How to manage dark features in Jira
Platform notice: Server and Data Center only. This article only applies to Atlassian products on the Server and Data Center platforms.
Support for Server* products ended on February 15th 2024. If you are running a Server product, you can visit the Atlassian Server end of support announcement to review your migration options.
*Except Fisheye and Crucible
Problem
Some of the features in Jira are not enabled by default and it is implemented as a dark feature (also known as feature flags).
Be careful with dark features as they may cause problems if misused since they will impact the entire instance. They should only be used when instructed by Atlassian Support.
As best practices, validate on a lower environment first before applying to production and a full backup is advised before making changes to dark features for the first time.
Solution
To manage dark features, access the following URL as a Jira administrator account:
<BASE_URL>/secure/admin/SiteDarkFeatures!default.jspa
Enabling a Dark Feature
In order to enable a feature flag, type <feature_flag_name>.enabled in the Enable dark feature text area and click the Add button.
Make sure to not have double ".enabled" suffix at the end of feature flag name.
Dark Features related to migration (e.g all the dark features of format com.atlassian.jira.migration.*) may not support above notation. DON't add ".enabled" or ".disabled" suffix for these migration related Dark features.
Please work with your Migrations Support team for the correct directions in implementing such dark features.
Disabling a Dark Feature
To disable a feature flag:
- Click disable link next to the specific feature flag in the left section (as on a screenshot below)
OR
- Type <feature_flag_name>.disabled feature flag in the Enable dark feature text area and click the Add button.
- Make sure to not have the combination of suffixes ".enabled.disabled" at the end of the feature flag name.
If the Dark Feature is not present on the admin page it means it has its default value which may be enabled or disabled depending on the specific Dark Feature.
Example Dark Feature admin screen:
Managing dark features using the REST API
It is possible to manage dark features in Jira using the following private endpoint: /rest/internal/1.0/darkFeatures/{key}
This is a private API that is used by Atlassian within the product. This API can change without notice.
Instructions
Perform a PUT method on the endpoint above with the following JSON body (true or false depending if you want to add or remove the feature flag):
{ "enabled": "true" }Where {key} is the dark feature key. Example:
<BASE_URL>/rest/internal/1.0/darkFeatures/sd.sla.improved.rendering.enabledcURL syntax example:
curl -u user:password -X PUT <BASE_URL>/rest/internal/1.0/darkFeatures/{key} -H 'Content-Type: application/json' -d '{ "enabled": "true" }'Configuration Persistency
Jira stores the current configured dark features in the database table feature.Dark Features will persist service restarts and node replacements on a Jira Data Center environment.
Additional Information
Dark Features in Jira is different from Dark Theme/Mode (change visualization on a browser window).
If you're looking for Dark Theme/Mode for Jira Data Center or Cloud, please verify the suggestions below:
For Jira Data Center: JRASERVER-63150 - Getting issue details... STATUS
For Jira Cloud: JRACLOUD-63150 - Getting issue details... STATUS