Feature Flags vs Feature Branches - An AI Perspective
In modern software engineering, delivering change safely, frequently, and with minimal risk is a primary goal of DevOps and Continuous Delivery (CD). Two prominent techniques for managing the introduction of new functionality are feature branches and feature flags (also known as feature toggles). Historically, teams have adopted feature branches as a way to isolate new work, whereas feature flags progressively evolved to decouple deployment from release. With the rise of AI-assisted DevOps, our understanding and usage of feature flags is undergoing a paradigm shift from simple booleans to intelligent, predictive control systems.
This article compares these approaches and explores how AI influences their application in high-velocity delivery pipelines.