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FFL-2837: dynamic (rules-based) offline init plan - #1345

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FFL-2837: dynamic (rules-based) offline init plan#1345
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blake.thomas/FFL-2837

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@btthomas btthomas commented Jul 22, 2026

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Pull request stack

  1. Plan PR (FFL-2837: dynamic (rules-based) offline init plan #1345) <- you are here
  2. PR1: Rules engine boundary (#1346)
  3. PR2: Dynamic offline evaluation (#1347)
  4. PR3: Provider API and documentation (#1348)

This description uses Simplified Technical English. Technical names and API names do not change.

Summary

This PR adds the implementation plans for FFL-2837. FFL-2837 adds dynamic rules-based offline feature flags to the React Native SDK. This PR does not change product code.

This branch starts from develop. The existing SDK already supports precomputed offline configurations, OfflineProvider, and setConfiguration.

This PR adds these documents:

  • dynamic_offline_simplified.plan.md defines the complete feature plan.
  • dynamic_offline_pr_stack.plan.md divides the implementation into three reviewable PRs.

Feature behavior

  • The customer supplies a configuration with setConfiguration.
  • The provider does not fetch data from the network.
  • setContext changes the active context.
  • The SDK evaluates rules on the device for each flag request.
  • The SDK uses the flagging-core evaluator. It does not add a second rules engine.

One provider supports precomputed data, rules data, and mixed data. The SDK selects the path for each resolution:

  1. Use precomputed data when its context matches.
  2. Otherwise, use valid rules data.
  3. Otherwise, return the applicable configuration error.

Upstream state

The latest published @datadog/flagging-core version is 2.0.2. Version 2.0.2 does not contain the required rules wire contract.

  • openfeature-js-client#344 is open. It adds configuration.rules.response, protobuf and base64 decoding, independent branch parsing, per-flag validation, SHA-256 operators, safe flag lookup, rules serialization rejection, and a React Native Metro smoke test.
  • openfeature-js-client#336 is open and stacked on PR Add Support for RN 0.71 #344. It adds the browser CoreProvider and the combined core evaluate function. React Native uses this work as an integration reference.
  • openfeature-js-client#343 produced version 2.0.2. It did not add a required feature.

The React Native implementation does not import unpublished package code. It uses a temporary legacy JSON compatibility wire with explicit TODO(FFL-2837) markers.

Implementation stack

  • PR1 adds the internal rules-engine boundary and temporary wire compatibility.
  • PR2 adds rules-only and mixed evaluation to FlagsClient.
  • PR3 connects the existing offline provider and adds tests, documentation, and examples.

The temporary compatibility code must use the final rules.response contract after PR #344 is published. The SDK must keep the original rules wire because configurationToString cannot recreate the protobuf payload.

Remaining gates

  • Publish and pin the flagging-core release that contains PR Add Support for RN 0.71 #344.
  • Remove the temporary JSON wire, validator, metadata fallback, and lookup guard.
  • Define the regular-expression safety policy.
  • Confirm the salt and configuration-size policies.
  • Confirm the mobile exposure contract.
  • Run the packed dependency and rules flow in Hermes and JSC.

The implementation PRs remain drafts until these gates are complete.

Base automatically changed from blake.thomas/FFL-2666 to develop July 23, 2026 12:37
@btthomas
btthomas marked this pull request as ready for review July 23, 2026 14:42
@btthomas
btthomas requested a review from a team as a code owner July 23, 2026 14:42
Copilot AI review requested due to automatic review settings July 23, 2026 14:42

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Pull request overview

Adds planning documentation for FFL-2837 (“dynamic/rules-based offline init”) in the React Native SDK, outlining intended behavior, dependency needs in @datadog/flagging-core, risks, and a proposed RN implementation + test plan.

Changes:

  • Add a detailed technical plan covering architecture, upstream gaps, risk analysis, and step-by-step implementation/testing.
  • Add a Simplified Technical English version of the plan for broader review/accessibility.

Reviewed changes

Copilot reviewed 2 out of 2 changed files in this pull request and generated 3 comments.

File Description
dynamic_offline.plan.md Detailed implementation plan, upstream dependency analysis, and risks/test plan for rules-based offline evaluation.
dynamic_offline_simplified.plan.md Simplified Technical English version of the same plan for clearer cross-team review.

