openfeature

Overview ¶

Package openfeature provides an OpenFeature-compatible feature flag provider that integrates with Datadog Remote Config for server-side feature flag evaluation.

Overview ¶

This package implements the OpenFeature Provider interface, allowing applications to evaluate feature flags using configurations delivered dynamically through Datadog's Remote Config system. The provider supports all standard OpenFeature flag types: boolean, string, integer, float, and JSON objects.

Key Features ¶

• Dynamic flag configuration via Datadog Remote Config
• Support for all OpenFeature flag types (boolean, string, integer, float, JSON)
• Advanced targeting with attribute-based conditions
• Traffic sharding for gradual rollouts and A/B testing
• Time-based flag scheduling (start/end times)
• Thread-safe concurrent flag evaluation
• Comprehensive error handling with proper OpenFeature error codes

Basic Usage ¶

To use the Datadog OpenFeature provider, create a new provider instance and register it with the OpenFeature SDK:

	import (
	    "github.com/DataDog/dd-trace-go/v2/openfeature"
	    of "github.com/open-feature/go-sdk/openfeature"
	)

	// Create and register the provider
	provider, err := openfeature.NewDatadogProvider()
	if err != nil {
	    log.Fatal(err)
	}
	defer provider.Shutdown()

 // This can take a few seconds to complete as it waits for Remote Config initialization
	err = of.SetProviderAndWait(provider)
	if err != nil {
	    log.Fatal(err)
	}

	// Create a client and evaluate flags
	client := of.NewClient("my-app")
	ctx := context.Background()

	// Evaluate a boolean flag
	enabled, err := client.BooleanValue(ctx, "new-feature", false, of.EvaluationContext{})
	if err != nil {
	    log.Printf("Failed to evaluate flag: %v", err)
	}

	if enabled {
	    // Execute new feature code
	}

Targeting Context ¶

The provider supports attribute-based targeting using the OpenFeature evaluation context. You can pass user attributes to determine which flag variant a user receives:

evalCtx := of.NewEvaluationContext("user-123", map[string]interface{}{
    "country": "US",
    "tier": "premium",
    "age": 25,
    "email": "[email protected]",
})

value, err := client.StringValue(ctx, "api-version", "v1", evalCtx)

The provider automatically looks for a targeting key "targetingKey" (OpenFeature standard)

Flag Configuration ¶

Feature flags are configured through Datadog Remote Config and include:

• Flag metadata (key, enabled status, variation type)
• Variants with their values
• Allocation rules with targeting conditions
• Traffic distribution (sharding) configuration
• Optional time windows for scheduled rollouts

The configuration format follows the Datadog Feature Flag Evaluation (FFE) schema.

Evaluation Logic ¶

Flag evaluation follows this order:

1. Check if configuration is loaded (error if not)
2. Check if flag exists (FLAG_NOT_FOUND error if not)
3. Check if flag is enabled (return default with DISABLED reason if not)
4. Evaluate allocations in order (first match wins): a. Check time window constraints (startAt/endAt) b. Evaluate targeting rules (OR logic between rules, AND within conditions) c. Evaluate traffic sharding (consistent hash-based distribution)
5. Return matched variant or default value

Targeting Conditions ¶

The provider supports various condition operators:

Numeric comparisons:

• LT, LTE, GT, GTE: Compare numeric attributes

String matching:

• MATCHES, NOT_MATCHES: Regex pattern matching

Set membership:

• ONE_OF, NOT_ONE_OF: Check if attribute is in a list

Null checks:

• IS_NULL: Check if attribute is present or absent

Example configuration structure (conceptual):

{
  "flags": {
    "premium-feature": {
      "key": "premium-feature",
      "enabled": true,
      "variationType": "BOOLEAN",
      "variations": {
        "on": {"key": "on", "value": true},
        "off": {"key": "off", "value": false}
      },
      "allocations": [{
        "key": "premium-users",
        "rules": [{
          "conditions": [{
            "operator": "ONE_OF",
            "attribute": "tier",
            "value": ["premium", "enterprise"]
          }]
        }],
        "splits": [{
          "shards": [{
            "salt": "feature-salt",
            "ranges": [{"start": 0, "end": 8192}],
            "totalShards": 8192
          }],
          "variationKey": "on"
        }]
      }]
    }
  }
}

Traffic Sharding ¶

The provider uses consistent hashing (MD5) for deterministic traffic distribution. This ensures users consistently receive the same variant across evaluations.

Sharding allows for:

• Gradual rollouts (e.g., 10% -> 50% -> 100%)
• A/B testing with precise traffic splits
• Canary deployments

The default total shards is 8192, providing fine-grained control over traffic distribution percentages.

Error Handling ¶

The provider properly maps errors to OpenFeature error codes:

• FLAG_NOT_FOUND: Requested flag doesn't exist in configuration
• TYPE_MISMATCH: Flag value type doesn't match requested type
• PARSE_ERROR: Error parsing or converting flag value
• GENERAL: Other errors (e.g., no configuration loaded)

Errors are returned through the OpenFeature ResolutionDetail, and the default value is returned when errors occur.

Thread Safety ¶

The provider is fully thread-safe and can handle concurrent flag evaluations while configuration updates are in progress. Configuration updates use a read-write mutex to ensure consistency.

