Feature entitlements

Learn more about feature entitlements in Reflag

In B2B SaaS, a common use case is managing flag access based on the customer’s subscription level. This means enforcing access at the company level, not the user level.

This is how Reflag handles flag entitlements.

Why use flags for this use case?

There are multiple ways to control access. You can hard-code it, use a dedicated billing service, or use flags.

If you have a complex billing structure, adding a dedicated service to your stack likely makes the most sense.

If your billing is relatively straightforward, you can use flags for it. This keeps the number of services to a minimum and lets you roll out changes and manage access from one interface.

However, not all flagging services are the same. Most are focused on end users rather than company accounts.

Reflag is purpose-built for B2B, with native support for gating flags at the company subscription level.

Gate a flag based on subscription plan

Step 1: Initialize Reflag

Choose an SDK to get started, if you haven't already. Reflag needs to know who the authenticated user is and which company they belong to. We attach attribute metadata such as the company's subscription plan.

// identify user
reflag.user(userId1356, {
    name: “Rasmus Makwarth”,
});

// associate user with company
reflag.company(companyId51, {
    name: “Acme Inc.”,
    plan: “business”,
});

Reflag now understands that Rasmus works for Acme Inc. and Acme Inc. is on the Business subscription plan.

You can send company attributes as part of the user sign-in event, via a nightly job, or use updateCompany() when the attribute value changes.

Step 2: Group companies by plan

Next, we need to group companies on the "Business" subscription plan.

We do this using segments. Segments let you group company accounts based on various filters, including company attributes like subscription plans.

In Reflag, segments are automatically aggregated at the company level. This means creating a segment for "Business" plan customers is as simple as:

Company attribute "plan" equals "business"

You can do this for all plans. For example:

• Starter

• Business

• Enterprise

Step 3: Gate the flag

Let’s say you have an export flow that is only available to customers on the "Business" or "Enterprise" plans. To gate it with Reflag, create a new flag called Export to CSV. A flag can gate something as small as a button or as broad as a full product area.

Each flag comes with a flag key, such as export-to-csv, which you use in your codebase.

In React, it’d look like this:

const { isEnabled } = useFlag("export-to-csv");

if(isEnabled) { 

      // access to csv export!

}

With the flag in place, you can now manage access to it in the Reflag UI.

In this case, we’ll set the flag access rules to be:

Companies in the segment Business or Enterprise

Here’s what that looks like in the Reflag UI:

That’s it!

Every time a company enters either of these segments, it automatically gets access to the Export to CSV flag. If it downgrades, it loses access.

Grant individual companies access

If you need to grant individual companies access to a flag when they do not have the required subscription plan, you can add them manually.

Simply click the "+ Add" button beside the "Companies" label and select the companies you'd like to add from the searchable dropdown.

How to handle usage-based gating

This use case isn't yet natively supported by Reflag, but Reflag is flexible enough to handle it in some cases.

If your flags are restricted by plan and usage, such as allowing only 1,000 API requests per month on the Business plan, you can do the following:

Step 1: Let Reflag know of the current usage

Send usage metrics to Reflag using company attributes.

For example, you can send the company's current usage metrics to Reflag at an hourly or daily interval.

reflag.companyUpdate(companyId51, {
    apiRequestsCurrentMonth: 793
});

Step 2: Gate using usage attribute

Then, add this custom attribute metric to your access rules.