Forced Values, Saved Groups, and Prerequisites

Forced Values, Saved Groups, and Prerequisites

Sometimes you need to force a specific value for a user or group — bypassing percentage rollouts entirely. GrowthBook provides three tools for this: forced-value rules, Saved Groups, and prerequisite features.

Forced-value rules

A Forced Value rule returns a fixed value to every user who matches the rule’s targeting condition. Useful for: internal QA testers who always get true, a VIP user who always gets a premium string value, or a banned user who always gets false.

To create a forced-value rule:

1. On the Feature detail page, click Add Rule.
2. Choose Force Value as the rule type.
3. Set the Value to return (e.g. true).
4. Add a Targeting Condition to identify the audience (e.g. email is in list [[email protected], [email protected]]).
5. Click Save Rule.
6. Drag this rule above any rollout rules so it is evaluated first.

Saved Groups

A Saved Group is a reusable audience definition you create once and reference in many rules. Instead of duplicating the same email list or condition across ten different features, define it once as a Saved Group and use it anywhere.

To create and use a Saved Group:

1. Go to Settings → Saved Groups.
2. Click Create Saved Group.
3. Name it (e.g. beta-testers).
4. Add members (by attribute value) or define a condition.
5. Click Save.
6. When creating a rule on any Feature, choose “In Saved Group” as the operator and select beta-testers.

On the SDK side, all you need to do is pass the correct attributes — the Saved Group logic runs server-side in GrowthBook:

gb.setAttributes({
  id: 'user-456',
  email: '[email protected]',
});
// GrowthBook evaluates whether this user is in the beta-testers Saved Group
const showBeta = gb.isOn('new-checkout');

gb.setAttributes({
  id: 'user-456',
  email: '[email protected]',
});
// GrowthBook evaluates whether this user is in the beta-testers Saved Group
const showBeta = gb.isOn('new-checkout');

Copy saved groups snippet ⧉

Prerequisite features

A prerequisite (also called a feature dependency) lets you gate one flag on another. For example, you might require that platform-v2 is on before allowing new-checkout to activate. This prevents partial rollouts from creating inconsistent UI states.

To add a prerequisite:

1. On the Feature detail page, click Add Prerequisite.
2. Select the parent feature (e.g. platform-v2).
3. Set the required value (e.g. true).
4. Click Save. Now new-checkout will only be evaluated if platform-v2 is on for the current user.

🧪 Saved Groups let you reuse an audience across many features

Define beta-testers once, then reference it in every feature that should roll out to beta users first. Updating the group membership in one place updates every rule that uses it.

What does a forced-value rule do?

It gradually increases the percentage of users who see a flag It returns a fixed value to every user who matches the rule's targeting condition It disables a flag for all users in a Saved Group It creates a dependency between two feature flags

Where are Saved Groups managed in GrowthBook?

On the Feature detail page under "Add Rule" Under Experiments → Audiences Under Settings → Saved Groups Under SDK Connections → Groups

What does a prerequisite feature do?

It forces a flag on for all users regardless of other rules It gates one flag on the value of another flag for the current user It saves a reusable audience definition for use across features It sets the default value for a flag when no rules match

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