runtime-config-flagd

name	runtime-config-flagd
description	Feature flag management via flagd (OpenFeature). Use to list, inspect, and toggle feature flags in the OTel Demo environment. Flags control incident injection scenarios (payment failures, CPU spikes, memory leaks, etc.) and can be toggled for remediation.
category	runtime-config
required_integrations	["kubernetes"]

Feature Flag Management (flagd)

How It Works

The OpenTelemetry Demo uses flagd as its feature flag provider. Flags are stored in a Kubernetes ConfigMap and loaded by the flagd service. Services check flags at runtime via the OpenFeature SDK to decide whether to inject failures.

Flag lifecycle:

1. Flag definitions live in a ConfigMap (flagd-config in otel-demo namespace)
2. flagd watches the ConfigMap and hot-reloads on changes
3. Services evaluate flags via gRPC and behave accordingly
4. To remediate an incident, set the flag's default variant to off

Available Scripts

All scripts are in .claude/skills/runtime-config-flagd/scripts/

list_scenarios.py - List Incident Scenarios (START HERE)

Shows all available incident scenarios with their current status.

python .claude/skills/runtime-config-flagd/scripts/list_scenarios.py

# Only show currently active scenarios
python .claude/skills/runtime-config-flagd/scripts/list_scenarios.py --active-only

# JSON output
python .claude/skills/runtime-config-flagd/scripts/list_scenarios.py --json

Output includes: flag name, current state (active/inactive), affected service, effect description, detection method, and remediation steps.

list_flags.py - List All Feature Flags

python .claude/skills/runtime-config-flagd/scripts/list_flags.py

# Show full variant details
python .claude/skills/runtime-config-flagd/scripts/list_flags.py --verbose

# Only incident-related flags
python .claude/skills/runtime-config-flagd/scripts/list_flags.py --incidents-only

get_flag.py - Inspect a Specific Flag

python .claude/skills/runtime-config-flagd/scripts/get_flag.py <flag_key>

# Examples:
python .claude/skills/runtime-config-flagd/scripts/get_flag.py paymentServiceFailure
python .claude/skills/runtime-config-flagd/scripts/get_flag.py adServiceHighCpu --json

set_flag.py - Toggle a Flag (Remediation)

# ALWAYS dry-run first
python .claude/skills/runtime-config-flagd/scripts/set_flag.py <flag_key> <variant> --dry-run

# Then apply
python .claude/skills/runtime-config-flagd/scripts/set_flag.py <flag_key> <variant>

# Examples:
python .claude/skills/runtime-config-flagd/scripts/set_flag.py paymentServiceFailure off --dry-run
python .claude/skills/runtime-config-flagd/scripts/set_flag.py paymentServiceFailure off
python .claude/skills/runtime-config-flagd/scripts/set_flag.py adServiceHighCpu off
python .claude/skills/runtime-config-flagd/scripts/set_flag.py emailMemoryLeak off

Incident Scenarios Reference

Scenario	Flag	Service	Effect	Remediation
Payment Failure	paymentServiceFailure	payment (Node.js)	Configurable % of requests fail	Set to off
Payment Unreachable	paymentServiceUnreachable	payment	Complete unavailability	Set to off
High CPU	adServiceHighCpu	ad (Java)	CPU spike 80-100%	Set to off
GC Pressure	adServiceManualGc	ad (Java)	Frequent full GC pauses	Set to off
Ad Failure	adServiceFailure	ad (Java)	Ad service errors	Set to off
Memory Leak	emailMemoryLeak	email (Ruby)	OOM after minutes	Set to off + restart pod
Latency Spike	imageSlowLoad	image-provider	5-10s delay	Set to off
Kafka Lag	kafkaQueueProblems	checkout/accounting	Consumer lag	Set to off
Cache Failure	recommendationServiceCacheFailure	recommendation	Cache miss storm	Set to off
Catalog Failure	productCatalogFailure	product-catalog	Product query errors	Set to off
Cart Failure	cartServiceFailure	cart (.NET)	Cart ops fail	Set to off
Traffic Spike	loadgeneratorFloodHomepage	all services	Request flood	Set to

Flag Variant Reference

Flags have different variant types:

Boolean flags (on/off):

• adServiceHighCpu, adServiceManualGc, adServiceFailure, paymentServiceUnreachable, cartServiceFailure
• recommendationServiceCacheFailure, productCatalogFailure
• llmInaccurateResponse, llmRateLimitError
• Variants: on (true), off (false)

Percentage flags (graduated failure rate):

• paymentServiceFailure: off (0), 10% (0.1), 25% (0.25), 50% (0.5), 75% (0.75), 90% (0.95), 100% (1)

Intensity flags (graduated effect):

• emailMemoryLeak: off (0), 1x (1), 10x (10), 100x (100), 1000x (1000), 10000x (10000)
• imageSlowLoad: off (0), 5sec (5000ms), 10sec (10000ms)

Numeric flags:

• kafkaQueueProblems: off (0), on (100)
• loadgeneratorFloodHomepage: off (0), on (100)

Version Compatibility

Flag	otel-demo Version	Notes
All flags except below	v1.11.1+	Standard deployment
emailMemoryLeak	> v1.11.1	Not in v1.11.1 ConfigMap
llmInaccurateResponse	> v1.11.1	Requires product-reviews LLM
llmRateLimitError	> v1.11.1	Requires product-reviews LLM

Note: loadgeneratorFloodHomepage uses a lowercase 'g' in loadgenerator.

Remediation Workflow

1. Identify the scenario - Use list_scenarios.py --active-only to see active incidents
2. Confirm the flag - Use get_flag.py <flag_key> to verify current state
3. Dry-run - Use set_flag.py <flag_key> off --dry-run to preview change
4. Apply - Use set_flag.py <flag_key> off to disable the incident
5. Verify - Check metrics/logs to confirm the issue is resolving
6. Post-remediation - Some scenarios (memory leak) may also require a pod restart

Safety

• ALWAYS dry-run first before setting flags
• Setting a flag to off is always safe — it restores normal behavior
• Setting a flag to on or a non-zero variant injects failures — only do this intentionally
• Flag changes take effect within seconds (flagd hot-reload)
• For emailMemoryLeak, after setting to off you may also need to restart the email pod to reclaim leaked memory

Quick Commands

Goal	Command
See active incidents	list_scenarios.py --active-only
Check a specific flag	get_flag.py paymentServiceFailure
Disable payment failure	set_flag.py paymentServiceFailure off
Enable payment failure at 50%	set_flag.py paymentServiceFailure 50%
Disable all CPU spikes	set_flag.py adServiceHighCpu off
See all flags verbose	list_flags.py --verbose