Streaming flags is a paper tiger

Flag streaming, which involves using a long-lived connection for real-time updates from a flag service to client software, is often showcased for its immediate change delivery capabilities but lacks practicality outside niche applications like chat apps, stock tickers, and gaming. In most cases, polling at discrete intervals suffices, especially for server-side implementation, while client-side software benefits from fetching flag values during initialization and specific user interactions. Despite the allure of streaming, its necessity is mitigated by the inherent latency and reliability issues of SaaS offerings, making proxy solutions more appealing for service reliability. For client software, unpredictable network performance suggests an alternative approach of initializing, caching values, and avoiding time-bound interval updates, favoring event-triggered refreshes. Streaming, although not essential for most use cases, remains a well-established technique and can be implemented where real-time updates are critical.