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Use this existing flow:

```text
configurationFromString -> setConfiguration -> evaluate
Comment thread dynamic_offline.plan.md Outdated
@@ -0,0 +1,772 @@
# FFL-2837 — Dynamic (rules-based) offline init in dd-sdk-reactnative

**Jira:** [FFL-2837 — Building Blocks API for dynamic offline init in ReactNative SDK](https://datadoghq.atlassian.net/browse/FFL-2837)
Comment thread dynamic_offline.plan.md Outdated
Comment on lines +9 to +12
- [Portable Flag Configuration RFC](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1OWNBtXtSk535VXqf-9fqsAmU9W8kpFLAwxYi2y1qyQQ/edit?pli=1&tab=t.0#heading=h.n52036mkzewg) (local snapshot: `./Portable-Flag-Configuration-RFC.md`, repo root, untracked) — defines the building blocks: `ConfigurationWire`, `configurationFromString/ToString`, `CoreProvider`, fetch fns, hooks.
- [Offline Initialization for Feature Flagging RFC](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1q1GlEbAgCGuO1OWfGbmKQkk5Oo-rE7YQwq29kMJJ4II/edit?pli=1&tab=t.0#heading=h.rnd972k0hiyer) (local snapshot: `./Offline-Initialization-for-Feature-Flagging.md`, repo root, untracked) — offline recipes built from those blocks; the operation is always `configurationFromString(wire) → provider.setConfiguration(config) → evaluate(...)`.
- [ConfigurationWire (Confluence)](https://datadoghq.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/PANA/pages/5141725646/ConfigurationWire) — the published wire spec. Its **protobuf/base64** rules encoding is the intended target (see §2.5), even though the current code still uses JSON.
- **RFC: Obfuscation for rules-based client configs** (local: `./RFC_Obfuscation_for_rules-based_client configs.md`, 2026-07-10, first draft, one approval) — defines the obfuscation design for client rules: per-flag opt-in switch, salted `ONE_OF_SHA256`/`NOT_ONE_OF_SHA256` operators (server-compatible, engine-evaluated), binary structure format, and "document what's exposed". Answers most of our obfuscation open question — see G6/D7.
Copilot AI review requested due to automatic review settings July 24, 2026 00:38

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Pull request overview

Copilot reviewed 3 out of 3 changed files in this pull request and generated 1 comment.

Comment on lines +1 to +3
# FFL-2837 — Dynamic Offline PR Stack

This document uses Simplified Technical English.
@sbarrio
sbarrio requested review from barboraplasovska and sbarrio and removed request for barboraplasovska July 24, 2026 07:06
Comment thread dynamic_offline.plan.md Outdated

FFL-2837 adds the **rules-based** (dynamic) offline flow:

- Customer loads a **rules-based** configuration (Universal Flag Configuration) via `setConfiguration`

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So setConfiguration can be used both to set a precomputed flag config and also the rules used to evaluate and compute it against a context?

Is there any particular reason for this and not have a specific and more clearly named function to set the rules?

I fear the API might end up being too broad for customers to clearly understand what does what and which precise calls they need to make to achieve the setup they want.

Comment thread dynamic_offline.plan.md Outdated

---

## 2. Current state of `@datadog/flagging-core`

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What's the expected size footprint of this package?, also, is this module stable?, we need to keep in mind that we don't do major releases that often so if any functionality of this module is to be exposed on the public SDK API we need to be sure that this does not introduce breaking changes often.

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Pull request overview

Copilot reviewed 2 out of 2 changed files in this pull request and generated no new comments.

Comments suppressed due to low confidence (1)

dynamic_offline_pr_stack.plan.md:3

  • The PR description says this PR adds dynamic_offline.plan.md (detailed plan), but the branch currently adds dynamic_offline_pr_stack.plan.md instead. This mismatch makes it hard for reviewers to find the detailed plan document; either add/rename the detailed plan file as described, or update the PR description to match the actual files in the PR.
# FFL-2837 — Dynamic Offline PR Stack

This document uses Simplified Technical English.

btthomas and others added 8 commits July 28, 2026 11:43
Planning doc for rules-based (dynamic) offline feature-flag init in the
React Native SDK: gaps to bridge in @datadog/flagging-core, explicit
implementation steps, test plan, and risks/unknowns.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Resolve five of the plan's open questions: gate rules exposure on doLog
(D3), keep two evaluation paths (D4), accept static-import bundle cost
and reject dynamic import (D5), no offline opt-in gate for rules (D6),
treat obfuscation/hashing as upstream (D7). Punt the flagging-core
version/protobuf questions (Q1-Q2) to coordinate with upstream owners.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Point the Portable Flag Configuration and Offline Initialization
references at their source Google Docs, keeping the local snapshot
filenames noted alongside.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Fold in the Obfuscation RFC (salted ONE_OF_SHA256 operators + binary
structure) and the round-5/6 review findings. Obfuscation operators are
absent from 2.0.1 and today silently fall back to DEFAULT, so unknown
operators must be rejected as GENERAL, derived from the pinned
OperatorType rather than an RN-maintained set. Sync SHA-256 is new
bundle mass (Hermes+JSC). The hash protocol is unspecified and needs
cross-SDK vectors plus malformed-condition load validation. Unsupported
operators invalidate the rules branch only, keeping a valid precomputed
sibling. Corrected the threat model and the full "what stays visible"
UFC list.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Copilot AI review requested due to automatic review settings July 28, 2026 16:51
@btthomas
btthomas force-pushed the blake.thomas/FFL-2837 branch from 4878144 to 7b00adc Compare July 28, 2026 16:51

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Pull request overview

Copilot reviewed 2 out of 2 changed files in this pull request and generated no new comments.

Comments suppressed due to low confidence (3)

dynamic_offline_simplified.plan.md:19

  • This “Upstream PR #344” reference is ambiguous without an explicit repo/link (it can be read as a PR in this repo). Consider fully qualifying it like other cross-repo references.
Upstream PR #344 now defines the expected implementation contract.

dynamic_offline_simplified.plan.md:9

  • The PR references are written as plain “#NNN”, which is ambiguous inside this repository (e.g., “#344” could be interpreted as a dd-sdk-reactnative PR). Using explicit links here will keep the plan unambiguous over time.

This issue also appears on line 19 of the same file.

**Upstream references:** DataDog/openfeature-js-client PRs #343, #344, and #336

dynamic_offline_pr_stack.plan.md:26

  • These references to “Upstream PR #344” / “PR #336” are ambiguous without a repo name/link (they can be interpreted as PRs in this repo). Using explicit links will make the stack plan clearer for readers.
Upstream PR #344 adds the generated Protobuf-ES rules parser, SHA-256 evaluation, validation, safe flag lookup, and React Native compatibility.
It adds `@bufbuild/protobuf` as a runtime dependency.
Its packed-package smoke test uses the Metro export conditions from this repository.
Upstream PR #336 uses that parser in the browser `CoreProvider`.
PR #336 also uses the safe upstream lookup for precomputed flags.

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3 participants