Code References

See where feature flags are used in your codebase by scanning with a CLI tool or GitHub Action.

Code References lets you see exactly where feature flags are used in your codebase. A CLI tool scans your repository and sends the results to GrowthBook, which then surfaces this information on each feature’s page. This helps you find the exact lines of code that reference a flag — useful when cleaning up stale flags or understanding a flag’s scope.

Code References also improves Stale Feature Detection accuracy by providing concrete evidence of whether a flag is still referenced in code.

Getting Started

For GitHub users, a streamlined GitHub Action integrates with code references:

• GrowthBook Code References GitHub Action

For other platforms, use the CLI tool or Docker image:

• GrowthBook gb-find-code-refs CLI utility
• Dockerized version of gb-find-code-refs

Enabling Code References in GrowthBook

To enable code references, navigate to your General Settings page and scroll to Configure Code References.

Branch Filtering

Specify which branch names (comma-separated) to show code references for. By default, code references from all branches are displayed.

For example, if your team only needs references from main and qa, set this option to main, qa.

Platform Links

GrowthBook can link directly to your codebase on GitHub or GitLab. Select your platform in the settings and code references will automatically include links to the relevant files and lines.

If your platform isn’t supported, let us know in the Slack community.

Viewing Code References

Once enabled, you can view Code References on a specific feature page, under the Code Refs tab.