Managing Optimizely

Optimizely Management Skill

Manage and analyze feature flags, experiments, audiences, and results in Optimizely.

API Conventions

Authentication

All API calls use the Authorization: Bearer $OPTIMIZELY_API_KEY header (personal access token). Never hardcode tokens.

Base URL

https://api.optimizely.com/v2

Core Helper Function

#!/bin/bash

opt_api() {
    local method="$1"
    local endpoint="$2"
    local data="${3:-}"

    if [ -n "$data" ]; then
        curl -s -X "$method" \
            -H "Authorization: Bearer $OPTIMIZELY_API_KEY" \
            -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
            "https://api.optimizely.com/v2${endpoint}" \
            -d "$data"
    else
        curl -s -X "$method" \
            -H "Authorization: Bearer $OPTIMIZELY_API_KEY" \
            -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
            "https://api.optimizely.com/v2${endpoint}"
    fi
}

Output Rules

• TOKEN EFFICIENCY: Extract only needed fields with jq
• Target <=50 lines per script output
• Never dump full API responses

Discovery Phase

List Projects and Flags

#!/bin/bash
echo "=== Projects ==="
opt_api GET "/projects?per_page=25" \
    | jq -r '.[] | "\(.id)\t\(.name)\t\(.platform)\t\(.status)"' | column -t

echo ""
PROJECT_ID="${1:?Project ID required}"
echo "=== Feature Flags ==="
opt_api GET "/features?project_id=${PROJECT_ID}&per_page=25" \
    | jq -r '.[] | "\(.id)\t\(.key)\t\(.archived)"' | column -t

List Experiments

#!/bin/bash
PROJECT_ID="${1:?Project ID required}"

echo "=== Experiments ==="
opt_api GET "/experiments?project_id=${PROJECT_ID}&per_page=20" \
    | jq -r '.[] | "\(.status)\t\(.name[0:40])\t\(.type)\t\(.variations | length) variations"' | column -t

echo ""
echo "=== Experiment Status Summary ==="
opt_api GET "/experiments?project_id=${PROJECT_ID}&per_page=100" \
    | jq -r '.[] | .status' | sort | uniq -c | sort -rn

Analysis Phase

Experiment Results

#!/bin/bash
EXPERIMENT_ID="${1:?Experiment ID required}"

echo "=== Experiment Details ==="
opt_api GET "/experiments/${EXPERIMENT_ID}" \
    | jq '{name, status, type, key, variations: [.variations[] | {key, name, weight}], metrics: [.metrics[].event_id]}'

echo ""
echo "=== Results ==="
opt_api GET "/experiments/${EXPERIMENT_ID}/results" \
    | jq -r '.metrics[0:5][] | "\(.name[0:30])\t\(.results | to_entries[] | "\(.key): \(.value.lift.value // "pending")")"' \
    | column -t 2>/dev/null || echo "Results not yet available"

Audiences and Events

#!/bin/bash
PROJECT_ID="${1:?Project ID required}"

echo "=== Audiences ==="
opt_api GET "/audiences?project_id=${PROJECT_ID}&per_page=20" \
    | jq -r '.[] | "\(.id)\t\(.name[0:40])\t\(.conditions | length // 0) conditions"' | column -t

echo ""
echo "=== Events ==="
opt_api GET "/events?project_id=${PROJECT_ID}&per_page=20" \
    | jq -r '.[] | "\(.key)\t\(.name[0:40])\t\(.event_type)"' | column -t

echo ""
echo "=== Environments ==="
opt_api GET "/environments?project_id=${PROJECT_ID}" \
    | jq -r '.[] | "\(.key)\t\(.name)\t\(.is_primary)"' | column -t

Output Format

• Use tab-separated columns with column -t
• Limit lists to 15-25 items
• Show summaries before details

Anti-Hallucination Rules

1. NEVER assume resource names — always discover via CLI/API in Phase 1 before referencing in Phase 2.
2. NEVER fabricate metric names or dimensions — verify against the service documentation or --help output.
3. NEVER mix CLI commands between service versions — confirm which version/API you are targeting.
4. ALWAYS use the discovery → verify → analyze chain — every resource referenced must have been discovered first.
5. ALWAYS handle empty results gracefully — an empty response is valid data, not an error to retry.

Counter-Rationalizations

Common Pitfalls

• Experiment types: a/b, feature, multiarmed_bandit -- type determines available features
• Experiment statuses: not_started, running, paused, concluded, archived
• Traffic allocation: Variations have weights that must sum to 10000 (basis points)
• Feature vs experiment: Features are flags; experiments test variations of features
• Environments: Feature flags can be toggled per environment
• Pagination: Use per_page and page parameters, max 100 per page
• Rate limits: 50 requests per second for REST API