ads-network-killswitch

Network Killswitch

When to Use

• Emergency disabling a network serving malvertising
• Toggling networks on/off for A/B testing
• Implementing master ads killswitch via AdsSettings.ads_enabled
• Per-network enable/disable without data loss

Rules

• AdsSettings.ads_enabled is the master switch — if False, ALL ads stop
• AdsSettings.ad_networks_enabled controls whether network waterfall runs
• AdNetwork.is_enabled is the per-network toggle
• Never delete a network to disable it — use is_enabled = False
• Killswitch changes take effect immediately — no cache delay

Patterns

Master Killswitch Check

# apps/ads/services.py
from apps.ads.models import AdsSettings

def is_ads_active() -> bool:
    """Check if ads system is globally enabled."""
    settings = AdsSettings.get_solo()
    return settings.ads_enabled and settings.ad_networks_enabled

Per-Network Toggle

def toggle_network(*, network_id: int, enabled: bool) -> AdNetwork:
    network = AdNetwork.objects.get(pk=network_id)
    network.is_enabled = enabled
    network.save(update_fields=["is_enabled", "updated_at"])
    return network

Emergency Shutdown Service

def emergency_shutdown_all_networks(*, reason: str) -> int:
    """Disable all networks immediately. Returns count of disabled networks."""
    count = AdNetwork.objects.filter(is_enabled=True).update(
        is_enabled=False,
        sync_status=f"Emergency shutdown: {reason}",
    )
    settings = AdsSettings.get_solo()
    settings.ads_enabled = False
    settings.save(update_fields=["ads_enabled"])
    return count

Template Guard

{% load ads_tags %}
{% if ads_enabled %}
  {% include "ads/fragments/placement.html" with placement=sidebar_ad %}
{% endif %}

Anti-Patterns

• Deleting AdNetwork records instead of disabling — loses historical data
• Caching killswitch state for long TTLs — must be near-real-time
• Checking only AdNetwork.is_enabled without checking master AdsSettings.ads_enabled

Quality Gate

& .\.venv\Scripts\python.exe -m ruff check . --fix
& .\.venv\Scripts\python.exe -m ruff format .
& .\.venv\Scripts\python.exe manage.py check --settings=app.settings_dev