# Review and clean up flags

Resolve cleanup dates, stale usage, completed rollouts, and archived flag debt.

Review signals prompt a human decision. FeatureGate never changes a flag automatically because it is
old, globally on, globally off, partially rolled out, unused, or archived.

Use review to decide whether to complete, remove, repair, or deliberately retain a runtime decision.

## Interpret the signal

| Signal                       | Likely question                                            |
| ---------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------- |
| Cleanup due                  | Has the temporary flag reached its planned decision point? |
| Globally on in production    | Can code become the new unguarded behaviour?               |
| Off everywhere after traffic | Was the work abandoned or intentionally disabled?          |
| Unused                       | Are hosted callers gone, or is evaluation local?           |
| Review rollout               | Why has production remained partially allocated?           |
| Archived                     | Has application code and test cleanup finished?            |

Signals use effective organisation and project thresholds. They do not inspect source repositories or
observe local SDK evaluation.

## Find every caller

Search application repositories for the flag key, including:

- SDK getters and direct HTTP requests.
- Application wrappers and typed flag maps.
- Context-building code.
- Unit, integration, and end-to-end tests.
- Deployment configuration and bootstrap snapshots.
- Documentation and incident runbooks.

Search all maintained versions that may still run. A flag absent from the main branch may still be
read by an older deployed service.

## Resolve globally-on flags

When the new behaviour is intended:

1. Make it the production environment fallback.
2. Remove temporary rules and percentage allocation.
3. Observe the fallback-only state.
4. Change application code to the new unguarded branch.
5. Remove obsolete tests and rollout context.
6. Deploy and verify.
7. Archive the flag.

Do not jump directly from a 100% rule to archive. Stabilizing the fallback first proves the rule can
be removed without changing behaviour.

## Resolve globally-off flags

Determine whether the work was abandoned, postponed, or retained as an operational control.

For abandoned temporary work, remove the new branch and the flag. For postponed work, set a realistic
review date and record what must change before release resumes.

Do not mark a release flag permanent merely to silence review. Permanent lifecycle means the runtime
decision itself is intended to remain.

## Investigate unused signals

Hosted usage cannot see local snapshot getters. Confirm application integration before concluding a
flag is unused.

Check deployments, source search, bootstrap data, key usage, and application telemetry. If evidence is
uncertain, move the review date and document the missing proof.

## Resolve long-running partial rollouts

A partial rollout needs a decision: expand, pause with a defined learning goal, roll back, or redesign.
Leaving it untouched creates permanent cohort differences and operational ambiguity.

Review the rollout unit, outcome telemetry, customer commitments, exceptions, and rollback condition.
Record why the next state is safe.

## Archive at the right time

Archive preserves platform history and removes the flag from ordinary active work. It does not remove
guarded code or clear snapshots already held by running processes.

Archive after the cleanup deployment reaches required callers. If archive happens earlier, ensure
caller defaults preserve the intended state until code removal finishes.

## Verify completion

- Source search finds no production caller.
- Tests no longer construct the retired flag.
- Unused context fields and wrappers are removed.
- The intended behaviour works without FeatureGate.
- Activity records the cleanup decision.
- The flag is archived only after caller verification.

Related pages: [Flag lifecycle and intent](/docs/flags/lifecycle-and-intent),
[Run a controlled rollout](/docs/operate/controlled-rollout), and
[Organisation operational defaults](/docs/administration/organisation-settings).