Chapter 117 · Feature Flags Web
Subchapter 117.1
references/adding-feature-flag-code.mdMarkdown109 KBView on GitHub
Once you’ve created your feature flag in PostHog, the next step is to add your code:
Web
PostHog AI
if (posthog.isFeatureEnabled('flag-key') ) {
// Do something differently for this user
// Optional: fetch the payload
const matchedFlagPayload = posthog.getFeatureFlagPayload('flag-key')
}Web
PostHog AI
if (posthog.getFeatureFlag('flag-key') == 'variant-key') { // replace 'variant-key' with the key of your variant
// Do something differently for this user
// Optional: fetch the payload
const matchedFlagPayload = posthog.getFeatureFlagPayload('flag-key')
}Every time a user loads a page, we send a request in the background to fetch the feature flags that apply to that user. We store those flags in your chosen persistence option (local storage by default).
This means that for most pages, the feature flags are available immediately — except for the first time a user visits.
To handle this, you can use the onFeatureFlags callback to wait for the feature flag request to finish:
Web
PostHog AI
posthog.onFeatureFlags(function (flags, flagVariants, { errorsLoading }) {
// feature flags are guaranteed to be available at this point
if (posthog.isFeatureEnabled('flag-key')) {
// do something
}
})The onFeatureFlags callback receives the following parameters:
flags: string[]: An object containing the feature flags that apply to the user.
flagVariants: Record<string, string | boolean>: An object containing the variants that apply to the user.
{ errorsLoading }: { errorsLoading?: boolean }: An object containing a boolean indicating if an error occurred during the request to load the feature flags. This is true if the request timed out or if there was an error. It will be false or undefined if the request was successful.
You won’t usually need to use these, but they are useful if you want to be extra careful about feature flags not being loaded yet because of a network error and/or a network timeout (see feature_flag_request_timeout_ms).
Feature flag values are cached. If something has changed with your user and you’d like to refetch their flag values, call:
Web
PostHog AI
posthog.reloadFeatureFlags()Sometimes, you might want to evaluate feature flags using properties that haven’t been ingested yet, or were set incorrectly earlier. You can do so by setting properties the flag depends on with these calls:
Web
PostHog AI
posthog.setPersonPropertiesForFlags({'property1': 'value', property2: 'value2'})Note: These are set for the entire session. Successive calls are additive: all properties you set are combined together and sent for flag evaluation.
Whenever you set these properties, we also trigger a reload of feature flags to ensure we have the latest values. You can disable this by passing in the optional parameter for reloading:
Web
PostHog AI
posthog.setPersonPropertiesForFlags({'property1': 'value', property2: 'value2'}, false)At any point, you can reset these properties by calling resetPersonPropertiesForFlags:
Web
PostHog AI
posthog.resetPersonPropertiesForFlags()The same holds for group (opens in a new tab) properties:
Web
PostHog AI
// set properties for a group
posthog.setGroupPropertiesForFlags({'company': {'property1': 'value', property2: 'value2'}})
// reset properties for a given group:
posthog.resetGroupPropertiesForFlags('company')
// reset properties for all groups:
posthog.resetGroupPropertiesForFlags()Note: You don’t need to add the group names here, since these properties are automatically attached to the current group (set via
posthog.group()). When you change the group, these properties are reset.
Whenever you call posthog.identify with person properties, we automatically add these properties to flag evaluation calls to help determine the correct flag values. The same is true for when you call posthog.group().
By default, we always override some properties based on the user IP address.
The list of properties that this overrides:
$geoip_city_name$geoip_country_name$geoip_country_code$geoip_continent_name$geoip_continent_code$geoip_postal_code$geoip_time_zoneThis enables any geolocation-based flags to work without manually setting these properties.
You can configure the feature_flag_request_timeout_ms parameter when initializing your PostHog client to set a flag request timeout. This helps prevent your code from being blocked in the case when PostHog’s servers are too slow to respond. By default, this is set at 3 seconds.
JavaScript
PostHog AI
posthog.init('<ph_project_token>', {
api_host: 'https://us.i.posthog.com',
defaults: '2026-01-30'
feature_flag_request_timeout_ms: 3000 // Time in milliseconds. Default is 3000 (3 seconds).
})When using the PostHog SDK, it’s important to handle potential errors that may occur during feature flag operations. Here’s an example of how to wrap PostHog SDK methods in an error handler:
JavaScript
PostHog AI
function handleFeatureFlag(client, flagKey, distinctId) {
try {
const isEnabled = client.isFeatureEnabled(flagKey, distinctId);
console.log(`Feature flag '${flagKey}' for user '${distinctId}' is ${isEnabled ? 'enabled' : 'disabled'}`);
return isEnabled;
} catch (error) {
console.error(`Error fetching feature flag '${flagKey}': ${error.message}`);
// Optionally, you can return a default value or throw the error
// return false; // Default to disabled
throw error;
}
}
// Usage example
try {
const flagEnabled = handleFeatureFlag(client, 'new-feature', 'user-123');
if (flagEnabled) {
// Implement new feature logic
} else {
// Implement old feature logic
}
} catch (error) {
// Handle the error at a higher level
console.error('Feature flag check failed, using default behavior');
// Implement fallback logic
}There are two ways to implement feature flags in React:
<PostHogFeature> component.PostHog provides several hooks to make it easy to use feature flags in your React app.
| Hook | Description |
|---|---|
| useFeatureFlagEnabled | Returns a boolean indicating whether the feature flag is enabled. This sends a $feature_flag_called event. |
| useFeatureFlagVariantKey | Returns the variant key of the feature flag. This sends a $feature_flag_called event. |
| useActiveFeatureFlags | Returns an array of active feature flags. This does not send a $feature_flag_called event. |
| useFeatureFlagPayload | Returns the payload of the feature flag. This does not send a $feature_flag_called event. Always use this with useFeatureFlagEnabled or useFeatureFlagVariantKey. |
React
PostHog AI
import { useFeatureFlagEnabled } from '@posthog/react'
function App() {
const showWelcomeMessage = useFeatureFlagEnabled('flag-key')
const payload = useFeatureFlagPayload('flag-key')
return (
<div className="App">
{
showWelcomeMessage ? (
<div>
<h1>Welcome!</h1>
<p>Thanks for trying out our feature flags.</p>
</div>
) : (
<div>
<h2>No welcome message</h2>
<p>Because the feature flag evaluated to false.</p>
</div>
)
}
</div>
);
}
export default App;React
PostHog AI
import { useFeatureFlagVariantKey } from '@posthog/react'
function App() {
const variantKey = useFeatureFlagVariantKey('show-welcome-message')
let welcomeMessage = ''
if (variantKey === 'variant-a') {
welcomeMessage = 'Welcome to the Alpha!'
} else if (variantKey === 'variant-b') {
welcomeMessage = 'Welcome to the Beta!'
}
return (
<div className="App">
{
welcomeMessage ? (
<div>
<h1>{welcomeMessage}</h1>
<p>Thanks for trying out our feature flags.</p>
</div>
) : (
<div>
<h2>No welcome message</h2>
<p>Because the feature flag evaluated to false.</p>
</div>
)
}
</div>
);
}
export default App;Payload hook
The useFeatureFlagPayload hook does not send a $feature_flag_called (opens in a new tab) event, which is required for the experiment to be tracked. To ensure the exposure event is sent, you should always use the useFeatureFlagPayload hook with either the useFeatureFlagEnabled or useFeatureFlagVariantKey hook.
React
PostHog AI
import { useFeatureFlagPayload } from '@posthog/react'
function App() {
const variant = useFeatureFlagEnabled('show-welcome-message')
const payload = useFeatureFlagPayload('show-welcome-message')
return (
<>
{
variant ? (
<div className="welcome-message">
<h2>{payload?.welcomeTitle}</h2>
<p>{payload?.welcomeMessage}</p>
</div>
) : <div>
<h2>No custom welcome message</h2>
<p>Because the feature flag evaluated to false.</p>
</div>
}
</>
)
}The PostHogFeature component simplifies code by handling feature flag related logic.
It also automatically captures metrics, like how many times a user interacts with this feature.
Note: You still need the
PostHogProvider(opens in a new tab) at the top level for this to work.
Here is an example:
React
PostHog AI
import { PostHogFeature } from '@posthog/react'
function App() {
return (
<PostHogFeature flag='show-welcome-message' match={true}>
<div>
<h1>Hello</h1>
<p>Thanks for trying out our feature flags.</p>
</div>
</PostHogFeature>
)
}The match on the component can be either true, or the variant key, to match on a specific variant.
If you also want to show a default message, you can pass these in the fallback attribute.
If you wish to customise logic around when the component is considered visible, you can pass in visibilityObserverOptions to the feature. These take the same options as the IntersectionObserver API (opens in a new tab). By default, we use a threshold of 0.1.
If your flag has a payload, you can pass a function to children whose first argument is the payload. For example:
React
PostHog AI
import { PostHogFeature } from '@posthog/react'
function App() {
return (
<PostHogFeature flag='show-welcome-message' match={true}>
{(payload) => {
return (
<div>
<h1>{payload.welcomeMessage}</h1>
<p>Thanks for trying out our feature flags.</p>
</div>
)
}}
</PostHogFeature>
)
}You can configure the feature_flag_request_timeout_ms parameter when initializing your PostHog client to set a flag request timeout. This helps prevent your code from being blocked in the case when PostHog’s servers are too slow to respond. By default, this is set at 3 seconds.
JavaScript
PostHog AI
posthog.init('<ph_project_token>', {
api_host: 'https://us.i.posthog.com',
defaults: '2026-01-30'
feature_flag_request_timeout_ms: 3000 // Time in milliseconds. Default is 3000 (3 seconds).
}
)When using the PostHog SDK, it’s important to handle potential errors that may occur during feature flag operations. Here’s an example of how to wrap PostHog SDK methods in an error handler:
JavaScript
PostHog AI
function handleFeatureFlag(client, flagKey, distinctId) {
try {
const isEnabled = client.isFeatureEnabled(flagKey, distinctId);
console.log(`Feature flag '${flagKey}' for user '${distinctId}' is ${isEnabled ? 'enabled' : 'disabled'}`);
return isEnabled;
} catch (error) {
console.error(`Error fetching feature flag '${flagKey}': ${error.message}`);
// Optionally, you can return a default value or throw the error
// return false; // Default to disabled
throw error;
}
}
// Usage example
try {
const flagEnabled = handleFeatureFlag(client, 'new-feature', 'user-123');
if (flagEnabled) {
// Implement new feature logic
} else {
// Implement old feature logic
}
} catch (error) {
// Handle the error at a higher level
console.error('Feature flag check failed, using default behavior');
// Implement fallback logic
}There are 2 steps to implement feature flags in Node:
Node.js
PostHog AI
const isFeatureFlagEnabled = await client.isFeatureEnabled('flag-key', 'distinct_id_of_your_user')
if (isFeatureFlagEnabled) {
// Your code if the flag is enabled
// Optional: fetch the payload
const matchedFlagPayload = await client.getFeatureFlagPayload('flag-key', 'distinct_id_of_your_user', isFeatureFlagEnabled)
}Node.js
PostHog AI
const enabledVariant = await client.getFeatureFlag('flag-key', 'distinct_id_of_your_user')
if (enabledVariant === 'variant-key') { // replace 'variant-key' with the key of your variant
// Do something differently for this user
// Optional: fetch the payload
const matchedFlagPayload = await client.getFeatureFlagPayload('flag-key', 'distinct_id_of_your_user', enabledVariant)
}If you want use your feature flag to breakdown or filter events in your insights (opens in a new tab), you’ll need to include feature flag information in those events. This ensures that the feature flag value is attributed correctly to the event.