Remote Config Integration ¶

The provider automatically subscribes to Datadog Remote Config updates using the FFE_FLAGS product (capability 46). When new configurations are received, they are validated and applied atomically.

Configuration updates are acknowledged back to Remote Config with appropriate status codes (acknowledged for success, error for validation failures).

Configuration ¶

The provider can be configured using ProviderConfig when creating a new instance:

config := openfeature.ProviderConfig{
    ExposureFlushInterval: 5 * time.Second,  // Optional: defaults to 1 second
}
provider, err := openfeature.NewDatadogProvider(config)

Configuration Options:

• ExposureFlushInterval: Duration between automatic flushes of exposure events to the Datadog agent. Defaults to 1 second if not specified. Exposure events track which feature flags are evaluated and by which users, providing visibility into feature flag usage. Set to 0 to disable automatic flushing (not recommended).

Environment Variables ¶

The provider requires the following environment variable to be set:

• DD_EXPERIMENTAL_FLAGGING_PROVIDER_ENABLED: Must be set to "true" to enable the OpenFeature provider. This is a safety flag to ensure the feature is intentionally activated. If not set or set to false, NewDatadogProvider() will return a NoopProvider instead of the actual Datadog provider.

Example:

export DD_EXPERIMENTAL_FLAGGING_PROVIDER_ENABLED=true

Standard Datadog environment variables also apply:

• DD_AGENT_HOST: Datadog agent host (default: localhost)
• DD_TRACE_AGENT_PORT: Datadog agent port (default: 8126)
• DD_SERVICE: Service name for tagging
• DD_ENV: Environment name (e.g., production, staging)
• DD_VERSION: Application version

Prerequisites ¶

Before creating the provider, ensure that:

• DD_EXPERIMENTAL_FLAGGING_PROVIDER_ENABLED environment variable is set to "true"
• The Datadog tracer is started (tracer.Start()) OR
• Remote Config client is properly configured

If the default Remote Config setup fails, the provider creation will return an error asking you to call tracer.Start first.

Performance Considerations ¶

• Regex patterns are compiled once and cached for reuse
• Read locks are used for flag evaluation (multiple concurrent reads)
• Write locks only during configuration updates
• MD5 hashing is used for sharding (fast, non-cryptographic)

Example: Complete Integration ¶

package main

import (
    "context"
    "log"

    "github.com/DataDog/dd-trace-go/v2/ddtrace/tracer"
    "github.com/DataDog/dd-trace-go/v2/openfeature"
    of "github.com/open-feature/go-sdk/openfeature"
)

func main() {
    // Start Datadog tracer (required for Remote Config)
    tracer.Start()
    defer tracer.Stop()

    // Create OpenFeature provider
    provider, err := openfeature.NewDatadogProvider(openfeature.ProviderConfig{})
    if err != nil {
        log.Fatalf("Failed to create provider: %v", err)
    }
    defer provider.Shutdown()

    // Register provider with OpenFeature
    if err := of.SetProviderAndWait(provider); err != nil {
        log.Fatalf("Failed to set provider: %v", err)
    }

    // Create client for your application
    client := of.NewClient("my-service")

    // Evaluate flags with user context
    ctx := context.Background()
    evalCtx := of.NewEvaluationContext("user-123", map[string]interface{}{
        "country": "US",
        "tier": "premium",
    })

    // Boolean flag
    if enabled, _ := client.BooleanValue(ctx, "new-checkout", false, evalCtx); enabled {
        log.Println("New checkout experience enabled")
    }

    // String flag
    apiVersion, _ := client.StringValue(ctx, "api-version", "v1", evalCtx)
    log.Printf("Using API version: %s", apiVersion)

    // Integer flag
    rateLimit, _ := client.IntValue(ctx, "rate-limit", 100, evalCtx)
    log.Printf("Rate limit: %d requests/minute", rateLimit)

    // Float flag
    discountRate, _ := client.FloatValue(ctx, "discount-rate", 0.0, evalCtx)
    log.Printf("Discount rate: %.2f%%", discountRate*100)

    // JSON/Object flag
    config, _ := client.ObjectValue(ctx, "feature-config", nil, evalCtx)
    log.Printf("Feature config: %+v", config)
}

Testing ¶

For testing purposes, you can create a provider without Remote Config and manually update its configuration:

// Use the internal constructor for testing
provider := openfeature.newDatadogProvider()

// Manually set test configuration
config := &universalFlagConfiguration{
    Format: "SERVER",
    Flags: map[string]*flag{
        "test-flag": {
            Key: "test-flag",
            Enabled: true,
            VariationType: valueTypeBoolean,
            Variations: map[string]*variant{
                "on": {Key: "on", Value: true},
            },
            Allocations: []*allocation{},
        },
    },
}
provider.updateConfiguration(config)

Limitations ¶

• Configuration updates replace the entire flag set (no incremental updates)
• Provider shutdown doesn't fully unsubscribe from Remote Config yet
• Multi-config tracking (multiple Remote Config paths) not yet supported

Additional Resources ¶

• OpenFeature Specification: https://openfeature.dev/specification/
• Datadog Remote Config: https://docs.datadoghq.com/agent/remote_config/
• Datadog APM Go SDK: https://docs.datadoghq.com/tracing/setup_overview/setup/go/