A multi-turn agent that combines semantic + keyword search over any set of repos or conversations. Prereqs:
-
Vector store – start a local Qdrant container (
scripts/start-qdrant). Qdrant’s Docker quick-start makes this trivial ([Qdrant][2]). -
Index once –
scripts/index-repo org/repoingests conversation summaries into the collection.# Fetches and caches the complete conversations and then indexes the executive summaries bin/search-github-conversations 'repo:flippercloud/flipper created:>2008-01-01' | \ bin/index-summaries \ --executive-summary-prompt-path /path/to/prompts/github-conversation-executive-summary.md \ --collection flippercloud-flipper-summaries \ --cache-path /path/to/scripts/cache/flippercloud-flipper-summaries
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Ask away –
bin/github-conversations-research-agent \ --cache-path /path/to/scripts/cache/flippercloud-flipper-summaries \ --collection flippercloud-flipper-summaries \ "What are the key differences between the flipper UI and the cloud offering?"
The agent replies with a fully cited Markdown report—so you can trace every statement back to the source without manual hunting.
Flipper offers both an open-source UI ("Flipper OSS UI") and a commercial cloud offering ("Flipper Cloud"). The OSS UI is a self-hosted administrative web interface for > feature flag management, while Flipper Cloud provides a hosted SaaS solution, adding collaboration features, environment management, audit logging, and webhook-driven > synchronization. Over time, improvements in user experience, maintainability, and new capabilities originated in Flipper Cloud have influenced both products, with the OSS > UI increasingly mirroring Cloud's interface and usability. However, there remain important differences in backend architecture, feature set, scalability, and integration > options.
...
Click to see the rest of this example including deep research results!
It asked a few clarifying questions (my answers inline):
Please review the following questions and provide inline answers to help focus the research:
- Are you interested primarily in the user-facing (UI/UX) differences between Flipper OSS UI and Flipper Cloud, or do you also want to cover backend/feature differences such as synchronization capabilities, environments, and webhook support?
Both
- Do you need this analysis to focus on the current state only, or should it provide a historical comparison (i.e., how differences have changed over time)?
A timeline of the development of both would be helpful.
- Should the output be a high-level executive summary of key differences, or do you require a detailed, feature-by-feature technical comparison (including aspects like integrations, deployment models, scalability, etc.)?
Executive summary, then timeline, and finally a feature by feature technical comparison.
- Are usage scenarios (e.g. for different team sizes, compliance requirements, cloud/on-prem deployment) or recommendations on when to choose each offering also desired as part of the output?
I'm writing a blog post and just want to know more.
Please provide inline answers to these questions.
Flipper offers both an open-source UI ("Flipper OSS UI") and a commercial cloud offering ("Flipper Cloud"). The OSS UI is a self-hosted administrative web interface for feature flag management, while Flipper Cloud provides a hosted SaaS solution, adding collaboration features, environment management, audit logging, and webhook-driven synchronization. Over time, improvements in user experience, maintainability, and new capabilities originated in Flipper Cloud have influenced both products, with the OSS UI increasingly mirroring Cloud's interface and usability. However, there remain important differences in backend architecture, feature set, scalability, and integration options.
Key Differences:
- Flipper OSS UI is self-hosted, requires manual setup, and includes only core single-project, single-environment features.
- Flipper Cloud is SaaS-hosted, supports multi-environment, multi-project, audit history, team permissions, webhook-driven sync, analytics, and advanced collaboration tools. It also provides a managed, always-available UI that syncs state across environments and instances.
- Synchronization in Flipper OSS UI is typically manual or achieved via adapter-level polling; Cloud introduces webhook-driven synchronization for immediate consistency [flippercloud/flipper#489].
- Integrations/Extensibility: OSS UI supports integrations via standard Ruby adapters; Cloud adds RESTful webhooks and will continue to expand integrations (e.g., future support for Rollbar/CI/CD) [flippercloud/flipper#537 (comment)].
- Team/Org Support: OSS UI lacks fine-grained org/team management, while Cloud supports it [flippercloud/flipper#504].
- Audit Logs: Only available in Flipper Cloud.
- Compliance and Security: Cloud provides additional controls for compliance-driven organizations.
Citations for claims are indicated as inline links.
Pre-2020:
- Flipper open source created (2013), providing the core feature flag DSL, adapters, and UI (project history).
- Flipper OSS UI first provided a "utility" administrative web interface, usable with self-hosted adapters.
2018–2019:
- Discussions regarding feature seeding, migration, and synchronization indicate challenges for organizations operating across multiple environments with only OSS (GitHub Issue #340).
2020 (Q2):
-
Major Flipper OSS UI redesign to mirror Flipper Cloud experience, focusing on reductions in visual clutter, improved usability, and removing legacy technologies. OSS UI becomes more compact and modern (PR #470):
- Screenshots and rationale underscore desire to make UI "work/look a bit more like [Flipper] cloud." OSS UI is now responsive, declutters feature show/list pages, and hides unneeded elements (PR #470).
-
Flipper Cloud is made available to select customers, adding advanced features for multi-environment and multi-project sync, team permissions, and a polished user interface (Discussions).
2020 (Q4):
- Webhook-driven synchronization added to Flipper Cloud, allowing event-driven updates between Flipper Cloud and customer environments. Operations become decoupled, with all production reads fully local (PR #489).
2021:
- Cloud recommendation UI element added to OSS UI to surface awareness of Flipper Cloud. This promo can be disabled via config (PR #504).
- Onboarding improvements, documentation, and default adapters simplified in OSS (PR #500).
