Feature Management

Microsoft.FeatureManagement

Overview

Microsoft.FeatureManagement is a library built on top of Microsoft.Extensions.Configuration that provides first-class feature flag support for .NET applications. Feature flags are defined in configuration (typically appsettings.json or Azure App Configuration) and evaluated at runtime through the IFeatureManager interface. The library includes built-in filters for percentage-based rollouts, time windows, and targeting (user/group), and supports custom filters for any evaluation logic.

The ASP.NET Core integration package (Microsoft.FeatureManagement.AspNetCore) adds MVC action filters, tag helpers, middleware, and endpoint filters for gating features declaratively.

Registration and Basic Usage

using Microsoft.Extensions.DependencyInjection;
using Microsoft.Extensions.Hosting;
using Microsoft.FeatureManagement;

var builder = Host.CreateApplicationBuilder(args);

builder.Services.AddFeatureManagement();

var app = builder.Build();

{
  "FeatureManagement": {
    "NewDashboard": true,
    "ExperimentalSearch": false,
    "BetaReporting": {
      "EnabledFor": [
        {
          "Name": "Percentage",
          "Parameters": {
            "Value": 25
          }
        }
      ]
    }
  }
}

using Microsoft.FeatureManagement;

public sealed class DashboardService
{
    private readonly IFeatureManager _featureManager;

    public DashboardService(IFeatureManager featureManager)
    {
        _featureManager = featureManager;
    }

    public async Task<DashboardModel> GetDashboardAsync(CancellationToken ct)
    {
        if (await _featureManager.IsEnabledAsync("NewDashboard"))
        {
            return await BuildNewDashboardAsync(ct);
        }
        return await BuildClassicDashboardAsync(ct);
    }

    private Task<DashboardModel> BuildNewDashboardAsync(CancellationToken ct) => /* ... */ Task.FromResult(new DashboardModel());
    private Task<DashboardModel> BuildClassicDashboardAsync(CancellationToken ct) => /* ... */ Task.FromResult(new DashboardModel());
}

Built-in Filters

Percentage Filter

Enables a feature for a percentage of evaluations. Useful for gradual rollouts.

{
  "FeatureManagement": {
    "NewCheckout": {
      "EnabledFor": [
        {
          "Name": "Percentage",
          "Parameters": {
            "Value": 50
          }
        }
      ]
    }
  }
}

Time Window Filter

Enables a feature during a specific time range.

{
  "FeatureManagement": {
    "HolidaySale": {
      "EnabledFor": [
        {
          "Name": "TimeWindow",
          "Parameters": {
            "Start": "2025-12-20T00:00:00Z",
            "End": "2025-12-31T23:59:59Z"
          }
        }
      ]
    }
  }
}

Targeting Filter

Enables a feature for specific users, groups, or a default rollout percentage.

using Microsoft.FeatureManagement;
using Microsoft.FeatureManagement.FeatureFilters;

var builder = WebApplication.CreateBuilder(args);

builder.Services.AddFeatureManagement()
    .AddFeatureFilter<TargetingFilter>();

builder.Services.AddSingleton<ITargetingContextAccessor, HttpContextTargetingContextAccessor>();

using Microsoft.FeatureManagement.FeatureFilters;

public sealed class HttpContextTargetingContextAccessor : ITargetingContextAccessor
{
    private readonly IHttpContextAccessor _httpContextAccessor;

    public HttpContextTargetingContextAccessor(IHttpContextAccessor httpContextAccessor)
    {
        _httpContextAccessor = httpContextAccessor;
    }

    public ValueTask<TargetingContext> GetContextAsync()
    {
        var httpContext = _httpContextAccessor.HttpContext;
        var user = httpContext?.User;

        return new ValueTask<TargetingContext>(new TargetingContext
        {
            UserId = user?.Identity?.Name ?? "anonymous",
            Groups = user?.Claims
                .Where(c => c.Type == "group")
                .Select(c => c.Value)
                .ToList() ?? new List<string>()
        });
    }
}

{
  "FeatureManagement": {
    "PremiumFeature": {
      "EnabledFor": [
        {
          "Name": "Targeting",
          "Parameters": {
            "Audience": {
              "Users": ["alice@example.com", "bob@example.com"],
              "Groups": [
                {
                  "Name": "BetaTesters",
                  "RolloutPercentage": 100
                },
                {
                  "Name": "InternalUsers",
                  "RolloutPercentage": 50
                }
              ],
              "DefaultRolloutPercentage": 10
            }
          }
        }
      ]
    }
  }
}

