Change history in Feature Experimentation

9 min

Optimizely Feature Experimentation

Optimizely Feature Experimentation logs actions performed for a project and for a flag, such as creating an event, modifying a rule, and adding and removing audiences. These actions are listed in the change history, which displays the record of user activity for each of your projects and flags. These actions are also available through webhooks, see Create a WebhookCreate a Webhook.

If an experiment starts to behave strangely or stops working correctly, you can troubleshoot by checking the change history to see which changes were made, when, and by which collaboratorcollaborator. The detailed change history creates an activity trail that provides additional security to individuals and teams with multiple collaborators.

Project history

Each project's change history is available using the Feature Experimentation REST API and in the UI.

Access project history with the REST API

See the Change historyChange history developer documentation for information on how to get a list of changes for a given project. You can use optional filters to refine the list of changes.

Access project history in the UI

From your Feature Experimentation project, go to the History tab.

Use the drop-down lists to filter by change Type, Date, and Source (if the change was made using the REST API or Feature Experimentation UI).

For a specific change, click Show details to see a description of the update. To collapse the change details, click Hide details.

The change history details display information about each change, along with the original (before changes) in red on the left side and the updated code (after changes) in green on the right side. The change history details are structured the same way as the Optimizely Feature Experimentation REST APIs. See About the Feature Experimentation APIsAbout the Feature Experimentation APIs for information.

Press Alt (Windows) or Option ⌥ (Mac) + click Show details or Hide details to show or collapse all change details.

Project changes that are tracked

The following project-level changes are recorded in the History:

AttributesAttributes

Create

Update key

Update description

AudiencesAudiences

Create

Update name

Update description

Update condition

EnvironmentsEnvironments

Create

Update name

Update key

Update description

Restrict access

Archive or unarchive

EventsEvents

Create

Update name

Update key

Update description

Update event properties

FlagsFlags see flag history section

Create

Delete

Archive or unarchive

Mutual exclusion groupsMutual exclusion groups

Create

Update name

Update description

Update experiment

Update traffic allocation

Project settingsProject settings

Update project name

Update project description

Update statistical significance percentage

Create webhook

Rename webhook

Update webhook URL

RulesRules

Create **

Update rule name

Update audience conditions

Update traffic allocation

Add metric

Delete metric

Reorder metric

Update distribution method

Update variation delivered

Update variation traffic allocation

Add variation

Delete variation

Add, update, or delete allowlist

Duplicate rule **

Delete rule **

RulesetsRulesets

Run or pause a flag in an environment

Change rule priority

Add, delete, or duplicate a rule **

VariationsVariations

Create

Update existing variation name

Delete variation

** Create, delete, and duplicate rule history is listed in both the ruleset updates and the rule updates.

Project changes that are not tracked

The following project-level changes are not recorded in the History:

EnvironmentsEnvironments

Note

When a project is created, the default environments, Development and Production, do not have a corresponding change history entry.

Secure an environment

Project settingsProject settings

Regenerate webhook secret

Delete webhook

Any update in the Integrations tab

Any update in the Collaborators tab

Update default time zone

Update display currency

Enable IP anonymization

Enable bot filtering

Note

All account level changes are not tracked.

Flag history

Every flag has its own change history. It is available using the Feature Experimentation REST API and in the UI.

Access flag history from the REST API

See the Change historyChange history developer documentation and the Get Change HistoryGet Change History endpoint documentation for information on how to get entities associated with a specific flag in a project. You can use query parameters to filter the response.

Access flag history in the UI

To see a flag's history, go to a flag and click History.

The flag's change history works similarly to the project's change history. Use the drop-down lists to filter by Type, Date, and Source (change through the REST API or Feature Experimentation UI).

For a specific change, click Show details to see a description of the update. To collapse the change details, click Hide details. Press Alt (Windows) or Option ⌥ (Mac) + click Show details or Hide details to show or collapse all change details.

Flag changes that are tracked

The following flag-level changes are recorded in the History:

FlagsFlags

Create

Update

Delete

Enable outlier smoothing for revenue metrics

RulesetsRulesets

Run or pause a flag in an environment

Change rule priority

Add, delete, or duplicate a rule **

RulesRules

Create **

Update rule name

Update audience conditions

Update traffic allocation

Add metric

Delete metric

Reorder metric

Update distribution method

Update variation delivered

Update variation traffic allocation

Add variation

Delete variation

Add, update, or delete allowlist

Duplicate rule **

Delete rule **

VariationsVariations

Create

Update existing variation name

Delete variation