OpenFeature provider for Java SDK

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Last edited: Aug 26, 2024

Overview

This topic documents how to get started with the LaunchDarkly OpenFeature provider for the Java SDK.

Provider quick links

LaunchDarkly's OpenFeature providers are open source. In addition to this reference guide, we provide source, API reference documentation, and a sample application:

Resource	Location
OpenFeature Provider API documentation	Provider API docs
GitHub repository	openfeature-java-server
Sample application	Sample OpenFeature Java provider application
Published module	Maven

Get started

The LaunchDarkly OpenFeature provider for the Java SDK is intended for use in multi-user systems such as web servers and application. It is not intended for use in desktop and embedded systems applications.

Follow these instructions to start using the LaunchDarkly OpenFeature provider for the Java SDK in your application.

Version compatibility

The LaunchDarkly OpenFeature provider for the Java SDK is compatible with the OpenFeature Java SDK v1.x.

The provider is compatible with Java 11 and above.

Install the provider and dependencies

First, you need compatible versions of the LaunchDarkly Java SDK and the OpenFeature java-sdk:

Then, add the LaunchDarkly provider for the Java SDK as a dependency in your application:

Next, import the OpenFeature and LaunchDarkly namespaces in your application code:

Initialize the provider

After you install and import the provider, create a single, shared instance of Provider. Specify your SDK key here to authorize your application to connect to a particular environment within LaunchDarkly.

Here's how:

The Java provider uses an SDK key

The LaunchDarkly Java provider uses an SDK key. Keys are specific to each project and environment. They are available from the Environments list for each project. To learn more about key types, read Keys.

Construct a context

A context is a generalized way of referring to the people, services, machines, or other resources that encounter feature flags in your product. The OpenFeature specification calls these evaluation contexts.

In the LaunchDarkly provider, contexts:

always have a particular context kind. If you do not specify a kind, the provider treats the context as having a "user" kind. To specify a different kind, including a multi-context, you must include a kind attribute.
must have a targeting key. This is optional in the OpenFeature specification, but LaunchDarkly requires a key for evaluation. You can specify this using targetingKey, as in the OpenFeature specification, or key, which is the typical LaunchDarkly identifier for the targeting key.

Here are examples of a context:

For additional examples, read OpenFeature specific considerations in the provider GitHub repository.

Evaluate a context

To evaluate feature flags for a context, use the OpenFeature Evaluation API. For example:

Access the LaunchDarkly client

You may need access to the LDClient from within the LaunchDarkly Java SDK if you are working on use cases not supported by OpenFeature, such as migration flags or sending custom events.

To access the LDClient, use getLdClient():