Feature flags

A release may ship a function behind a flag: on or off by default, which you can turn over on your instance without waiting for another release. A flag is made to go: once a function is on everywhere, a later release removes its flag, and the function stays.

Nothing to do by default: each flag has the value its release gives it. To change one, set RUNSTEN_FLAGS in .env, as name=true or name=false, separated by commas:

RUNSTEN_FLAGS=source.tesla=false

Then restart the stack (docker compose up -d): runsten-api and runsten-collector read it when they start, and apply it to every account of the instance. A value that is neither true nor false stops them, with the reason in their logs; a name the release does not have (a flag removed since) is ignored, with a warning.

The flags

Flag	Default	What it turns over
source.tesla	on	Tesla as a source, when it ships: its connection, its page and its reads. Until then, it changes nothing.

The release notes tell when a release adds or removes one.

What a flag is not

• The settings that last, such as the reverse geocoder or the update check, stay variables of their own in .env.example: a flag goes away.
• The web interface reads the flags from runsten-api, evaluated for your account: it never asks a third party. With RUNSTEN_FLAGS, nothing leaves the instance.