Cache Flipper feature flags in L1 and L2 cachessh-cache-flipper-checks-in-memory

In https://gitlab.com/gitlab-com/gl-infra/production/issues/928, we saw
a significant amount of network traffic and CPU usage due to Redis
checking feature flags via Flipper. Since these flags are hit with every
request, the overhead becomes significant. To alleviate Redis overhead,
we now cache the data in the following way:

* L1: A thread-local memory store for 1 minute
* L2: Redis for 1 hour

3 files changed, 87 insertions, 3 deletions

diff --git a/changelogs/unreleased/sh-cache-flipper-checks-in-memory.yml b/changelogs/unreleased/sh-cache-flipper-checks-in-memory.yml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..125b6244d80
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelogs/unreleased/sh-cache-flipper-checks-in-memory.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+---
+title: Cache Flipper feature flags in L1 and L2 caches
+merge_request: 30276
+author:
+type: performance
diff --git a/lib/feature.rb b/lib/feature.rb
index 22420e95ea2..e28333aa58e 100644
--- a/lib/feature.rb
+++ b/lib/feature.rb
@@ -103,10 +103,27 @@ class Feature
         feature_class: FlipperFeature,
         gate_class: FlipperGate)
 
+      # Redis L2 cache
+      redis_cache_adapter =
+        Flipper::Adapters::ActiveSupportCacheStore.new(
+          active_record_adapter,
+          l2_cache_backend,
+          expires_in: 1.hour)
+
+      # Thread-local L1 cache: use a short timeout since we don't have a
+      # way to expire this cache all at once
       Flipper::Adapters::ActiveSupportCacheStore.new(
-        active_record_adapter,
-        Rails.cache,
-        expires_in: 1.hour)
+        redis_cache_adapter,
+        l1_cache_backend,
+        expires_in: 1.minute)
+    end
+
+    def l1_cache_backend
+      Gitlab::ThreadMemoryCache.cache_backend
+    end
+
+    def l2_cache_backend
+      Rails.cache
     end
   end
 
diff --git a/spec/lib/feature_spec.rb b/spec/lib/feature_spec.rb
index 403e0785d1b..127463a57e8 100644
--- a/spec/lib/feature_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/lib/feature_spec.rb
@@ -144,6 +144,68 @@ describe Feature do
       expect(described_class.enabled?(:enabled_feature_flag)).to be_truthy
     end
 
+    it { expect(described_class.l1_cache_backend).to eq(Gitlab::ThreadMemoryCache.cache_backend) }
+    it { expect(described_class.l2_cache_backend).to eq(Rails.cache) }
+
+    it 'caches the status in L1 and L2 caches',
+       :request_store, :use_clean_rails_memory_store_caching do
+      described_class.enable(:enabled_feature_flag)
+      flipper_key = "flipper/v1/feature/enabled_feature_flag"
+
+      expect(described_class.l2_cache_backend)
+        .to receive(:fetch)
+        .once
+        .with(flipper_key, expires_in: 1.hour)
+        .and_call_original
+
+      expect(described_class.l1_cache_backend)
+        .to receive(:fetch)
+        .once
+        .with(flipper_key, expires_in: 1.minute)
+        .and_call_original
+
+      2.times do
+        expect(described_class.enabled?(:enabled_feature_flag)).to be_truthy
+      end
+    end
+
+    context 'cached feature flag', :request_store do
+      let(:flag) { :some_feature_flag }
+
+      before do
+        described_class.flipper.memoize = false
+        described_class.enabled?(flag)
+      end
+
+      it 'caches the status in L1 cache for the first minute' do
+        expect do
+          expect(described_class.l1_cache_backend).to receive(:fetch).once.and_call_original
+          expect(described_class.l2_cache_backend).not_to receive(:fetch)
+          expect(described_class.enabled?(flag)).to be_truthy
+        end.not_to exceed_query_limit(0)
+      end
+
+      it 'caches the status in L2 cache after 2 minutes' do
+        Timecop.travel 2.minutes do
+          expect do
+            expect(described_class.l1_cache_backend).to receive(:fetch).once.and_call_original
+            expect(described_class.l2_cache_backend).to receive(:fetch).once.and_call_original
+            expect(described_class.enabled?(flag)).to be_truthy
+          end.not_to exceed_query_limit(0)
+        end
+      end
+
+      it 'fetches the status after an hour' do
+        Timecop.travel 61.minutes do
+          expect do
+            expect(described_class.l1_cache_backend).to receive(:fetch).once.and_call_original
+            expect(described_class.l2_cache_backend).to receive(:fetch).once.and_call_original
+            expect(described_class.enabled?(flag)).to be_truthy
+          end.not_to exceed_query_limit(1)
+        end
+      end
+    end
+
     context 'with an individual actor' do
       CustomActor = Struct.new(:flipper_id)