Note: This step is only required for events captured using our server-side SDKs or API (opens in a new tab).
There are two methods you can use to include feature flag information in your events:
In the event properties, include $feature/feature_flag_name: variant_key:
Node.js
PostHog AI
client.capture({
distinctId: 'distinct_id_of_your_user',
event: 'event_name',
properties: {
'$feature/feature-flag-key': 'variant-key' // replace feature-flag-key with your flag key. Replace 'variant-key' with the key of your variant
},
})The capture() method has an optional argument sendFeatureFlags, which is set to false by default. This parameter controls whether feature flag information is sent with the event.
Setting sendFeatureFlags to true will include feature flag information with the event:
Node.js
PostHog AI
client.capture({
distinctId: 'distinct_id_of_your_user',
event: 'event_name',
sendFeatureFlags: true,
})As of version 5.5.0, sendFeatureFlags can also accept an options object for more granular control:
Node.js
PostHog AI
client.capture({
distinctId: 'distinct_id_of_your_user',
event: 'event_name',
sendFeatureFlags: {
onlyEvaluateLocally: true,
personProperties: { plan: 'premium' },
groupProperties: { org: { tier: 'enterprise' } }
}
})With local evaluation: When local evaluation (opens in a new tab) is configured, setting sendFeatureFlags: true will not make additional server requests. Instead, it uses the locally cached feature flags, and it provides an interface for including person and/or group properties needed to evaluate the flags in the context of the event, if required.
Without local evaluation: PostHog will make an additional request to fetch feature flag information before capturing the event, which adds delay.
Prior to version 5.5.0, feature flags were automatically sent with events when using local evaluation, even when sendFeatureFlags was not explicitly set. This behavior has been removed in v5.5.0 to be more predictable and explicit.
If you were relying on this automatic behavior, you must now explicitly set sendFeatureFlags: true to continue sending feature flags with your events.
You can fetch all flag values for a single user by calling getAllFlags() or getAllFlagsAndPayloads().
This is useful when you need to fetch multiple flag values and don’t want to make multiple requests.
Node.js
PostHog AI
await client.getAllFlags('distinct_id_of_your_user')
await client.getAllFlagsAndPayloads('distinct_id_of_your_user')Capturing $feature_flag_called events enable PostHog to know when a flag was accessed by a user and thus provide analytics and insights (opens in a new tab) on the flag. By default, we send a these event when:
posthog.getFeatureFlag() or posthog.isFeatureEnabled(), ANDNote: Tracking whether it’s a new user or if a flag value has changed happens in a local cache. This means that if you reinitialize the PostHog client, the cache resets as well – causing
$feature_flag_calledevents to be sent again when callinggetFeatureFlagorisFeatureEnabled. PostHog is built to handle this, and so duplicate$feature_flag_calledevents won’t affect your analytics.
You can disable automatically capturing $feature_flag_called events. For example, when you don’t need the analytics, or it’s being called at such a high volume that sending events slows things down.
To disable it, set the sendFeatureFlagEvents argument in your function call, like so:
Node.js
PostHog AI
const isFeatureFlagEnabled = await client.isFeatureEnabled(
'flag-key',
'distinct_id_of_your_user',
{
'sendFeatureFlagEvents': false
})Sometimes, you may want to evaluate feature flags using person properties (opens in a new tab), groups (opens in a new tab), or group properties that haven’t been ingested yet, or were set incorrectly earlier.
You can provide properties to evaluate the flag with by using the person properties, groups, and group properties arguments. PostHog will then use these values to evaluate the flag, instead of any properties currently stored on your PostHog server.
For example:
Node.js
PostHog AI
await client.getFeatureFlag(
'flag-key',
'distinct_id_of_the_user',
{
personProperties: {
'property_name': 'value'
},
groups: {
"your_group_type": "your_group_id",
"another_group_type": "your_group_id",
},
groupProperties: {
'your_group_type': {
'group_property_name': 'value'
},
'another_group_type': {
'group_property_name': 'value'
}
},
}
)By default, a user’s GeoIP properties are set using the IP address they use to capture events on the frontend. You may want to override the these properties when evaluating feature flags. A common reason to do this is when you’re not using PostHog on your frontend, so the user has no GeoIP properties.
You can override GeoIP properties by including them in the person_properties parameter when evaluating feature flags. This is useful when you’re evaluating flags on your backend and want to use the client’s location instead of your server’s location.
The following GeoIP properties can be overridden:
$geoip_country_code$geoip_country_name$geoip_city_name$geoip_city_confidence$geoip_continent_code$geoip_continent_name$geoip_latitude$geoip_longitude$geoip_postal_code$geoip_subdivision_1_code$geoip_subdivision_1_name$geoip_subdivision_2_code$geoip_subdivision_2_name$geoip_subdivision_3_code$geoip_subdivision_3_name$geoip_time_zoneSimply include any of these properties in the person_properties parameter alongside your other person properties when calling feature flags.
You can configure the feature_flag_request_timeout_ms parameter when initializing your PostHog client to set a flag request timeout. This helps prevent your code from being blocked in the case when PostHog’s servers are too slow to respond. By default, this is set at 3 seconds.
JavaScript
PostHog AI
const client = new PostHog('<ph_project_token>', {
api_host: 'https://us.i.posthog.com',
feature_flag_request_timeout_ms: 3000 // Time in milliseconds. Default is 3000 (3 seconds).
}
)When using the PostHog SDK, it’s important to handle potential errors that may occur during feature flag operations. Here’s an example of how to wrap PostHog SDK methods in an error handler:
JavaScript
PostHog AI
async function handleFeatureFlag(client, flagKey, distinctId) {
try {
const isEnabled = await client.isFeatureEnabled(flagKey, distinctId);
console.log(`Feature flag '${flagKey}' for user '${distinctId}' is ${isEnabled ? 'enabled' : 'disabled'}`);
return isEnabled;
} catch (error) {
console.error(`Error fetching feature flag '${flagKey}': ${error.message}`);
// Optionally, you can return a default value or throw the error
// return false; // Default to disabled
throw error;
}
}
// Usage example
try {
const flagEnabled = await handleFeatureFlag(client, 'new-feature', 'user-123');
if (flagEnabled) {
// Implement new feature logic
} else {
// Implement old feature logic
}
} catch (error) {
// Handle the error at a higher level
console.error('Feature flag check failed, using default behavior');
// Implement fallback logic
}There are 2 steps to implement feature flags in Python:
Python
PostHog AI
is_my_flag_enabled = posthog.feature_enabled('flag-key', 'distinct_id_of_your_user')
if is_my_flag_enabled:
# Do something differently for this user
# Optional: fetch the payload
matched_flag_payload = posthog.get_feature_flag_payload('flag-key', 'distinct_id_of_your_user')Python
PostHog AI
enabled_variant = posthog.get_feature_flag('flag-key', 'distinct_id_of_your_user')
if enabled_variant == 'variant-key': # replace 'variant-key' with the key of your variant
# Do something differently for this user
# Optional: fetch the payload
matched_flag_payload = posthog.get_feature_flag_payload('flag-key', 'distinct_id_of_your_user')If you want use your feature flag to breakdown or filter events in your insights (opens in a new tab), you’ll need to include feature flag information in those events. This ensures that the feature flag value is attributed correctly to the event.
Note: This step is only required for events captured using our server-side SDKs or API (opens in a new tab).
There are two methods you can use to include feature flag information in your events:
In the event properties, include $feature/feature_flag_name: variant_key:
Python
PostHog AI
posthog.capture(
"event_name",
distinct_id="distinct_id_of_the_user",
properties={
"$feature/feature-flag-key": "variant-key" # replace feature-flag-key with your flag key. Replace 'variant-key' with the key of your variant
},
)The capture() method has an optional argument send_feature_flags, which is set to false by default. This parameter controls whether feature flag information is sent with the event.
Setting send_feature_flags to True will include feature flag information with the event:
Python
PostHog AI
posthog.capture(
distinct_id="distinct_id_of_the_user",
event='event_name',
send_feature_flags=True
)As of version 6.3.0, send_feature_flags can also accept a dictionary for more granular control:
Python
PostHog AI
posthog.capture(
distinct_id="distinct_id_of_the_user",
event='event_name',
send_feature_flags={
'only_evaluate_locally': True,
'person_properties': {'plan': 'premium'},
'group_properties': {'org': {'tier': 'enterprise'}}
}
)With local evaluation: When local evaluation (opens in a new tab) is configured, setting send_feature_flags: True will not make additional server requests. Instead, it uses the locally cached feature flags, and it provides an interface for including person and/or group properties needed to evaluate the flags in the context of the event, if required.
Without local evaluation: PostHog will make an additional request to fetch feature flag information before capturing the event, which adds delay.
Prior to version 6.3.0, feature flags were automatically sent with events when using local evaluation, even when send_feature_flags was not explicitly set. This behavior has been removed in v6.3.0 to be more predictable and explicit.
If you were relying on this automatic behavior, you must now explicitly set send_feature_flags=True to continue sending feature flags with your events.
You can fetch all flag values for a single user by calling get_all_flags() or get_all_flags_and_payloads().
This is useful when you need to fetch multiple flag values and don’t want to make multiple requests.
Python
PostHog AI
posthog.get_all_flags('distinct_id_of_your_user')
posthog.get_all_flags_and_payloads('distinct_id_of_your_user')Capturing $feature_flag_called events enable PostHog to know when a flag was accessed by a user and thus provide analytics and insights (opens in a new tab) on the flag. By default, we send a these event when:
posthog.get_feature_flag() or posthog.feature_enabled(), ANDNote: Tracking whether it’s a new user or if a flag value has changed happens in a local cache. This means that if you reinitialize the PostHog client, the cache resets as well – causing
$feature_flag_calledevents to be sent again when callingget_feature_flagorfeature_enabled. PostHog is built to handle this, and so duplicate$feature_flag_calledevents won’t affect your analytics.
You can disable automatically capturing $feature_flag_called events. For example, when you don’t need the analytics, or it’s being called at such a high volume that sending events slows things down.
