---
title: How to schedule feature releases
---
import ApiRequest from '@site/src/components/ApiRequest'

:::note Availability

**Version**: `4.16+`

:::

There's a whole host of reasons why you may want to schedule the release of a feature, such as:
- **to release a feature at a specific date and time** (for a product launch, for instance)
- **to make a feature available only up until a specific moment** (for a contest cutoff, for instance)
- **to make a feature available during a limited period** (for a 24 hour flash sale, for instance)

In this guide we'll schedule a feature for release at some point in time. The exact same logic applies if you want to make a feature available until some point in the future. Finally, if you want to only make a feature available during a limited time period, you can easily combine the two options.

## Prerequisites

This guide assumes that you've got the following:
- some basic experience with Unleash
- a running instance of Unleash and connected clients (where applicable)
- an existing feature flag that you want to schedule the release for

## Schedule feature releases with strategy constraints

[Strategy constraints](../reference/activation-strategies#date-and-time-operators) are the easiest way to schedule feature releases ([as long as your SDKs are up to date](../reference/activation-strategies#client-side-implementation)). You can use this approach with _any_ strategy you want. The strategies will work just as they normally do, they just won't become active until the specified time. For example: with the standard strategy, the feature would become available to all your users at the specified time; with a gradual rollout, the rollout would start at the specified time.

### Step 1: Add an activation strategy with a date-based constraint

#### Scheduling a release via the UI

To schedule a feature release via the UI:
1. Add the desired activation strategy to the feature
2. Open the constraint creator by using the "Add constraint" button
3. Add a date-based constraint by selecting the `currentTime` context field (step 1 in the below image), choosing the `DATE_AFTER` operator (step 2), and setting the point in time where you want the feature to be available from (step 3)
  ![A strategy constraint specifying that the activation strategy should be enabled at 12:00 AM, November 25th 2022. There are visual call-outs pointing to the relevant settings mentioned above.](/img/strategy-constraint-date-after.png)

#### Scheduling a release via the API

To add an activation strategy via the Admin API, use the feature's `strategies` endpoint to add a new strategy (see the [API documentation for adding strategies to feature flags](/reference/api/legacy/unleash/admin/features-v2#add-strategy) for more details).

The payload's `"name"` property should contain the name of the strategy to apply (see [activation strategies reference documentation](../reference/activation-strategies) for all built-in strategies' _modeling names_).

The `"constraint"` object should have the same format as described in the code sample below. The activation date must be in an [RFC 3339-compatible format](https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc3339#section-5.8), e.g. `"1990-12-31T23:59:60Z"`.

<ApiRequest verb="post" payload={{
      "name": "default",
      "constraints": [
        {
          "value": "<activation-date>",
          "operator": "DATE_AFTER",
          "contextName": "currentTime"
        }
      ]
  }} url="api/admin/projects/<project-id>/features/environments/<environment>/strategies" title="Add a feature activation strategy with a scheduled activation time."/>

The `"operator"` property in the code sample can be replaced with [any of the other date and time-based operators](../reference/activation-strategies#date-and-time-operators) according to your needs.