Feature Flags
The complete list of gates that hide or change Studio’s UI based on configuration. Knowing each one’s location and effect prevents “missing feature” surprises.
Do It With a Skill
Flags are set by Contentstack, not by a skill. The one closest to this page is enable-visual-experience, which turns on the stack-level Live Preview and Visual Experience setting that Studio depends on.
curl -fsSL https://studio-documentation.contentstackapps.com/install.sh | sh
Stack-Level (set in Contentstack Web App)
These live on the Contentstack. Open Stack, then Settings, then Visual Experience.
Enable Live Preview
| Where | In the Stack, open Settings, go to Visual Experience, and select the General tab |
|---|---|
| Type | Checkbox |
| Default | Off (must be turned on for Studio to function) |
| Scope | Stack-wide, applies to every content type in the stack |
Effect when off:
- The Preview Token isn’t generated on Delivery Tokens
- Live Preview SDK can’t connect to Contentstack
- Studio’s canvas iframe shows stale content (no real-time updates)
Effect when on:
- Preview Tokens auto-paired with every Delivery Token
- The preview pipe accepts client connections from your app
- Studio’s canvas iframe can show draft + scheduled content
Enable Custom Preview URL
| Where | In the Stack, open Settings, go to Visual Experience, and select the Preview URL tab |
|---|---|
| Type | Toggle |
| Default | Off |
| Scope | Stack-wide |
Effect when off:
- Live Preview uses the Environment’s Base URL (default)
- Connected template URL patterns derive from the content type’s url field pattern, or fall back to the default identity pattern
Effect when on:
- A central form for Base URL (aliases) + per-content-type URL Paths
- Studio derives linked-template URL patterns from these Paths (most accurate, mirrors your live site exactly)
- Required for multi-brand sites (different domains per brand from the same stack)
Project-Level (set in Studio Web App)
These live on each Studio project, in Settings, then Configuration.
Enable Freeform Feature
| Where | In Studio, open Project Settings, go to Configuration, and find Enable Freeform Feature |
|---|---|
| Type | Toggle |
| Default | Off |
| Scope | Per-project |
Opt-in project setting. Details in the Freeform chapter.
Plan-dependent. This feature may not be writable on all Contentstack plans. If the toggle is grayed out, contact your account owner.
What’s NOT a Feature Flag
These come up in conversation but aren’t user-toggleable switches. They’re permanent product behavior:
| Sounds like a flag | Actually | What to know |
|---|---|---|
| “Section Slots feature” | Always-on capability | Available in every project, no toggle |
| “Linked schemas feature” | Always-on capability | Available on every section, no toggle |
| “Expose Section Props feature” | Always-on capability | Modal opens on Save of any section with components |
| “Visual Editor enable” | A stack capability tied to Enable Live Preview | Once Live Preview is enabled, Visual Editor’s inline editing surfaces are available |
| “Custom components feature” | Always-on capability | registerComponent works on every Studio install |
Plan Dependencies
Studio features that may be tied to your Contentstack plan:
- Multi-brand Custom Preview URL aliases (above)
- Stack-level features tied to Visual Editor / Live Preview availability
If a feature appears in the UI but its toggle is disabled, that’s the signal you’re on a plan that doesn’t include it. Studio doesn’t expose its own plan tiers. It inherits from Contentstack.
Where to Find What’s Enabled in Your Project
| Layer | Where to look |
|---|---|
| Stack-level flags | In Contentstack, open the Stack, select Settings, go to Visual Experience, and check the General and Preview URL tabs |
| Project-level flags | In Studio, open your project, select Settings, and go to Configuration |
| Plan-level features | In Contentstack, open Organization, then Settings (or contact your account owner) |
When You Change a Flag
Most flag changes take effect immediately:
- Refresh the stack settings after toggling Enable Live Preview, which makes the Preview Token appear on Delivery Token forms
If the UI doesn’t update, hard-refresh the browser tab. Both Contentstack and Studio cache the flag state per session.
What Flags Don’t Do
Worth being explicit:
- No prompts before toggling. Studio doesn’t ask “are you sure?” It just applies the change. Confirm your team is ready for the impact before flipping anything.
- No per-environment flags. Flag state is the same across all environments in the stack.
See Also
- Setup: Prerequisites: checklist of what to enable before installing
- Templates: Connected content type: how Custom Preview URL affects derived patterns