To disable it, set the send_feature_flag_events argument in your function call, like so:
Python
PostHog AI
is_my_flag_enabled = posthog.feature_enabled('flag-key', 'distinct_id_of_your_user', send_feature_flag_events=False)
# will not send `$feature_flag_called` eventsSometimes, you may want to evaluate feature flags using person properties (opens in a new tab), groups (opens in a new tab), or group properties that haven’t been ingested yet, or were set incorrectly earlier.
You can provide properties to evaluate the flag with by using the person properties, groups, and group properties arguments. PostHog will then use these values to evaluate the flag, instead of any properties currently stored on your PostHog server.
For example:
Python
PostHog AI
posthog.get_feature_flag(
'flag-key',
'distinct_id_of_the_user',
person_properties={'property_name': 'value'},
groups={
'your_group_type': 'your_group_id',
'another_group_type': 'your_group_id'},
group_properties={
'your_group_type': {'group_property_name': 'value'},
'another_group_type': {'group_property_name': 'value'}
},
)By default, a user’s GeoIP properties are set using the IP address they use to capture events on the frontend. You may want to override the these properties when evaluating feature flags. A common reason to do this is when you’re not using PostHog on your frontend, so the user has no GeoIP properties.
You can override GeoIP properties by including them in the person_properties parameter when evaluating feature flags. This is useful when you’re evaluating flags on your backend and want to use the client’s location instead of your server’s location.
The following GeoIP properties can be overridden:
$geoip_country_code$geoip_country_name$geoip_city_name$geoip_city_confidence$geoip_continent_code$geoip_continent_name$geoip_latitude$geoip_longitude$geoip_postal_code$geoip_subdivision_1_code$geoip_subdivision_1_name$geoip_subdivision_2_code$geoip_subdivision_2_name$geoip_subdivision_3_code$geoip_subdivision_3_name$geoip_time_zoneSimply include any of these properties in the person_properties parameter alongside your other person properties when calling feature flags.
You can configure the feature_flags_request_timeout_seconds parameter when initializing your PostHog client to set a flag request timeout. This helps prevent your code from being blocked in the case when PostHog’s servers are too slow to respond. By default, this is set at 3 seconds.
Python
PostHog AI
posthog = Posthog('<ph_project_token>',
host='https://us.i.posthog.com'
feature_flags_request_timeout_seconds=3 // Time in second. Default is 3
)When using the PostHog SDK, it’s important to handle potential errors that may occur during feature flag operations. Here’s an example of how to wrap PostHog SDK methods in an error handler:
Python
PostHog AI
def handle_feature_flag(client, flag_key, distinct_id):
try:
is_enabled = client.is_feature_enabled(flag_key, distinct_id)
print(f"Feature flag '{flag_key}' for user '{distinct_id}' is {'enabled' if is_enabled else 'disabled'}")
return is_enabled
except Exception as e:
print(f"Error fetching feature flag '{flag_key}': {str(e)}")
raise e
# Usage example
try:
flag_enabled = handle_feature_flag(client, 'new-feature', 'user-123')
if flag_enabled:
# Implement new feature logic
else:
# Implement old feature logic
except Exception as e:
# Handle the error at a higher levelThere are 2 steps to implement feature flags in PHP:
PHP
PostHog AI
$isMyFlagEnabledForUser = PostHog::isFeatureEnabled('flag-key', 'distinct_id_of_your_user')
if ($isMyFlagEnabledForUser) {
// Do something differently for this user
}PHP
PostHog AI
$enabledVariant = PostHog::getFeatureFlag('flag-key', 'distinct_id_of_your_user')
if ($enabledVariant === 'variant-key') { # replace 'variant-key' with the key of your variant
# Do something differently for this user
}If you want use your feature flag to breakdown or filter events in your insights (opens in a new tab), you’ll need to include feature flag information in those events. This ensures that the feature flag value is attributed correctly to the event.
Note: This step is only required for events captured using our server-side SDKs or API (opens in a new tab).
There are two methods you can use to include feature flag information in your events:
In the event properties, include $feature/feature_flag_name: variant_key:
PHP
PostHog AI
PostHog::capture([
'distinctId' => 'distinct_id_of_your_user',
'event' => 'event_name',
'properties' => [
'$feature/feature-flag-key' => 'variant-key' // replace feature-flag-key with your flag key. Replace 'variant-key' with the key of your variant
]
]);The capture() method has an optional argument send_feature_flags, which is set to false by default. By setting this to true, feature flag information will automatically be sent with the event.
Note that by doing this, PostHog will make an additional request to fetch feature flag information before capturing the event. So this method is only recommended if you don’t mind the extra API call and delay.
PHP
PostHog AI
PostHog::capture([
'distinctId' => 'distinct_id_of_your_user',
'event' => 'event_name',
'send_feature_flags' => true
]);You can fetch all flag values for a single user by calling getAllFlags().
This is useful when you need to fetch multiple flag values and don’t want to make multiple requests.
PHP
PostHog AI
PostHog::getAllFlags('distinct_id_of_your_user')Capturing $feature_flag_called events enable PostHog to know when a flag was accessed by a user and thus provide analytics and insights (opens in a new tab) on the flag. By default, we send a these event when:
getFeatureFlag() or isFeatureEnabled(), ANDNote: Tracking whether it’s a new user or if a flag value has changed happens in a local cache. This means that if you reinitialize the PostHog client, the cache resets as well – causing
$feature_flag_calledevents to be sent again when callinggetFeatureFlagorisFeatureEnabled. PostHog is built to handle this, and so duplicate$feature_flag_calledevents won’t affect your analytics.
You can disable automatically capturing $feature_flag_called events. For example, when you don’t need the analytics, or it’s being called at such a high volume that sending events slows things down.
To disable it, set the sendFeatureFlagEvents argument in your function call, like so:
PHP
PostHog AI
$isMyFlagEnabledForUser = PostHog::isFeatureEnabled(
key: 'flag-key',
distinctId: 'distinct_id_of_your_user',
sendFeatureFlagEvents: false
)Sometimes, you may want to evaluate feature flags using person properties (opens in a new tab), groups (opens in a new tab), or group properties that haven’t been ingested yet, or were set incorrectly earlier.
You can provide properties to evaluate the flag with by using the person properties, groups, and group properties arguments. PostHog will then use these values to evaluate the flag, instead of any properties currently stored on your PostHog server.
For example:
PHP
PostHog AI
PostHog::getFeatureFlag(
'flag-key',
'distinct_id_of_the_user',
[
'your_group_type' => 'your_group_id',
'another_group_type' => 'your_group_id'
], // groups
['property_name' => 'value'], // person properties
[
'your_group_type' => ['group_property_name' => 'value'],
'another_group_type' => ['group_property_name' => 'value']
], // group properties
false, // onlyEvaluateLocally, Optional. Defaults to false.
true // sendFeatureFlagEvents
);By default, a user’s GeoIP properties are set using the IP address they use to capture events on the frontend. You may want to override the these properties when evaluating feature flags. A common reason to do this is when you’re not using PostHog on your frontend, so the user has no GeoIP properties.
You can override GeoIP properties by including them in the person_properties parameter when evaluating feature flags. This is useful when you’re evaluating flags on your backend and want to use the client’s location instead of your server’s location.
The following GeoIP properties can be overridden:
$geoip_country_code$geoip_country_name$geoip_city_name$geoip_city_confidence$geoip_continent_code$geoip_continent_name$geoip_latitude$geoip_longitude$geoip_postal_code$geoip_subdivision_1_code$geoip_subdivision_1_name$geoip_subdivision_2_code$geoip_subdivision_2_name$geoip_subdivision_3_code$geoip_subdivision_3_name$geoip_time_zoneSimply include any of these properties in the person_properties parameter alongside your other person properties when calling feature flags.
You can configure the feature_flag_request_timeout_ms parameter when initializing your PostHog client to set a flag request timeout. This helps prevent your code from being blocked in the case when PostHog’s servers are too slow to respond. By default, this is set at 3 seconds.
PHP
PostHog AI
PostHog::init("<ph_project_token>",
[
'host' => 'https://us.i.posthog.com',
'feature_flag_request_timeout_ms' => 3000 // Time in milliseconds. Default is 3000 (3 seconds).
]
);When using the PostHog SDK, it’s important to handle potential errors that may occur during feature flag operations. Here’s an example of how to wrap PostHog SDK methods in an error handler:
PHP
PostHog AI
function handleFeatureFlag($client, $flagKey, $distinctId) {
try {
$isEnabled = $client->isFeatureEnabled($flagKey, $distinctId);
echo "Feature flag '$flagKey' for user '$distinctId' is " . ($isEnabled ? 'enabled' : 'disabled') . "\n";
return $isEnabled;
} catch (Exception $e) {
echo "Error fetching feature flag '$flagKey': " . $e->getMessage() . "\n";
// Optionally, you can return a default value or throw the error
// return false; // Default to disabled
throw $e;
}
}
// Usage example
try {
$flagEnabled = handleFeatureFlag($client, 'new-feature', 'user-123');
if ($flagEnabled) {
// Implement new feature logic
} else {
// Implement old feature logic
}
} catch (Exception $e) {
// Handle the error at a higher level
echo 'Feature flag check failed, using default behavior';
// Implement fallback logic
}There are 2 steps to implement feature flags in Ruby:
Ruby
PostHog AI
is_my_flag_enabled = posthog.is_feature_enabled('flag-key', 'distinct_id_of_your_user')
if is_my_flag_enabled
# Do something differently for this user
# Optional: fetch the payload
matched_flag_payload = posthog.get_feature_flag_payload('flag-key', 'distinct_id_of_your_user')
endRuby
PostHog AI
enabled_variant = posthog.get_feature_flag('flag-key', 'distinct_id_of_your_user')
if enabled_variant == 'variant-key' # replace 'variant-key' with the key of your variant
# Do something differently for this user
# Optional: fetch the payload
matched_flag_payload = posthog.get_feature_flag_payload('variant-key', 'distinct_id_of_your_user')
endIf you want use your feature flag to breakdown or filter events in your insights (opens in a new tab), you’ll need to include feature flag information in those events. This ensures that the feature flag value is attributed correctly to the event.
Note: This step is only required for events captured using our server-side SDKs or API (opens in a new tab).
There are two methods you can use to include feature flag information in your events:
In the event properties, include $feature/feature_flag_name: variant_key:
Ruby
PostHog AI
posthog.capture({
distinct_id: 'distinct_id_of_your_user',
event: 'event_name',
properties: {
'$feature/feature-flag-key': 'variant-key', # replace feature-flag-key with your flag key. Replace 'variant-key' with the key of your variant
}
})The capture() method has an optional argument send_feature_flags, which is set to false by default. This parameter controls whether feature flag information is sent with the event.