- Flipper Cloud continues to add backend capabilities, audit logs, org/team support (PR #504, Cloud marketing).
| Feature / Aspect | Flipper OSS UI | Flipper Cloud | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|
| Deployment Model | Self-hosted (Rack/Sinatra app) | Hosted SaaS / Managed Cloud | PR #470, Cloud Docs |
| UI/UX | Modern (as of 2020), decluttered, compact, mobile-friendly, matches Cloud UI post-redesign (PR #470) | Managed UI, always up to date, fastest adoption of improvements | PR #470 |
| Feature Management | Enable/disable for all, actors, groups, %, time | Same core gates, plus support for environments, orgs | Docs |
| Team/Org Permissions | None; single-user concept | Fine-grained team/org permissions, project scoping | PR #504 |
| Environments (dev/staging/prod) | Separate Flipper installations; manual sync | Native environment hierarchy, cascading, scoping | Issue #340, Cloud Docs |
| Audit History | None | Full audit logging of all changes | Cloud Marketing |
| Synchronization | Manual, or polling via adapter | Webhook/event-driven, immediate state propagation | PR #489 |
| UI/UX configuration (branding, etc.) | Minor customization (banner text/class) | Branding for project/org, improved customization | PR #470 |
| Feature Seeding/Migration | Manual (via code or seeds), no cross-env support | Native in Cloud, with migration tools planned | Issue #340 |
| Integrations/Webhooks | None, but pluggable adapters possible | Webhooks for event-driven sync, future 3rd-party integrations (Rollbar, CI/CD) | PR #489, PR #537 |
| API | Experimental HTTP API (docs/api/README.md), no authentication | Managed, with future plans for robust API and polyglot client support | PR #537 |
| Audit and Rollback | None | Available; audit history, potential rollbacks | Cloud Docs |
| Compliance/Security | Standard open source app security | Enhanced controls for compliance, access, audit | Cloud Docs |
| Scalability/Performance | App-dependent; relies on adapter scaling | Managed for performance, supports high-traffic orgs | PR #470, Discussions |
| User/Group Management | Custom register of groups in app code | Managed via Cloud organization/team settings | Cloud Docs |
| Pricing | Free (OSS) | Commercial (Cloud subscription), free trial/credits | Cloud Pricing |
| Maintenance/Upgrades | User must upgrade manually | Automatic, no-hassle upgrades | PR #504 |
| Support Channel | Community (GitHub, discussions, issues) | Dedicated support, business SLAs for some tiers | Cloud Docs |
| Self-hosted Cloud Option | No | Not currently, but of interest to some orgs | Unknown (no source found) |
- Flipper Cloud is recommended for teams that need multi-environment support, audit/history, instant sync, advanced RBAC, or want a plug-and-play feature flag SaaS with robust support for growing organizations [https://www.flippercloud.io/].
- Flipper OSS UI is suitable for solo developers, single-project use, or organizations with devops capacity to operate and maintain their own flag infrastructure [flippercloud/flipper#470].
- For compliance-bound or high-sensitivity settings, Cloud's audit and access controls provide extra guarantees [https://www.flippercloud.io/].
- If you need robust integration with error tracking (e.g., Rollbar) or polyglot client support (Java, Python, etc), Cloud is developing this and gauging user interest PR #537.
- All real-world experience reports from users describe OSS as easy to integrate, with all feature flag types (percentage, group, time, etc) available in both OSS and Cloud; most challenges for large orgs relate to team management and environment sync, which Cloud addresses Issue #196, Discussions.
- OSS UI Before (2020): Cluttered, "wall of text" (screenshot, old-list) (PR #470)
- OSS UI After (2020): Compact, succinct, aligned with Cloud (screenshot, new-list) (PR #470)
- Similar improvements seen in feature show and mobile views (PR #470).
-
UI/UX vs Backend/Feature Coverage
Are you interested primarily in the user-facing (UI/UX) differences between Flipper OSS UI and Flipper Cloud, or do you also want to cover backend/feature differences such as synchronization capabilities, environments, and webhook support?
A: Both are covered—UI/UX (appearance, usability) and backend/feature differences (sync, environments, webhooks, audit, team/org, API) are included (PR #470, PR #489, Cloud Docs).
-
Current State vs Historical Timeline
Do you need this analysis to focus on the current state only, or should it provide a historical comparison (i.e., how differences have changed over time)?
A: Includes a timeline of key UI and feature development for both offerings (PR #470, Discussions).
-
Executive Summary vs Technical Details
Should the output be a high-level executive summary of key differences, or do you require a detailed, feature-by-feature technical comparison (including aspects like integrations, deployment models, scalability, etc.)?
A: Provides an executive summary, a historical timeline, and a detailed technical comparison table (PR #470, PR #504).
-
Usage Scenarios and Recommendations
Are usage scenarios (e.g. for different team sizes, compliance requirements, cloud/on-prem deployment) or recommendations on when to choose each offering also desired as part of the output?
A: Usage recommendations are included. OSS UI best for small teams/single projects; Flipper Cloud for teams needing advanced collaboration, audit, sync, multi-env, and managed service (Cloud Docs, Discussions).
- Flipper UI Redesign PR #470 (OSS UI to cloud parity)
- Flipper Cloud Webhook Sync PR #489
- Flipper OSS UI Cloud Recommendation PR #504
- Flipper Onboarding/Docs Improvements PR #500
- Flipper Features, Adapters, OSS Docs
- Flipper Cloud: Official Marketing/Docs
- Feature Seeding/Synchronization Issue #340
- Flipper Usage Stories, Community Discussion
- User/Org Experience (PR #537)
- Feature Flag Migration Issue
- Self-hosted Flipper Cloud Option: Status: Unknown No published evidence of a "self-hosted" cloud equivalent; only Flipper OSS UI and the hosted Flipper Cloud are documented.