Feature Flags Without the Complexity

Feature flags shouldn't require a PhD to set up. We built ours with that principle front and centre.

The Problem with Existing Solutions

Most feature flag services fall into two camps. The enterprise tools are powerful but take weeks to integrate and cost hundreds per month. The simple ones lack targeting, rollout controls, and audit trails — the things you actually need when flags matter.

We wanted something in between: powerful enough for real use, simple enough to set up before lunch.

How ShellApps Feature Flags Work

Our Experience Platform includes a feature flag system that sits alongside your analytics and error tracking. Same SDK, same dashboard — no extra services to manage.

Define a Flag

Flags are created in the Experience Platform dashboard or via API. Each flag has a key, a type (boolean, string, number, or JSON), and optional targeting rules.

import { ShellApps } from '@shellapps/experience-sdk';

const client = new ShellApps({ appId: 'your-app-id' });

// Simple boolean check
if (await client.flag('new-checkout-flow')) {
  renderNewCheckout();
} else {
  renderClassicCheckout();
}

Targeting

Roll out features to specific user segments without redeploying:

• Percentage rollout — Ship to 10% of users, then 50%, then 100%
• User attributes — Target by plan, region, signup date, or any custom field
• Allowlists — Enable for specific users or teams during testing

Audit Trail

Every flag change is logged with who changed it, when, and what the previous value was. When something goes wrong at 2am, you'll know exactly what changed.

Real-World Patterns

Here are a few ways our customers use flags:

Gradual rollouts — Ship a new feature to 5% of users on Monday. If metrics look good, bump to 25% on Wednesday, 100% by Friday. If something breaks, kill the flag instantly — no deploy needed.

A/B testing — Serve different experiences and measure which performs better. The Experience Platform analytics are right there in the same dashboard.

Kill switches — Wrap any third-party integration in a flag. When their API goes down, flip the switch and show a fallback instead of an error page.

Subscription gating — Use flags to control feature access by plan tier. Upgrade a user's plan and their flags update in real-time.

Pricing

Feature flags are included in every Experience Platform plan. The free tier includes up to 10 flags with unlimited evaluations. That's enough for most early-stage apps.

Check out the Experience Platform docs for the full API reference and integration guides.