Setting send_feature_flags to true will include feature flag information with the event:
Ruby
PostHog AI
posthog.capture({
distinct_id: 'distinct_id_of_your_user',
event: 'event_name',
send_feature_flags: true,
})As of version 3.1.0, send_feature_flags can also accept a hash for more granular control:
Ruby
PostHog AI
posthog.capture({
distinct_id: 'distinct_id_of_your_user',
event: 'event_name',
send_feature_flags: {
only_evaluate_locally: true,
person_properties: { plan: 'premium' },
group_properties: { org: { tier: 'enterprise' } }
}
})With local evaluation: When local evaluation (opens in a new tab) is configured, setting send_feature_flags: true will not make additional server requests. Instead, it uses the locally cached feature flags, and it provides an interface for including person and/or group properties needed to evaluate the flags in the context of the event, if required.
Without local evaluation: PostHog will make an additional request to fetch feature flag information before capturing the event, which adds delay.
Prior to version 3.1.0, feature flags were automatically sent with events when using local evaluation, even when send_feature_flags was not explicitly set. This behavior has been removed in v3.1.0 to be more predictable and explicit.
If you were relying on this automatic behavior, you must now explicitly set send_feature_flags: true to continue sending feature flags with your events.
You can fetch all flag values for a single user by calling get_all_flags() or get_all_flags_and_payloads().
This is useful when you need to fetch multiple flag values and don’t want to make multiple requests.
Ruby
PostHog AI
posthog.get_all_flags('distinct_id_of_your_user')
posthog.get_all_flags_and_payloads('distinct_id_of_your_user')Capturing $feature_flag_called events enable PostHog to know when a flag was accessed by a user and thus provide analytics and insights (opens in a new tab) on the flag. By default, we send a these event when:
posthog.get_feature_flag() or posthog.is_feature_enabled(), ANDNote: Tracking whether it’s a new user or if a flag value has changed happens in a local cache. This means that if you reinitialize the PostHog client, the cache resets as well – causing
$feature_flag_calledevents to be sent again when callingget_feature_flagoris_feature_enabled. PostHog is built to handle this, and so duplicate$feature_flag_calledevents won’t affect your analytics.
You can disable automatically capturing $feature_flag_called events. For example, when you don’t need the analytics, or it’s being called at such a high volume that sending events slows things down.
To disable it, set the send_feature_flag_events argument in your function call, like so:
Ruby
PostHog AI
is_my_flag_enabled = posthog.is_feature_enabled(
'flag-key',
'distinct_id_of_your_user',
send_feature_flag_events: true)Sometimes, you may want to evaluate feature flags using person properties (opens in a new tab), groups (opens in a new tab), or group properties that haven’t been ingested yet, or were set incorrectly earlier.
You can provide properties to evaluate the flag with by using the person properties, groups, and group properties arguments. PostHog will then use these values to evaluate the flag, instead of any properties currently stored on your PostHog server.
For example:
Ruby
PostHog AI
posthog.get_feature_flag(
'flag-key',
'distinct_id_of_the_user',
person_properties: {
'property_name': 'value'
},
groups: {
'your_group_type': 'your_group_id',
'another_group_type': 'your_group_id',
},
group_properties: {
'your_group_type': {
'group_property_name': 'value'
}
'another_group_type': {
'group_property_name': 'value'
}
},
)By default, a user’s GeoIP properties are set using the IP address they use to capture events on the frontend. You may want to override the these properties when evaluating feature flags. A common reason to do this is when you’re not using PostHog on your frontend, so the user has no GeoIP properties.
You can override GeoIP properties by including them in the person_properties parameter when evaluating feature flags. This is useful when you’re evaluating flags on your backend and want to use the client’s location instead of your server’s location.
The following GeoIP properties can be overridden:
$geoip_country_code$geoip_country_name$geoip_city_name$geoip_city_confidence$geoip_continent_code$geoip_continent_name$geoip_latitude$geoip_longitude$geoip_postal_code$geoip_subdivision_1_code$geoip_subdivision_1_name$geoip_subdivision_2_code$geoip_subdivision_2_name$geoip_subdivision_3_code$geoip_subdivision_3_name$geoip_time_zoneSimply include any of these properties in the person_properties parameter alongside your other person properties when calling feature flags.
You can configure the feature_flag_request_timeout_seconds parameter when initializing your PostHog client to set a flag request timeout. This helps prevent your code from being blocked in the case when PostHog’s servers are too slow to respond. By default, this is set at 3 seconds.
Ruby
PostHog AI
posthog = PostHog::Client.new({
# rest of your configuration...
feature_flag_request_timeout_seconds: 3 # Time in seconds. Default is 3.
})When using the PostHog SDK, it’s important to handle potential errors that may occur during feature flag operations. Here’s an example of how to wrap PostHog SDK methods in an error handler:
Ruby
PostHog AI
def handle_feature_flag(client, flag_key, distinct_id)
begin
is_enabled = client.is_feature_enabled(flag_key, distinct_id)
puts "Feature flag '#{flag_key}' for user '#{distinct_id}' is #{is_enabled ? 'enabled' : 'disabled'}"
return is_enabled
rescue => e
puts "Error fetching feature flag '#{flag_key}': #{e.message}"
# Optionally, you can return a default value or throw the error
# return false # Default to disabled
raise e
end
end
# Usage example
try
flag_enabled = handle_feature_flag(client, 'new-feature', 'user-123')
if flag_enabled
# Implement new feature logic
else
# Implement old feature logic
end
rescue => e
# Handle the error at a higher level
puts 'Feature flag check failed, using default behavior'
# Implement fallback logic
endThere are 2 steps to implement feature flags in Go:
Go
PostHog AI
isMyFlagEnabled, err := client.IsFeatureEnabled(posthog.FeatureFlagPayload{
Key: "flag-key",
DistinctId: "distinct_id_of_your_user",
})
if err != nil {
// Handle error (e.g. capture error and fallback to default behavior)
}
if isMyFlagEnabled == true {
// Do something differently for this user
}Go
PostHog AI
enabledVariant, err := client.GetFeatureFlag(posthog.FeatureFlagPayload{
Key: "flag-key",
DistinctId: "distinct_id_of_your_user",
})
if err != nil {
// Handle error (e.g. capture error and fallback to default behavior)
}
if enabledVariant == "variant-key" { // replace 'variant-key' with the key of your variant
// Do something differently for this user
}If you want use your feature flag to breakdown or filter events in your insights (opens in a new tab), you’ll need to include feature flag information in those events. This ensures that the feature flag value is attributed correctly to the event.
Note: This step is only required for events captured using our server-side SDKs or API (opens in a new tab).
There are two methods you can use to include feature flag information in your events:
In the event properties, include $feature/feature_flag_name: variant_key:
Go
PostHog AI
client.Enqueue(posthog.Capture{
DistinctId: "distinct_id_of_your_user",
Event: "event_name",
Properties: posthog.NewProperties().
Set("$feature/feature-flag-key", "variant-key"), // replace feature-flag-key with your flag key. Replace 'variant-key' with the key of your variant
})The Capture struct has an optional field SendFeatureFlags, which is set to false by default. This parameter controls whether feature flag information is sent with the event.
Setting SendFeatureFlags to true will include feature flag information with the event:
Go
PostHog AI
client.Enqueue(posthog.Capture{
DistinctId: "distinct_id_of_your_user",
Event: "event_name",
SendFeatureFlags: true,
})As of version 1.6.1, SendFeatureFlags can also accept a SendFeatureFlagsOptions struct for more granular control:
Go
PostHog AI
client.Enqueue(posthog.Capture{
DistinctId: "distinct_id_of_your_user",
Event: "event_name",
SendFeatureFlags: posthog.SendFeatureFlagsOptions{
OnlyEvaluateLocally: true,
PersonProperties: map[string]interface{}{
"plan": "premium",
},
GroupProperties: map[string]map[string]interface{}{
"org": {
"tier": "enterprise",
},
},
},
})With local evaluation: When local evaluation (opens in a new tab) is configured, setting SendFeatureFlags: true will not make additional server requests. Instead, it uses the locally cached feature flags, and it provides an interface for including person and/or group properties needed to evaluate the flags in the context of the event, if required.
Without local evaluation: PostHog will make an additional request to fetch feature flag information before capturing the event, which adds delay.
Prior to version 1.6.1, feature flags were automatically sent with events when using local evaluation, even when SendFeatureFlags was not explicitly set. This behavior has been removed in v1.6.1 to be more predictable and explicit.
If you were relying on this automatic behavior, you must now explicitly set SendFeatureFlags: true to continue sending feature flags with your events.
You can fetch all flag values for a single user by calling GetAllFlags().
This is useful when you need to fetch multiple flag values and don’t want to make multiple requests.
Go
PostHog AI
featureVariants, err := client.GetAllFlags(posthog.FeatureFlagPayloadNoKey{
DistinctId: "distinct_id_of_your_user",
})Capturing $feature_flag_called events enable PostHog to know when a flag was accessed by a user and thus provide analytics and insights (opens in a new tab) on the flag. By default, we send a these event when:
GetFeatureFlag() or IsFeatureEnabled(), ANDNote: Tracking whether it’s a new user or if a flag value has changed happens in a local cache. This means that if you reinitialize the PostHog client, the cache resets as well – causing
$feature_flag_calledevents to be sent again when callingGetFeatureFlagorIsFeatureEnabled. PostHog is built to handle this, and so duplicate$feature_flag_calledevents won’t affect your analytics.
You can disable automatically capturing $feature_flag_called events. For example, when you don’t need the analytics, or it’s being called at such a high volume that sending events slows things down.
To disable it (pre v1.6.1), set the SendFeatureFlagEvents argument in your function call, like so:
Go
PostHog AI
sendFeatureFlags := false
isMyFlagEnabled, err := client.IsFeatureEnabled(posthog.FeatureFlagPayload{
Key: "flag-key",
DistinctId: "distinct_id_of_your_user",
SendFeatureFlagEvents: &sendFeatureFlags,
})Versions after v1.6.1 have this feature disabled by default.
Sometimes, you may want to evaluate feature flags using person properties (opens in a new tab), groups (opens in a new tab), or group properties that haven’t been ingested yet, or were set incorrectly earlier.
You can provide properties to evaluate the flag with by using the person properties, groups, and group properties arguments. PostHog will then use these values to evaluate the flag, instead of any properties currently stored on your PostHog server.
For example:
Go
PostHog AI
enabledVariant, err := client.GetFeatureFlag(
FeatureFlagPayload{
Key: "flag-key",
DistinctId: "distinct_id_of_the_user",
Groups: posthog.NewGroups().
Set("your_group_type", "your_group_id").
Set("another_group_type", "your_group_id"),
PersonProperties: posthog.NewProperties().
Set("property_name", "value"),
GroupProperties: map[string]map[string]interface{}{
"your_group_type": {
"group_property_name": "value",
},
"another_group_type": {
"group_property_name": "value",
},
},
},
)By default, a user’s GeoIP properties are set using the IP address they use to capture events on the frontend. You may want to override the these properties when evaluating feature flags. A common reason to do this is when you’re not using PostHog on your frontend, so the user has no GeoIP properties.
