Key Concepts

What is Ascend?

Ascend is a comprehensive experimentation platform that consists of:

Backend Experiment Server (TestLab): A high-performance Java-based server built on Vert.x that manages experiments, handles variant assignments, and processes experiment data.
Backend Audience Server (Flockr): A high-performance Java-based server built on Vert.x that manages audience creation , rule addition and querying over multiple data source.
Admin Panel: Manage your experiment’s lifecycle, audience’s lifecycle , SDK’s API Key.
Cross-Platform SDKs: SDKs for Android, iOS, and React Native that seamlessly integrate with your applications.
Flexible Architecture: Plugin-based architecture that allows extensibility and customization.

Core Concepts

Experiments

An experiment in Ascend is a controlled test where you compare different variants (versions) of a feature to determine which performs better. Each experiment includes:

Variants: Different versions of your feature to test (e.g., control, treatment).
Allocation Strategy: How users are assigned to variants (random(default), round-robin).
Target Rules: Conditions that determine which users are eligible for the experiment.
Audience: User segments for targeted experimentation. Create csv based audience.

Allocation Strategies

Ascend supports multiple allocation strategies:

Stratified Allocation: Users are assigned based on their audience segments.
Audience-Based Allocation: Users are assigned based on audience membership with custom variant weights per audience.

Experiment Lifecycle

Draft: Experiment is being configured (Coming soon)
Live: Experiment is actively running
Paused: Experiment is temporarily stopped
Concluded: Experiment has finished and winning variant declared
Terminated: Experiment will no longer being served

Architecture Overview

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                    Client Applications                  │
│  ┌──────────┐    ┌──────────┐    ┌──────────────────┐   │
│  │  Android │    │   iOS    │    │  React Native    │   │
│  │   SDK    │    │   SDK    │    │       SDK        │   │
│  └────┬─────┘    └────┬─────┘    └────────┬─────────┘   │
└───────┼───────────────┼───────────────────┼─────────────┘
        │               │                   │
        └───────────────┼───────────────────┘
                        │ REST API
        ┌───────────────┴────────────────────────┐
        │ Backend Server(testlab+flockr)         │
        │    (Vert.x + PostgreSQL +              │
        │         Aerospike)                     │
        └────────────────────────────────────────┘

Core Capabilities

Feature Flags : Enable or disable specific product features for selected app attributes without deploying new code.
A/B Testing : Compare multiple variants of a feature to evaluate performance and identify the best-performing option.
Audience Targeting : Apply allocations based on user attributes and the audience segments the user belongs to, ensuring precise and personalized feature delivery.
Traffic Control : Regulate what percentage of incoming requests are assigned to experiments to manage system load or sample traffic intelligently.
Multivariate Testing : Test multiple variables at once to determine the optimal combination of feature variations and interactions.

Quick Example

1. Server Side: Define an Experiment

{
  "experiment_key": "button-color-test",
  "name": "Button Color Experiment",
  "status": "LIVE",
  "type": "A/B",
  "variants": [
   "control": {
         "display_name": "Control Group",
         "variables": [
           {
             "key": "button_color",
             "value": "blue",
             "data_type": "STRING"
           }
         ]
       },
       "variant1": {
         "display_name": "Test Variant 1",
         "variables": [
           {
             "key": "button_color",
             "value": "green",
             "data_type": "STRING"
           }
         ]
       }
  ],
  "variant_weights": {
    "control": 50,
    "treatment": 50
  },
  "distribution_strategy": "RANDOM",
  "exposure": 100
}

2. Client Side: Get Assignment

Android:

val experimentPlugin = Ascend.getPlugin<DRSPlugin>(Plugins.EXPERIMENTS)
val buttonColor = experimentPlugin.getExperimentService()
    .getStringFlag("button_color", "color")

iOS:

let experiments = try Ascend.getPlugin(AscendExperiments.self)
let buttonColor = experiments.getStringValue(for: "button_color", with: "color")

React Native:

import { Ascend } from 'react-native-ascend-react-native-sdk';
const buttonColor = await Ascend.getStringValue('button_color', 'color');

What’s Next?

Learn Why Use Ascend over other solutions
Follow the Getting Started Guide to set up your first experiment
Understand the Development Setup to contribute
Review the License Information for legal details

Community and Support

Ascend is built with ❤️ by the open-source community. We welcome contributions, bug reports, and feature requests.

GitHub: Ascend Project
Issues: Report bugs and request features
Discussions: Use Github discussion
Contributing: See our Contribution Guidelines.

Making experimentation accessible to everyone, everywhere.