Everyone has heard of feature flags: boolean switches in your code that you can flip at runtime for different users, environments, etc. But they are just one part of a much broader best practice called “application configuration”. Big tech companies like Meta and Google have internal tools for structured, type-safe app configurations that help them accelerate the development of products and backend services. This video dives into what app configuration is, how you can use it in React, and how it can empower your whole team to move faster, including your non-technical colleagues.

Talk structure:

• Refresher on feature flags
• Other kinds of “app configuration”: permission flags, limits, rules, in-app content and more
• How we used app configuration at Meta
• Requirements of an app configuration system
• Live code walkthrough and demo of app configuration in action in a React app