Cloudflare just put feature flags at the edge
Feature flags that run on Cloudflare's edge network, not your backend. This might actually change how you roll out features.
Cloudflare launched Flagship, a feature flag service that runs entirely on their edge network. The interesting bit is not that it exists, it is where it runs. Most feature flag services (LaunchDarkly, Split, ConfigCat) sit between your application and your users. You make an API call, wait for a response, then decide what to show. That is usually fine, but it is latency you cannot optimise away. Flagship evaluates flags at the edge, before the request even hits your origin server. The use case that makes sense is A/B testing without slowing down the page. If you are running a feature toggle for 10 percent of users, you want the decision made in single-digit milliseconds, not after a round trip to your backend. Edge evaluation gives you that. The thing I am curious about is how this handles flag updates. If a flag changes, does the entire edge cache invalidate? Does it propagate gradually? The docs mention real-time updates, but edge consistency is always a trade-off. Fast reads mean slower writes, or eventual consistency, or both. Cloudflare already runs Workers, KV, and Durable Objects at the edge. Flagship feels like the next logical piece. If you are already using their stack, this is probably cheaper and faster than adding another SaaS vendor. If you are not on Cloudflare, it is probably not worth migrating just for feature flags. The privacy angle is worth noting. Flagship keeps user targeting data inside Cloudflare’s network, not in a third-party service. If you are handling health or finance data, that might matter. I would want to see the pricing before committing. Cloudflare has a habit of making things free until they are not. But the architecture is sound. Feature flags at the edge make sense if you care about latency.
Source: Cloudflare Flagship