You can override GeoIP properties by including them in the person_properties parameter when evaluating feature flags. This is useful when you’re evaluating flags on your backend and want to use the client’s location instead of your server’s location.
The following GeoIP properties can be overridden:
$geoip_country_code$geoip_country_name$geoip_city_name$geoip_city_confidence$geoip_continent_code$geoip_continent_name$geoip_latitude$geoip_longitude$geoip_postal_code$geoip_subdivision_1_code$geoip_subdivision_1_name$geoip_subdivision_2_code$geoip_subdivision_2_name$geoip_subdivision_3_code$geoip_subdivision_3_name$geoip_time_zoneSimply include any of these properties in the person_properties parameter alongside your other person properties when calling feature flags.
You can configure the FeatureFlagRequestTimeout parameter when initializing your PostHog client to set a flag request timeout. This helps prevent your code from being blocked in the case when PostHog’s servers are too slow to respond. By default, this is set at 3 seconds.
Go
PostHog AI
client, _ := posthog.NewWithConfig(
os.Getenv("<ph_project_token>"),
posthog.Config{
PersonalApiKey: "your personal API key", // Optional, but much more performant. If this token is not supplied, then fetching feature flag values will be slower.
Endpoint: "https://us.i.posthog.com",
FeatureFlagRequestTimeout: 3 // Time in seconds. Default is 3.
},
)When using the PostHog SDK, it’s important to handle potential errors that may occur during feature flag operations. Here’s an example of how to wrap PostHog SDK methods in an error handler:
Go
PostHog AI
func handleFeatureFlag(client *posthog.Client, flagKey string, distinctId string) {
flag, err := client.GetFeatureFlag(posthog.FeatureFlagPayload{
Key: flagKey,
DistinctId: distinctId,
})
if err != nil {
// Handle the error appropriately
log.Printf("Error fetching feature flag: %v", err)
return
}
// Use the flag value as needed
fmt.Printf("Feature flag '%s' for user '%s': %s\n", flagKey, distinctId, flag)
}There are two ways to implement feature flags in React Native:
React Native
PostHog AI
import { useFeatureFlag } from 'posthog-react-native'
const MyComponent = () => {
const booleanFlag = useFeatureFlag('key-for-your-boolean-flag')
if (booleanFlag === undefined) {
// the response is undefined if the flags are being loaded
return null
}
// Optional use the 'useFeatureFlagWithPayload' hook for fetching the feature flag payload
return booleanFlag ? <Text>Testing feature 😄</Text> : <Text>Not Testing feature 😢</Text>
}React Native
PostHog AI
import { useFeatureFlag } from 'posthog-react-native'
const MyComponent = () => {
const multiVariantFeature = useFeatureFlag('key-for-your-multivariate-flag')
if (multiVariantFeature === undefined) {
// the response is undefined if the flags are being loaded
return null
} else if (multiVariantFeature === 'variant-name') { // replace 'variant-name' with the name of your variant
// Do something
}
// Optional use the 'useFeatureFlagWithPayload' hook for fetching the feature flag payload
return <div/>
}React Native
PostHog AI
// Defaults to undefined if not loaded yet or if there was a problem loading
posthog.isFeatureEnabled('key-for-your-boolean-flag')
// Defaults to undefined if not loaded yet or if there was a problem loading
posthog.getFeatureFlag('key-for-your-boolean-flag')
// Multivariant feature flags are returned as a string
posthog.getFeatureFlag('key-for-your-multivariate-flag')
// Optional fetch the payload returns 'JsonType' or undefined if not loaded yet or if there was a problem loading
posthog.getFeatureFlagPayload('key-for-your-multivariate-flag')Every time a user opens the app, we send a request in the background to fetch the feature flags that apply to that user. We store those flags in the storage.
This means that for most screens, the feature flags are available immediately — except for the first time a user visits.
To handle this, you can use the onFeatureFlags callback to wait for the feature flag request to finish:
React Native
PostHog AI
posthog.onFeatureFlags((flags) => {
// feature flags are guaranteed to be available at this point
if (posthog.isFeatureEnabled('flag-key')) {
// do something
}
})PostHog loads feature flags when instantiated and refreshes whenever methods are called that affect the flag.
If want to manually trigger a refresh, you can call reloadFeatureFlagsAsync():
React Native
PostHog AI
posthog.reloadFeatureFlagsAsync().then((refreshedFlags) => console.log(refreshedFlags))Or when you want to trigger the reload, but don’t care about the result:
React Native
PostHog AI
posthog.reloadFeatureFlags()The React Native SDK caches feature flag values in AsyncStorage. Cached values persist indefinitely with no TTL until updated by a successful API call. This enables offline support and reduces latency, but means inactive users may see stale flag values from their last session.
For example, if a user last opened your app when a flag was false, that value remains cached even after you roll it out to 100%. When they reopen the app, the SDK returns the cached false first, then fetches the fresh true value from the API.
To ensure fresh flag values:
React Native
PostHog AI
// Force refresh on app start
await posthog.reloadFeatureFlagsAsync()Or clear cached values for inactive users:
React Native
PostHog AI
if (lastActiveDate < migrationDate) {
posthog.reset() // Clears all cached data
}You can configure the featureFlagsRequestTimeoutMs parameter when initializing your PostHog client to set a flag request timeout. This helps prevent your code from being blocked in the case when PostHog’s servers are too slow to respond. By default, this is set at 10 seconds.
React Native
PostHog AI
export const posthog = new PostHog('<ph_project_token>', {
// usually 'https://us.i.posthog.com' or 'https://eu.i.posthog.com'
host: 'https://us.i.posthog.com',
featureFlagsRequestTimeoutMs: 10000 // Time in milliseconds. Default is 10000 (10 seconds).
})When using the PostHog SDK, it’s important to handle potential errors that may occur during feature flag operations. Here’s an example of how to wrap PostHog SDK methods in an error handler:
React Native
PostHog AI
function handleFeatureFlag(client, flagKey, distinctId) {
try {
const isEnabled = client.isFeatureEnabled(flagKey, distinctId);
console.log(`Feature flag '${flagKey}' for user '${distinctId}' is ${isEnabled ? 'enabled' : 'disabled'}`);
return isEnabled;
} catch (error) {
console.error(`Error fetching feature flag '${flagKey}': ${error.message}`);
// Optionally, you can return a default value or throw the error
// return false; // Default to disabled
throw error;
}
}
// Usage example
try {
const flagEnabled = handleFeatureFlag(client, 'new-feature', 'user-123');
if (flagEnabled) {
// Implement new feature logic
} else {
// Implement old feature logic
}
} catch (error) {
// Handle the error at a higher level
console.error('Feature flag check failed, using default behavior');
// Implement fallback logic
}Sometimes, you might want to evaluate feature flags using properties that haven’t been ingested yet, or were set incorrectly earlier. You can do so by setting properties the flag depends on with these calls:
React Native
PostHog AI
posthog.setPersonPropertiesForFlags({'property1': 'value', property2: 'value2'})Note that these are set for the entire session. Successive calls are additive: all properties you set are combined together and sent for flag evaluation.
Whenever you set these properties, we also trigger a reload of feature flags to ensure we have the latest values. You can disable this by passing in the optional parameter for reloading:
React Native
PostHog AI
posthog.setPersonPropertiesForFlags({'property1': 'value', property2: 'value2'}, false)At any point, you can reset these properties by calling resetPersonPropertiesForFlags:
React Native
PostHog AI
posthog.resetPersonPropertiesForFlags()The same holds for group (opens in a new tab) properties:
React Native
PostHog AI
// set properties for a group
posthog.setGroupPropertiesForFlags({'company': {'property1': 'value', property2: 'value2'}})
// reset properties for all groups:
posthog.resetGroupPropertiesForFlags()Note: You don’t need to add the group names here, since these properties are automatically attached to the current group (set via
posthog.group()). When you change the group, these properties are reset.
Automatic overrides
Whenever you call posthog.identify with person properties, we automatically add these properties to flag evaluation calls to help determine the correct flag values. The same is true for when you call posthog.group().
Default overridden properties
By default, we always override some properties based on the user IP address.
The list of properties that this overrides:
This enables any geolocation-based flags to work without manually setting these properties.
Kotlin
PostHog AI
import com.posthog.PostHog
if (PostHog.isFeatureEnabled("flag-key")) {
// Do something differently for this user
// Optional: fetch the payload
val matchedFlagPayload = PostHog.getFeatureFlagPayload("flag-key")
}Kotlin
PostHog AI
import com.posthog.PostHog
if (PostHog.getFeatureFlag("flag-key") == "variant-key") { // replace 'variant-key' with the key of your variant
// Do something differently for this user
// Optional: fetch the payload
val matchedFlagPayload = PostHog.getFeatureFlagPayload("flag-key")
}Every time a user opens the app, we send a request in the background to fetch the feature flags that apply to that user. We store those flags in the storage.
This means that for most screens, the feature flags are available immediately – except for the first time a user visits.
To handle this, you can use the onFeatureFlags callback to wait for the feature flag request to finish:
Kotlin
PostHog AI
import com.posthog.PostHog
import com.posthog.android.PostHogAndroidConfig
import com.posthog.PostHogOnFeatureFlags
// During SDK initialization
val config = PostHogAndroidConfig(apiKey = "<ph_project_token>").apply {
onFeatureFlags = PostHogOnFeatureFlags {
if (PostHog.isFeatureEnabled("flag-key")) {
// do something
}
}
}
// And/Or manually the SDK is initialized
PostHog.reloadFeatureFlags {
if (PostHog.isFeatureEnabled("flag-key")) {
// do something
}
}Feature flag values are cached. If something has changed with your user and you’d like to refetch their flag values, call:
Kotlin
PostHog AI
import com.posthog.PostHog
PostHog.reloadFeatureFlags()Swift
PostHog AI
if (PostHogSDK.shared.isFeatureEnabled("flag-key")) {
// Do something differently for this user
// Optional: fetch the payload
let matchedFlagPayload = PostHogSDK.shared.getFeatureFlagPayload("flag-key")
}Swift
PostHog AI
if (PostHogSDK.shared.getFeatureFlag("flag-key") as? String == "variant-key") { // replace "variant-key" with the key of your variant
// Do something differently for this user
// Optional: fetch the payload
let matchedFlagPayload = PostHogSDK.shared.getFeatureFlagPayload("flag-key")
}Feature flag values are cached. If something has changed with your user and you’d like to refetch their flag values, call:
Swift
PostHog AI
PostHogSDK.shared.reloadFeatureFlags()Every time a user opens the app, we send a request in the background to fetch the feature flags that apply to that user. We store those flags in the storage.
This means that for most screens, the feature flags are available immediately – except for the first time a user visits.
