Feature Flags

Wayd uses Microsoft.FeatureManagement to control feature visibility. Feature flags are defined in code, stored in the database, and managed through the Settings UI.

How It Works

1. Flags are defined in code (FeatureFlags.cs)
2. On startup, the seeder creates any new flags in the database. New flags are seeded disabled by default, unless the definition sets DefaultEnabled: true. The seeder only sets the initial state on first creation — it never overwrites an existing flag's state, so admin toggles are preserved across deploys.
3. Admins enable/disable flags through the Settings UI
4. A database-backed provider serves flag state with caching

Current Flags

Name	Display name	Controls
planning-poker	Planning Poker	The Planning Poker feature
story-maps	Story Maps	The Story Maps feature
product-management	Product Management	The Product Management module
delivery-forecasting	Delivery Forecasting	Monte Carlo delivery forecasts
mcp-server	MCP Server	The hosted MCP endpoint (/mcp)
team-capacity-management	Team Capacity Management	Employee allocation to teams and team capacity planning

All of them are seeded disabled.

Adding a New Feature Flag

1. Define the Flag

In Wayd.Common.Domain/FeatureManagement/FeatureFlags.cs:

public static class FeatureFlags
{
    public static readonly FeatureFlagDefinition MyNewFeature =
        new(Names.MyNewFeature, "My New Feature", "Description of what this feature does.");

    // Seed a flag as ENABLED by default (e.g. rolling out a replacement UI):
    public static readonly FeatureFlagDefinition MyDefaultOnFeature =
        new(Names.MyDefaultOnFeature, "My Default-On Feature", "Enabled on first seed.", DefaultEnabled: true);

    public static class Names
    {
        public const string MyNewFeature = "my-new-feature";
        public const string MyDefaultOnFeature = "my-default-on-feature";
    }
}

2. Gate the Backend

On a controller or action:

[FeatureGate(FeatureFlags.Names.MyNewFeature)]
[HttpGet]
public async Task<ActionResult<MyDto>> Get() { ... }

Use the controller attribute for an endpoint that exists only with the flag on. For behaviour a flag changes inside an endpoint, inject IFeatureFlags (Wayd.Common.Application.FeatureManagement) into the handler — the application layers do not reference Microsoft.FeatureManagement:

if (!await _featureFlags.IsEnabled(FeatureFlags.Names.MyNewFeature, cancellationToken))
    return Result.Failure("Feature is not enabled.");

3. Gate the Frontend

Page-level gate:

export default requireFeatureFlag(MyPage, 'my-new-feature')

While the flag is off, the page answers 404.

Conditional rendering (the hook returns { isEnabled, isLoading } and takes the kebab-case flag name):

const { isEnabled, isLoading } = useFeatureFlag('my-new-feature')
if (isLoading) return <Spin />
if (!isEnabled) return <LegacyView />
return <NewView />

4. Gate Menus

Pass flag state into menu builder functions to conditionally show navigation items.

Key Files

File	Purpose
Wayd.Common.Domain/FeatureManagement/FeatureFlags.cs	Flag definitions
Wayd.Infrastructure/Persistence/Initialization/FeatureFlagSeeder.cs	Auto-seeds flags
Wayd.Infrastructure/FeatureManagement/DatabaseFeatureDefinitionProvider.cs	Database provider
Wayd.Common.Application/FeatureManagement/IFeatureFlags.cs	Flag checks in handlers
wayd.web.reactclient/src/hooks/use-feature-flag.ts	Frontend hook
wayd.web.reactclient/src/components/hoc/require-feature-flag.tsx	Page-level gate