Custom Feature Filter

Implement IFeatureFilter to create evaluation logic based on any criteria.

using Microsoft.Extensions.Configuration;
using Microsoft.FeatureManagement;

[FilterAlias("Country")]
public sealed class CountryFilter : IFeatureFilter
{
    private readonly IHttpContextAccessor _httpContextAccessor;

    public CountryFilter(IHttpContextAccessor httpContextAccessor)
    {
        _httpContextAccessor = httpContextAccessor;
    }

    public Task<bool> EvaluateAsync(FeatureFilterEvaluationContext context)
    {
        var settings = context.Parameters.Get<CountryFilterSettings>();
        if (settings?.AllowedCountries is null)
        {
            return Task.FromResult(false);
        }

        string? userCountry = _httpContextAccessor.HttpContext?
            .Request.Headers["X-Country-Code"].FirstOrDefault();

        bool isAllowed = userCountry is not null &&
            settings.AllowedCountries.Contains(userCountry, StringComparer.OrdinalIgnoreCase);

        return Task.FromResult(isAllowed);
    }
}

public sealed class CountryFilterSettings
{
    public List<string> AllowedCountries { get; set; } = new();
}

{
  "FeatureManagement": {
    "LocalizedPayments": {
      "EnabledFor": [
        {
          "Name": "Country",
          "Parameters": {
            "AllowedCountries": ["US", "CA", "GB"]
          }
        }
      ]
    }
  }
}

ASP.NET Core Integration

Feature Gate on Controllers and Actions

using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc;
using Microsoft.FeatureManagement.Mvc;

[FeatureGate("NewDashboard")]
public class DashboardController : Controller
{
    public IActionResult Index()
    {
        return View();
    }
}

public class ReportsController : Controller
{
    [FeatureGate("ExperimentalSearch")]
    public IActionResult Search(string query)
    {
        return View();
    }
}

Feature Gate on Minimal API Endpoints

using Microsoft.FeatureManagement;

var builder = WebApplication.CreateBuilder(args);
builder.Services.AddFeatureManagement();

var app = builder.Build();

app.MapGet("/api/v2/orders", async (IOrderService orders) =>
{
    return await orders.GetAllAsync();
})
.WithMetadata(new FeatureGateAttribute("V2Api"));

app.Run();

Tag Helpers in Razor

@addTagHelper *, Microsoft.FeatureManagement.AspNetCore

<feature name="NewDashboard">
    <div class="new-dashboard">
        <h2>Welcome to the new dashboard!</h2>
    </div>
</feature>

<feature name="NewDashboard" negate="true">
    <div class="classic-dashboard">
        <h2>Classic Dashboard</h2>
    </div>
</feature>

Feature Flag Naming Conventions

Best Practices

1. Define feature flag names as constants in a static class (e.g., FeatureFlags.NewDashboard) and reference them everywhere instead of using magic strings.
2. Always test both the enabled and disabled code paths in unit tests by mocking IFeatureManager.IsEnabledAsync to return true and false separately.
3. Use the TargetingFilter for gradual rollouts rather than the Percentage filter when you need consistent per-user evaluation (same user always gets the same result).
4. Establish a process to remove feature flags after a feature is fully rolled out; stale flags accumulate tech debt and make the codebase harder to reason about.
5. Prefer the [FeatureGate] attribute or Razor tag helpers over manual if/else checks in controllers and views to keep feature gating declarative and centralized.
6. Use Azure App Configuration as the backing store in production for dynamic flag updates without redeployment, paired with reloadOnChange polling or push-based refresh.
7. Combine multiple filters with RequirementType: All when a feature should only be enabled if every condition is met (e.g., targeting AND time window).
8. Log feature flag evaluation results at the Debug level to help diagnose why a specific user did or did not see a feature during incident investigation.
9. Implement ITargetingContextAccessor to provide user identity and group membership from HttpContext.User claims so that targeting filters work correctly in web applications.
10. Avoid nesting feature flag checks more than one level deep; refactor deeply nested flag logic into separate strategy classes selected by a single flag evaluation.