What is a Toggle?

Togle is a simple user interface element that can make a big difference in the experience of your users. When used correctly toggles can help your users update preferences, settings, and other types of information.

Definition

Toggle is a term that refers to any switch with two options, usually on and off. This includes switches on and off in software and hardware like the Caps Lock and Num Lock keys on a keyboard, but can also include a simple click or button press that has only two states.

In the world of computing toggles are very common and have a lot of different uses. For example, in a video chat application toggles can be used to hide or show a video, change the camera position, and more.

Managing Toggle Configuration

A key challenge for many teams managing Toggle Configuration is to ensure consistency across their servers. Traditionally this has been achieved via static files, however as the number of toggles and the complexity of their configuration scales up it can become cumbersome to manage through file-based mechanisms.

One of the ways that teams deal with this is to expose an endpoint which allows for dynamic in-memory re-configuration of a feature flag. The benefit of this approach is that a team does not have to re-deploy artifacts in order to make changes.

Testing Toggle Configurations

Savvy teams will often test the toggle configuration that they plan to go live with in production, as well as a fall-back configuration where those toggles that are planned to be released flipped On are flipped Off. This can save teams a lot of headaches in the long run, and it can be a powerful tool for ensuring that releases perform as expected by the end user.