To handle this, you can use the didReceiveFeatureFlags notification to wait for the feature flag request to finish:
Swift
PostHog AI
class AppDelegate: NSObject, UIApplicationDelegate {
func application(_ application: UIApplication, didFinishLaunchingWithOptions launchOptions: [UIApplication.LaunchOptionsKey : Any]? = nil) -> Bool {
// register for `didReceiveFeatureFlags` notification before SDK initialization
NotificationCenter.default.addObserver(
self,
selector: #selector(receiveFeatureFlags),
name: PostHogSDK.didReceiveFeatureFlags,
object: nil
)
let POSTHOG_API_KEY = "<ph_project_token>"
// usually 'https://us.i.posthog.com' or 'https://eu.i.posthog.com'
let POSTHOG_HOST = "https://us.i.posthog.com"
let config = PostHogConfig(apiKey: POSTHOG_API_KEY, host: POSTHOG_HOST)
PostHogSDK.shared.setup(config)
return true
}
// The "receiveFeatureFlags" method will be called when the SDK receives the feature flags from the server.
@objc func receiveFeatureFlags() {
print("receiveFeatureFlags called")
}
}Alternatively, you can use the completion block of the reloadFeatureFlags(_:) method. This allows you to execute logic immediately after the flags are reloaded:
Swift
PostHog AI
// Reload feature flags and check if a specific feature is enabled
PostHogSDK.shared.reloadFeatureFlags {
if PostHogSDK.shared.isFeatureEnabled("flag-key") {
// do something
}
}Dart
PostHog AI
if (await Posthog().isFeatureEnabled('flag-key')) {
// Do something differently for this user
// Optional: fetch the payload
final matchedFlagPayload = await Posthog().getFeatureFlagPayload('flag-key');
}Dart
PostHog AI
if (await Posthog().getFeatureFlag('flag-key') == 'variant-key') { // replace 'variant-key' with the key of your variant
// Do something differently for this user
// Optional: fetch the payload
final matchedFlagPayload = await Posthog().getFeatureFlagPayload('flag-key');
}To use the
onFeatureFlagscallback, you must set up the SDK manually by disabling thecom.posthog.posthog.AUTO_INITmode.
Every time a user opens the app, we send a request in the background to fetch the feature flags that apply to that user. We store those flags in the storage.
This means that for most screens, the feature flags are available immediately – except for the first time a user visits.
To handle this, you can use the onFeatureFlags callback in your config to be notified when flags are loaded:
Dart
PostHog AI
final config = PostHogConfig('<ph_project_token>');
config.host = 'https://us.i.posthog.com';
config.onFeatureFlags = () async {
if (await Posthog().isFeatureEnabled('flag-key')) {
// do something
}
};
await Posthog().setup(config);Feature flag values are cached. If something has changed with your user and you’d like to refetch their flag values, call:
Dart
PostHog AI
await Posthog().reloadFeatureFlags();Java
PostHog AI
if (posthog.isFeatureEnabled("distinct_id_of_your_user", "flag-key")) {
// Do something differently for this user
// Optional: fetch the payload
Object matchedFlagPayload = posthog.getFeatureFlagPayload("distinct_id_of_your_user", "flag-key");
}Java
PostHog AI
if ("variant-key".equals(posthog.getFeatureFlag("distinct_id_of_your_user", "flag-key"))) { // replace 'variant-key' with the key of your variant
// Do something differently for this user
// Optional: fetch the payload
Object matchedFlagPayload = posthog.getFeatureFlagPayload("distinct_id_of_your_user", "flag-key");
}Sometimes, you may want to evaluate feature flags using person properties (opens in a new tab), groups (opens in a new tab), or group properties that haven’t been ingested yet, or were set incorrectly earlier.
You can provide properties to evaluate the flag with by using the person properties, groups, and group properties arguments. PostHog will then use these values to evaluate the flag, instead of any properties currently stored on your PostHog server.
For example:
Java
PostHog AI
import com.posthog.server.PostHogFeatureFlagOptions;
posthog.getFeatureFlag(
"distinct_id_of_the_user",
"flag-key",
PostHogFeatureFlagOptions
.builder()
.defaultValue(false)
.group("your_group_type", "your_group_id")
.group("another_group_type", "your_group_id")
.groupProperty("your_group_type", "group_property_name", "value")
.groupProperty("another_group_type", "group_property_name", "value")
.personProperty("property_name", "value")
.build());By default, a user’s GeoIP properties are set using the IP address they use to capture events on the frontend. You may want to override the these properties when evaluating feature flags. A common reason to do this is when you’re not using PostHog on your frontend, so the user has no GeoIP properties.
You can override GeoIP properties by including them in the person_properties parameter when evaluating feature flags. This is useful when you’re evaluating flags on your backend and want to use the client’s location instead of your server’s location.
The following GeoIP properties can be overridden:
$geoip_country_code$geoip_country_name$geoip_city_name$geoip_city_confidence$geoip_continent_code$geoip_continent_name$geoip_latitude$geoip_longitude$geoip_postal_code$geoip_subdivision_1_code$geoip_subdivision_1_name$geoip_subdivision_2_code$geoip_subdivision_2_name$geoip_subdivision_3_code$geoip_subdivision_3_name$geoip_time_zoneSimply include any of these properties in the person_properties parameter alongside your other person properties when calling feature flags.
There are 2 steps to implement feature flags in Rust:
Rust
PostHog AI
let is_enabled = client.is_feature_enabled(
"flag-key".to_string(),
"distinct_id_of_your_user".to_string(),
None, // groups
None, // person_properties
None, // group_properties
).await.unwrap();
if is_enabled {
// Do something differently for this user
}Rust
PostHog AI
use posthog_rs::FlagValue;
match client.get_feature_flag(
"flag-key".to_string(),
"distinct_id_of_your_user".to_string(),
None, // groups
None, // person_properties
None, // group_properties
).await.unwrap() {
Some(FlagValue::String(variant)) => {
if variant == "variant-key" {
// Do something for this variant
}
}
Some(FlagValue::Boolean(enabled)) => {
// Handle boolean flag
}
None => {
// Flag not found or disabled
}
}If you want use your feature flag to breakdown or filter events in your insights (opens in a new tab), you’ll need to include feature flag information in those events. This ensures that the feature flag value is attributed correctly to the event.
Note: This step is only required for events captured using our server-side SDKs or API (opens in a new tab).
There are two methods you can use to include feature flag information in your events:
In the event properties, include $feature/feature_flag_name: variant_key:
Rust
PostHog AI
let mut event = Event::new("event_name", "distinct_id_of_your_user");
event.insert_prop("$feature/feature-flag-key", "variant-key").unwrap();
client.capture(event).unwrap();Rust
PostHog AI
let (flags, _) = client.get_feature_flags(
"distinct_id_of_your_user".to_string(),
None, None, None
).await.unwrap();
let mut event = Event::new("event_name", "distinct_id_of_your_user");
for (key, value) in flags {
let prop_key = format!("$feature/{}", key);
match value {
FlagValue::Boolean(b) => event.insert_prop(&prop_key, b).unwrap(),
FlagValue::String(s) => event.insert_prop(&prop_key, s).unwrap(),
};
}
client.capture(event).unwrap();You can fetch all flag values for a single user by calling get_feature_flags().
This is useful when you need to fetch multiple flag values and don’t want to make multiple requests.
Rust
PostHog AI
let (flags, payloads) = client.get_feature_flags(
"distinct_id_of_your_user".to_string(),
None, // groups
None, // person_properties
None, // group_properties
).await.unwrap();
for (key, value) in flags {
println!("Flag {}: {:?}", key, value);
}You can retrieve additional data associated with a feature flag using payloads:
Rust
PostHog AI
let payload = client.get_feature_flag_payload(
"flag-key".to_string(),
"distinct_id_of_your_user".to_string()
).await.unwrap();
if let Some(data) = payload {
println!("Payload: {}", data);
}You can include person properties for more targeted flag evaluation:
Rust
PostHog AI
use std::collections::HashMap;
use serde_json::json;
let mut person_props = HashMap::new();
person_props.insert("plan".to_string(), json!("enterprise"));
person_props.insert("country".to_string(), json!("US"));
let flag = client.get_feature_flag(
"premium-feature".to_string(),
"distinct_id_of_your_user".to_string(),
None, // groups
Some(person_props),
None, // group_properties
).await.unwrap();For B2B applications with group-based flags:
Rust
PostHog AI
use std::collections::HashMap;
use serde_json::json;
let mut groups = HashMap::new();
groups.insert("company".to_string(), "company-123".to_string());
let mut group_props = HashMap::new();
let mut company_props = HashMap::new();
company_props.insert("size".to_string(), json!(500));
group_props.insert("company".to_string(), company_props);
let flag = client.get_feature_flag(
"b2b-feature".to_string(),
"distinct_id_of_your_user".to_string(),
Some(groups),
None, // person_properties
Some(group_props),
).await.unwrap();If you’re using the blocking client (with default-features = false), the API is the same but without .await:
Rust
PostHog AI
let is_enabled = client.is_feature_enabled(
"flag-key".to_string(),
"distinct_id_of_your_user".to_string(),
None, None, None
).unwrap();When using the PostHog SDK, handle potential errors that may occur during feature flag operations:
Rust
PostHog AI
match client.get_feature_flag(
"flag-key".to_string(),
"distinct_id_of_your_user".to_string(),
None, None, None
).await {
Ok(Some(value)) => {
// Use the flag value
println!("Flag value: {:?}", value);
}
Ok(None) => {
// Flag not found or disabled
println!("Flag not found");
}
Err(e) => {
// Handle the error appropriately
eprintln!("Error fetching feature flag: {}", e);
// Fall back to default behavior
}
}PostHog.FeatureFlags.check/2 is the main function for checking a feature flag in Elixir. More documentation on it can be found in the HexPM Docs (opens in a new tab).
Elixir
PostHog AI
iex> PostHog.FeatureFlags.check("example-feature-flag-1", "user123")
{:ok, true}It will attempt to take distinct_id from the context if it’s not provided.
Elixir
PostHog AI
iex> PostHog.set_context(%{distinct_id: "user123"})
:ok
iex> PostHog.FeatureFlags.check("example-feature-flag-1")
{:ok, true}Elixir
PostHog AI
iex> PostHog.FeatureFlags.check("example-feature-flag-1", "user123")
{:ok, "variant2"}We’ll return an error if the feature flag doesn’t exist.
Elixir
PostHog AI
iex> PostHog.FeatureFlags.check("example-feature-flag-3", "user123")
{:error, %PostHog.UnexpectedResponseError{message: "Feature flag example-feature-flag-3 was not found in the response", response: ...}}You can also use PostHog.FeatureFlags.check!/2 if you’re feeling adventurous or running a script and prefer errors to be raised instead.
