available in the open-source version, with Pro integrations for HashiCorp Vault, AWS Secrets Manager, GCP Secret Manager, and Azure Key Vault.
Authentication methods: OIDC, JWT, OAuth, Kubernetes service tokens, and API token authentication are supported out of the box.
Evaluation APIs and OpenFeature: Flag evaluation is accessible through REST and gRPC APIs, and the platform supports the OpenFeature standard, including the OpenFeature Remote Evaluation Protocol (OFREP).
Use Cases:
Engineering teams can integrate feature flag toggles into trunk-based development workflows, merging incomplete features behind flags without exposing them to users.
Teams using GitOps practices can treat feature flags as code, managing them in Git repositories and deploying them through existing CI/CD pipelines.
Organizations requiring self-hosted infrastructure can run Flipt v2 within their own environment to keep flag data co-located with their services.
Development teams managing multiple products or services can use per-directory or per-repository environment setups to isolate flag configurations by team or security domain.
Open-Source Alternative Value:
Flipt v2 provides a self-hosted, Git-native approach to feature management where the open-source core stores flags in your own repositories and operates as a single binary without a required external database. It avoids a centralized storage model by design, and the open-source version includes real-time flag updates, multi-environment management, file-based secrets management, and multiple authentication methods. The project also supports the vendor-neutral OpenFeature standard for evaluation, making it a functional reference for teams that want feature flags versioned and deployed like application code.
