switchbox-flags 0.5.0

Feature flag SDK with zero dependencies

Switchbox

Feature flags served from a CDN. Zero dependencies. Sub-millisecond evaluation.

What is this?

Switchbox is a feature flag SDK that reads configs from a CDN instead of an API server. Flag configs are static JSON files on the edge — your app fetches them directly. Rules and rollouts are evaluated locally in the SDK, not on a server.

Install

pip install switchbox-flags

Quick Start

from switchbox import Switchbox

client = Switchbox(sdk_key="your-sdk-key-from-dashboard")

if client.enabled("new_checkout", user={"user_id": "42"}):
    show_new_checkout()

client.close()

Features

• CDN-first — fetches flag configs from static JSON on a CDN, no server in the read path
• Zero dependencies — Python stdlib only, nothing to install beyond the package
• Sub-millisecond evaluation — rules and rollouts evaluated locally in-process
• Background polling — syncs configs every 30 seconds (configurable)
• Offline resilient — keeps working on cached configs if the CDN is unreachable
• Thread-safe — safe to use from multiple threads
• Context manager — supports with Switchbox(...) as client: for automatic cleanup

Usage

Boolean Flags

from switchbox import Switchbox

client = Switchbox(sdk_key="your-sdk-key-from-dashboard")

if client.enabled("dark_mode"):
    enable_dark_mode()

client.close()

String / Number Flags

version = client.get_value("search_algorithm", user={"user_id": "42"}, default="v1")
print(f"Using search {version}")

max_results = client.get_value("max_search_results", user={"user_id": "42"}, default=10)

All Flags at Once

flags = client.get_all_flags(user={"user_id": "42"})
# {"dark_mode": True, "search_algorithm": "v2", "max_search_results": 50}

Targeting Rules

Pass a user dict with attributes you want to target on. Rules are configured in the dashboard.

user = {
    "user_id": "42",
    "email": "[e-mail]",
    "plan": "enterprise",
    "age": "30",
}

# Flag with rule: email ends_with "@company.com"
client.enabled("internal_tools", user=user)  # True

# Flag with rule: plan equals "enterprise"
client.enabled("advanced_analytics", user=user)  # True

# Flag with rule: plan in_list ["pro", "enterprise"]
client.enabled("export_csv", user=user)  # True

Supported operators: equals, not_equals, contains, ends_with, in_list, gt, lt.

Rules use OR logic — if any rule matches, the flag is on for that user.

Percentage Rollouts

Rollouts use deterministic hashing (sha256(user_id:flag_key) % 100). The same user always gets the same result for a given flag — no flickering between requests.

# Flag with rollout_pct=25 — 25% of users get this flag
client.enabled("new_onboarding", user={"user_id": "42"})  # deterministic True/False

A user_id (or id) key is required in the user dict for percentage rollouts.

Offline / Fail-safe Behavior

If the CDN is unreachable, the SDK keeps using the last successfully fetched config. Your flags keep working.

If the SDK has never successfully fetched a config (e.g., CDN is down on first startup), enabled() returns False and get_value() returns the default you pass in. No exceptions are raised.

Context Manager

with Switchbox(sdk_key="your-sdk-key-from-dashboard") as client:
    if client.enabled("new_checkout", user={"user_id": "42"}):
        show_new_checkout()
# client.close() is called automatically

Configuration

client = Switchbox(
    sdk_key="your-sdk-key-from-dashboard",  # required — get from Environments tab
    poll_interval=60,                       # seconds between polls (default: 30)
    on_error=lambda e: logger.warning(e),   # called on fetch errors (default: None)
)

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
sdk_key	str	—	SDK key from the environment in the dashboard
poll_interval	int	30	Seconds between background config refreshes
on_error	Callable[[Exception], None]	None	Callback invoked when a fetch or parse fails

The SDK builds the CDN URL automatically from the SDK key. You can override with cdn_base_url if self-hosting.

How It Works

┌──────────┐       ┌──────────┐       ┌─────────────┐
│Dashboard │──────>│ API      │──────>│  Postgres   │
│          │ HTTP  │ (Fly.io) │  SQL  │  (Neon)     │
└──────────┘       └────┬─────┘       └─────────────┘
                        │
                        │ publish on every change
                        v
                 ┌─────────────┐       ┌──────────────┐
                 │CDN Publisher│──────>│Cloudflare R2 │
                 │             │  PUT  │(static JSON) │
                 └─────────────┘       └──────┬───────┘
                                              │
                                              │ HTTP GET (SDK polls)
                                              v
                                       ┌──────────────┐
                                       │  Your App    │
                                       │  (this SDK)  │
                                       └──────────────┘

1. You create and toggle flags in the dashboard or API
2. On every change, the API generates a static JSON file and uploads it to Cloudflare R2
3. This SDK polls that JSON file from the CDN every 30 seconds
4. Flag evaluation (rules, rollouts) happens locally — no network call per flag check

The API server is only in the write path. All read traffic goes to the CDN.

API Reference

Switchbox(sdk_key, poll_interval=30, on_error=None)

Creates a new client. Performs an initial synchronous fetch on creation, then starts background polling.

client.enabled(flag_key, user=None) -> bool

Check if a boolean flag is enabled. Returns False if the flag doesn't exist.

Parameter	Type	Description
flag_key	str	The flag key to check
user	dict | None	User context for targeting/rollouts

client.get_value(flag_key, user=None, default=None) -> Any

Get the resolved value of any flag type (string, number, JSON). Returns default if the flag doesn't exist.

Parameter	Type	Description
flag_key	str	The flag key to check
user	dict | None	User context for targeting/rollouts
default	Any	Value returned if flag doesn't exist

client.get_all_flags(user=None) -> dict[str, Any]

Get all flag values resolved for a user. Returns an empty dict if no config is available.

client.close() -> None

Stop background polling. Call this on application shutdown.

Contributing

git clone https://github.com/ignat14/switchbox-sdk-python.git
cd switchbox-sdk-python
pip install -e ".[dev]"
pytest
ruff check .

License

MIT