There are 2 steps to implement feature flags in .NET:
C#
PostHog AI
if (await posthog.IsFeatureEnabledAsync(
"flag-key",
"distinct_id_of_your_user"))
{
// Feature is enabled
}
else
{
// Feature is disabled
}C#
PostHog AI
var flag = await posthog.GetFeatureFlagAsync(
"flag-key",
"distinct_id_of_your_user"
);
// replace "variant-key" with the key of your variant
if (flag is { VariantKey: "variant-key"} ) {
// Do something differently for this user
// Optional: fetch the payload
var matchedPayload = flag.Payload;
}Note: The
GetFeatureFlagAsyncmethod returns a nullableFeatureFlagobject. If the flag is not found or evaluating it is inconclusive, it returnsnull. However, there is an implicit conversion to bool to make comparisons easier.
C#
PostHog AI
if (await posthog.GetFeatureFlagAsync(
"flag-key",
"distinct_id_of_your_user")
)
{
// Do something differently for this user
}If you want use your feature flag to breakdown or filter events in your insights (opens in a new tab), you’ll need to include feature flag information in those events. This ensures that the feature flag value is attributed correctly to the event.
Note: This step is only required for events captured using our server-side SDKs or API (opens in a new tab).
There are two methods you can use to include feature flag information in your events:
In the event properties, include $feature/feature_flag_name: variant_key:
C#
PostHog AI
posthog.Capture(
"distinct_id_of_your_user",
"event_name",
properties: new() {
// replace feature-flag-key with your flag key.
// Replace "variant-key" with the key of your variant
["$feature/feature-flag-key"] = "variant-key"
}
);The Capture() method has an optional argument sendFeatureFlags, which is set to false by default. By setting this to true, feature flag information will automatically be sent with the event.
Note that by doing this, PostHog will make an additional request to fetch feature flag information before capturing the event. So this method is only recommended if you don’t mind the extra API call and delay.
C#
PostHog AI
posthog.Capture(
"distinct_id_of_your_user",
"event_name",
properties: null,
groups: null,
sendFeatureFlags: true
);You can fetch all flag values for a single user by calling GetAllFeatureFlagsAsync().
This is useful when you need to fetch multiple flag values and don’t want to make multiple requests.
C#
PostHog AI
var flags = await posthog.GetAllFeatureFlagsAsync(
"distinct_id_of_your_user"
);Capturing $feature_flag_called events enable PostHog to know when a flag was accessed by a user and thus provide analytics and insights (opens in a new tab) on the flag. By default, we send a these event when:
posthog.GetFeatureFlagAsync() or posthog.IsFeatureEnabledAsync(), ANDNote: Tracking whether it’s a new user or if a flag value has changed happens in a local cache. This means that if you reinitialize the PostHog client, the cache resets as well – causing
$feature_flag_calledevents to be sent again when callingGetFeatureFlagAsyncorIsFeatureEnabledAsync. PostHog is built to handle this, and so duplicate$feature_flag_calledevents won’t affect your analytics.
You can disable automatically the additional request to capture $feature_flag_called events. For example, when you don’t need the analytics, or it’s being called at such a high volume that sending events slows things down.
To disable it, set the sendFeatureFlagsEvent option in your function call, like so:
C#
PostHog AI
var isMyFlagEnabled = await posthog.IsFeatureEnabledAsync(
"flag-key",
"distinct_id_of_your_user",
options: new FeatureFlagOptions
{
SendFeatureFlagEvents = true
}
);
// will not send `$feature_flag_called` eventsSometimes, you may want to evaluate feature flags using person properties (opens in a new tab), groups (opens in a new tab), or group properties that haven’t been ingested yet, or were set incorrectly earlier.
You can provide properties to evaluate the flag with by using the person properties, groups, and group properties arguments. PostHog will then use these values to evaluate the flag, instead of any properties currently stored on your PostHog server.
For example:
C#
PostHog AI
// Overriding Person Properties
var personFlag = await posthog.GetFeatureFlagAsync(
"flag-key",
"distinct_id_of_the_user",
personProperties: new() {["property_name"] = "value"});
// Overriding Group Properties
var groupFlag = await posthog.GetFeatureFlagAsync(
"flag-key",
"distinct_id_of_the_user",
options: new FeatureFlagOptions
{
Groups = [
new Group("your_group_type", "your_group_id")
{
["group_property_name"] = "your group value"
},
new Group(
"another_group_type",
"another_group_id")
{
["group_property_name"] = "another group value"
}
]
});
// Overriding both Person and Group Properties
var bothFlag = await posthog.GetFeatureFlagAsync(
"flag-key",
"distinct_id_of_the_user",
options: new FeatureFlagOptions
{
PersonProperties = new() { ["property_name"] = "value" },
Groups = [
new Group("your_group_type", "your_group_id")
{
["group_property_name"] = "your group value"
},
new Group(
"another_group_type",
"another_group_id")
{
["group_property_name"] = "another group value"
}
]
});By default, a user’s GeoIP properties are set using the IP address they use to capture events on the frontend. You may want to override the these properties when evaluating feature flags. A common reason to do this is when you’re not using PostHog on your frontend, so the user has no GeoIP properties.
You can override GeoIP properties by including them in the person_properties parameter when evaluating feature flags. This is useful when you’re evaluating flags on your backend and want to use the client’s location instead of your server’s location.
The following GeoIP properties can be overridden:
$geoip_country_code$geoip_country_name$geoip_city_name$geoip_city_confidence$geoip_continent_code$geoip_continent_name$geoip_latitude$geoip_longitude$geoip_postal_code$geoip_subdivision_1_code$geoip_subdivision_1_name$geoip_subdivision_2_code$geoip_subdivision_2_name$geoip_subdivision_3_code$geoip_subdivision_3_name$geoip_time_zoneSimply include any of these properties in the person_properties parameter alongside your other person properties when calling feature flags.
There are 3 steps to implement feature flags using the PostHog API:
flags is the endpoint used to determine if a given flag is enabled for a certain user or not.
PostHog AI
# Basic request (flags only)
curl -v -L --header "Content-Type: application/json" -d ' {
"api_key": "<ph_project_token>",
"distinct_id": "distinct_id_of_your_user",
"groups" : {
"group_type": "group_id"
}
}' "https://us.i.posthog.com/flags?v=2"
# With configuration (flags + PostHog config)
curl -v -L --header "Content-Type: application/json" -d ' {
"api_key": "<ph_project_token>",
"distinct_id": "distinct_id_of_your_user",
"groups" : {
"group_type": "group_id"
}
}' "https://us.i.posthog.com/flags?v=2&config=true"import requests
import json
# Basic request (flags only)
url = "https://us.i.posthog.com/flags?v=2"
headers = {
"Content-Type": "application/json"
}
payload = {
"api_key": "<ph_project_token>",
"distinct_id": "user distinct id",
"groups": {
"group_type": "group_id"
}
}
response = requests.post(url, headers=headers, data=json.dumps(payload))
print(response.json())
# With configuration (flags + PostHog config)
url_with_config = "https://us.i.posthog.com/flags?v=2&config=true"
response_with_config = requests.post(url_with_config, headers=headers, data=json.dumps(payload))
print(response_with_config.json())import fetch from "node-fetch";
async function sendFlagsRequest() {
const headers = {
"Content-Type": "application/json",
};
const payload = {
api_key: "<ph_project_token>",
distinct_id: "user distinct id",
groups: {
group_type: "group_id",
},
};
// Basic request (flags only)
const url = "https://us.i.posthog.com/flags?v=2";
const response = await fetch(url, {
method: "POST",
headers: headers,
body: JSON.stringify(payload),
});
const data = await response.json();
console.log(data);
// With configuration (flags + PostHog config)
const urlWithConfig = "https://us.i.posthog.com/flags?v=2&config=true";
const responseWithConfig = await fetch(urlWithConfig, {
method: "POST",
headers: headers,
body: JSON.stringify(payload),
});
const dataWithConfig = await responseWithConfig.json();
console.log(dataWithConfig);
}
sendFlagsRequest();Note: The
groupskey is only required for group-based feature flags. If you use it, replacegroup_typeandgroup_idwith the values for your group such ascompany: "Twitter".
When making direct API calls to the /flags endpoint, you can control which flags are evaluated using evaluation context tags and runtime filtering.
To filter flags by evaluation context, include the evaluation_contexts field in your request body:
Note: The legacy parameter
evaluation_environmentsis also supported for backward compatibility.
PostHog AI
curl -v -L --header "Content-Type: application/json" -d ' {
"api_key": "<ph_project_token>",
"distinct_id": "distinct_id_of_your_user",
"evaluation_contexts": ["production", "web"]
}' "https://us.i.posthog.com/flags?v=2"import requests
import json
url = "https://us.i.posthog.com/flags?v=2"
headers = {
"Content-Type": "application/json"
}
payload = {
"api_key": "<ph_project_token>",
"distinct_id": "user distinct id",
"evaluation_contexts": ["production", "web"]
}
response = requests.post(url, headers=headers, data=json.dumps(payload))
print(response.json())const response = await fetch("https://us.i.posthog.com/flags?v=2", {
method: "POST",
headers: {
"Content-Type": "application/json",
},
body: JSON.stringify({
api_key: "<ph_project_token>",
distinct_id: "user-distinct-id",
evaluation_contexts: ["production", "web"]
}),
});
const data = await response.json();Only flags where at least one evaluation tag matches (or flags with no tags at all) will be returned. For example:
["production", "api", "backend"] + request with ["production", "web"] = ✅ Flag evaluates (“production” matches)["staging", "api"] + request with ["production", "web"] = ❌ Flag doesn’t evaluate (no tags match)["web", "mobile"] + request with ["production", "web"] = ✅ Flag evaluates (“web” matches)Evaluation runtime (server vs. client) is automatically detected based on your request headers and user-agent. This determines which flags are available based on their runtime setting (server-only, client-only, or all).
