S3/DBs support vs "Flipt v2 introduces a number of new features and capabilities that are not available in v1 while maintaining backwards compatibility with v1"

[baterja]

On the main page of Flipt.io there's a statement:

Flipt v2 introduces a number of new features and capabilities that are not available in v1 while maintaining backwards compatibility with v1.

Seeing that sparked joy, as my team use Flipt v1 in production, backed by an S3 bucket.

v1 gave a few options of mutable (flags switchable through Flipt interface) backends. Now I only see git, and its mutable version is only available in the paid plan.

So, how is it with this "maintaining backwards compatibility with v1"?

[dosubot[bot]]

The "backwards compatibility" in Flipt v2 refers to API and SDK compatibility, not backend storage. Flipt v2 no longer supports mutable S3 or database backends as in v1. Instead, v2 is Git-centric: mutable flag changes via the UI/API are only supported with Git backends (and merge/pull-request workflows require a paid plan). S3 and object storage are now read-only in v2, so you can't switch flags through the UI/API with those backends anymore.

If you're migrating from v1 with an S3 or DB backend, the recommended path is to export your v1 data (using flipt export) and import it into a Git repository for v2, which becomes your new source of truth for feature flags. This shift means v2 doesn't maintain backwards compatibility with v1's storage backends or configuration files—just with the API and SDKs you might have integrated with your apps. More details and migration guidance are available in the official migration threads and design discussions.

To reply, just mention @dosu.

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[erka]

Flipt v1 is only mutable with relational database backend. All other backends like git, oci, blob storage are readonly in Flipt v1.

In Flipt v2 you have only git storage backend and you can modify it using Flipt UI or v2 API. And this is available in OSS (free) version. It also has streaming support for Flipt client side sdks in OSS version as well.

Backwards compatibility means that you could export snapshot file from Flipt v1, put it into correct spot in your git repo, configure and run Flipt v2 instance and use it for flag evaluation without changes in your codebase.

Paid version just has some features like git commit signing, Vault support as a secret provider and some other things which were not implemented in Flipt v1 but were part of Flipt Cloud product.

[walarue]

In my tests using a read-only github token, my flipt server fails to start with status code: 403: Write access to repository not granted., even with fetch_policy: lenient (I guessed that might help)

[erka]

In my tests using a read-only github token, my flipt server fails to start with status code: 403: Write access to repository not granted., even with fetch_policy: lenient (I guessed that might help)

I tried it with my demo Github repo. Flipt runs and evaluates flags without any issues

[erka]

You could also disable the UI with such a configuration to make it headless.

ui:
 enabled: false

[walarue]

Do you mind sharing the config you used? I possibly messed something up. And are you using a fine-grained token or classic?

[erka]

https://gist.githubusercontent.com/erka/ea54a0badeb930302d1c71d2565af2ac/raw/1c952c7f2bad4f0cd4a27b9beb2b4858242692bc/config.yml

fine grained token