How runtime is detected:
User-Agent patterns - The system analyzes the User-Agent header:
Mozilla/, Chrome/, Safari/, Firefox/, Edge/ (browsers), or mobile SDKs like posthog-android/, posthog-ios/, posthog-react-native/, posthog-flutter/posthog-python/, posthog-ruby/, posthog-php/, posthog-java/, posthog-go/, posthog-node/, posthog-dotnet/, posthog-elixir/, python-requests/, curl/Browser-specific headers - Presence of these headers indicates client-side:
Origin headerReferer headerSec-Fetch-Mode headerSec-Fetch-Site headerDefault behavior - If runtime can’t be determined, the system includes flags with no runtime requirement and those set to “all”
Examples of runtime detection:
JavaScript
PostHog AI
// Browser fetch - Detected as CLIENT runtime
// Will receive: client-only flags + "all" flags
// Won't receive: server-only flags
const response = await fetch("https://us.i.posthog.com/flags?v=2", {
method: "POST",
headers: {
"Content-Type": "application/json",
// Browser automatically adds Origin, Referer, Sec-Fetch-* headers
},
body: JSON.stringify({
api_key: "<ph_project_token>",
distinct_id: "user-id"
})
});Python
PostHog AI
# Python requests - Detected as SERVER runtime
# Will receive: server-only flags + "all" flags
# Won't receive: client-only flags
import requests
response = requests.post(
"https://us.i.posthog.com/flags?v=2",
json={
"api_key": "<ph_project_token>",
"distinct_id": "user-id"
}
# python-requests/ in User-Agent indicates server-side
)Terminal
PostHog AI
# curl - Detected as SERVER runtime
# Will receive: server-only flags + "all" flags
# Won't receive: client-only flags
curl -v -L --header "Content-Type: application/json" -d '{
"api_key": "<ph_project_token>",
"distinct_id": "user-id"
}' "https://us.i.posthog.com/flags?v=2"
# curl/ in User-Agent indicates server-sideJavaScript
PostHog AI
// Node.js with custom User-Agent - Control runtime detection
const response = await fetch("https://us.i.posthog.com/flags?v=2", {
method: "POST",
headers: {
"Content-Type": "application/json",
"User-Agent": "posthog-node/3.0.0" // Explicitly indicates server-side
},
body: JSON.stringify({
api_key: "<ph_project_token>",
distinct_id: "user-id"
})
});Both features work together as sequential filters:
JavaScript
PostHog AI
// Example: Production web client
const response = await fetch("https://us.i.posthog.com/flags?v=2", {
method: "POST",
headers: {
"Content-Type": "application/json",
// Browser headers will trigger client runtime detection
},
body: JSON.stringify({
api_key: "<ph_project_token>",
distinct_id: "user-id",
evaluation_contexts: ["production", "web"]
})
});
// This request will only receive flags that:
// 1. Have runtime set to "client" OR "all" (due to browser headers)
// AND
// 2. Have evaluation context tags matching "production" OR "web" (or no tags)
// Note: You can also use the legacy "evaluation_environments" parameterThis allows precise control over which flags are evaluated in different contexts, helping optimize costs and improve security by ensuring flags only evaluate where intended.
The response varies depending on whether you include the config=true query parameter:
Use this endpoint when you only need to evaluate feature flags. It returns a response with just the flag evaluation results.
Note: If a feature flag is associated with an experiment that has a holdout group (opens in a new tab), users in the holdout receive a variant value in the format
holdout-{holdout_id}(e.g.,holdout-727). You can detect holdout users by checking if the variant starts withholdout-.
JSON
PostHog AI
{
"flags": {
"my-awesome-flag": {
"key": "my-awesome-flag",
"enabled": true,
"reason": {
"code": "condition_match",
"condition_index": 0,
"description": "Condition set 1 matched"
},
"metadata": {
"id": 1,
"version": 1,
"payload": "{\"example\": \"json\", \"payload\": \"value\"}"
}
},
"my-multivariate-flag" :{
"key":"my-multivariate-flag",
"enabled": true,
"variant": "some-string-value",
"reason": {
"code": "condition_match",
"condition_index": 1,
"description": "Condition set 2 matched"
},
"metadata": {
"id": 2,
"version": 42,
}
},
"flag-thats-not-on": {
"key": "flag-thats-not-on",
"enabled": false,
"reason": {
"code": "no_condition_match",
"condition_index": 0,
"description": "No condition sets matched"
},
"metadata": {
"id": 3,
"version": 1
}
}
},
"errorsWhileComputingFlags": false,
"requestId": "550e8400-e29b-41d4-a716-446655440000"
}Use this endpoint when you need both feature flag evaluation and PostHog configuration information (useful for client-side SDKs that need to initialize PostHog):
JSON
PostHog AI
{
"config": {
"enable_collect_everything": true
},
"toolbarParams": {},
"errorsWhileComputingFlags": false,
"isAuthenticated": false,
"requestId": "550e8400-e29b-41d4-a716-446655440000",
"supportedCompression": [
"gzip",
"lz64"
],
"flags": {
"my-awesome-flag": {
"key": "my-awesome-flag",
"enabled": true,
"reason": {
"code": "condition_match",
"condition_index": 0,
"description": "Condition set 1 matched"
},
"metadata": {
"id": 1,
"version": 1,
"payload": "{\"example\": \"json\", \"payload\": \"value\"}"
}
},
"my-multivariate-flag" :{
"key":"my-multivariate-flag",
"enabled": true,
"variant": "some-string-value",
"reason": {
"code": "condition_match",
"condition_index": 1,
"description": "Condition set 2 matched"
},
"metadata": {
"id": 2,
"version": 42,
}
},
"flag-thats-not-on": {
"key": "flag-thats-not-on",
"enabled": false,
"reason": {
"code": "no_condition_match",
"condition_index": 0,
"description": "No condition sets matched"
},
"metadata": {
"id": 3,
"version": 1
}
}
}
}Note:
errorsWhileComputingFlagswill returntrueif we didn’t manage to compute some flags (for example, if there’s an ongoing incident involving flag evaluation (opens in a new tab)).This enables partial updates to currently active flags in your clients.
If your organization exceeds its feature flag quota, the /flags endpoint will return a modified response with quotaLimited.
For basic response (/flags?v=2):
JSON
PostHog AI
{
"flags": {},
"errorsWhileComputingFlags": false,
"quotaLimited": ["feature_flags"],
"requestId": "d4d89b14-9619-4627-adf2-01b761691c2e"
}For full response with configuration (/flags?v=2&config=true):
JSON
PostHog AI
{
"config": {
"enable_collect_everything": true
},
"toolbarParams": {},
"isAuthenticated": false,
"supportedCompression": [
"gzip",
"lz64"
],
"flags": {},
"errorsWhileComputingFlags": false,
"quotaLimited": ["feature_flags"],
"requestId": "d4d89b14-9619-4627-adf2-01b761691c2e"
// ... other fields, not relevant to feature flags
}When you receive a response with quotaLimited containing "feature_flags", it means:
If you want use your feature flag to breakdown or filter events in your insights (opens in a new tab), you’ll need to include feature flag information in those events. This ensures that the feature flag value is attributed correctly to the event.
Note: This step is only required for events captured using our server-side SDKs or API (opens in a new tab).
To do this, include the $feature/feature_flag_name property in your event:
PostHog AI
curl -v -L --header "Content-Type: application/json" -d ' {
"api_key": "<ph_project_token>",
"event": "your_event_name",
"distinct_id": "distinct_id_of_your_user",
"properties": {
"$feature/feature-flag-key": "variant-key" # Replace feature-flag-key with your flag key. Replace 'variant-key' with the key of your variant
}
}' https://us.i.posthog.com/i/v0/e/import requests
import json
url = "https://us.i.posthog.com/i/v0/e/"
headers = {
"Content-Type": "application/json"
}
payload = {
"api_key": "<ph_project_token>",
"event": "your_event_name",
"distinct_id": "distinct_id_of_your_user,
"properties": {
"$feature/feature-flag-key": "variant-key" # Replace feature-flag-key with your flag key. Replace 'variant-key' with the key of your variant
}
}
response = requests.post(url, headers=headers, data=json.dumps(payload))
print(response)To track usage of your feature flag and view related analytics in PostHog, submit the $feature_flag_called event whenever you check a feature flag value in your code.
You need to include two properties with this event:
$feature_flag_response: This is the name of the variant the user has been assigned to e.g., “control” or “test”$feature_flag: This is the key of the feature flag in your experiment.PostHog AI
curl -v -L --header "Content-Type: application/json" -d ' {
"api_key": "<ph_project_token>",
"event": "$feature_flag_called",
"distinct_id": "distinct_id_of_your_user",
"properties": {
"$feature_flag": "feature-flag-key",
"$feature_flag_response": "variant-name"
}
}' https://us.i.posthog.com/i/v0/e/import requests
import json
url = "https://us.i.posthog.com/i/v0/e/"
headers = {
"Content-Type": "application/json"
}
payload = {
"api_key": "<ph_project_token>",
"event": "feature_flag_called",
"distinct_id": "distinct_id_of_your_user,
"properties": {
"$feature_flag": "feature-flag-key",
"$feature_flag_response": "variant-name"
}
}
response = requests.post(url, headers=headers, data=json.dumps(payload))
print(response)Sometimes, you may want to evaluate feature flags using person properties (opens in a new tab), groups (opens in a new tab), or group properties that haven’t been ingested yet, or were set incorrectly earlier.
You can provide properties to evaluate the flag with by using the person properties, groups, and group properties arguments. PostHog will then use these values to evaluate the flag, instead of any properties currently stored on your PostHog server.
For example:
PostHog AI
curl -v -L --header "Content-Type: application/json" -d ' {
"api_key": "<ph_project_token>",
"distinct_id": "distinct_id_of_your_user",
"groups" : { # Required only for group-based feature flags
"group_type": "group_id" # Replace "group_type" with the name of your group type. Replace "group_id" with the id of your group.
},
"person_properties": {"<personProp1>": "<personVal1>"}, # Optional. Include any properties used to calculate the value of the feature flag.
"group_properties": {"group type": {"<groupProp1>":"<groupVal1>"}} # Optional. Include any properties used to calculate the value of the feature flag.
}' https://us.i.posthog.com/flags?v=2import requests
import json
url = "https://us.i.posthog.com/flags?v=2"
headers = {
"Content-Type": "application/json"
}
payload = {
"api_key": "<ph_project_token>",
"distinct_id": "distinct_id_of_your_user",
"groups" : { # Required only for group-based feature flags
"group_type": "group_id" # Replace "group_type" with the name of your group type. Replace "group_id" with the id of your group.
},
"person_properties": {"<personProp1>": "<personVal1>"}, # Optional. Include any properties used to calculate the value of the feature flag.
"group_properties": {"group type": {"<groupProp1>":"<groupVal1>"}} # Optional. Include any properties used to calculate the value of the feature flag.
}
response = requests.post(url, headers=headers, data=json.dumps(payload))
print(response.json())By default, a user’s GeoIP properties are set using the IP address they use to capture events on the frontend. You may want to override the these properties when evaluating feature flags. A common reason to do this is when you’re not using PostHog on your frontend, so the user has no GeoIP properties.
To override the GeoIP properties used to evaluate a feature flag, provide an IP address in the HTTP_X_FORWARDED_FOR when making your /flags request:
PostHog AI
curl -v -L \
--header "Content-Type: application/json" \
--header "HTTP_X_FORWARDED_FOR: the_client_ip_address_to_use " \
-d ' {
"api_key": "<ph_project_token>",
"distinct_id": "distinct_id_of_your_user"
}' https://us.i.posthog.com/flags?v=2import requests
import json
url = "https://us.i.posthog.com/flags?v=2"
headers = {
"Content-Type": "application/json",
"HTTP_X_FORWARDED_FOR": "the_client_ip_address_to_use"
}
payload = {
"api_key": "<ph_project_token>",
"distinct_id": "distinct_id_of_your_user"
}
response = requests.post(url, headers=headers, data=json.dumps(payload))
print(response.json())The list of properties that this overrides:
$geoip_city_name$geoip_country_name$geoip_country_code$geoip_continent_name$geoip_continent_code$geoip_postal_code$geoip_time_zoneAsk a question
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