Canary value

A canary value is a special thing that people use to test if something is safe before they use it. It refers to the practice of using canaries, which are small birds, to test if the air is safe to breathe in places like coal mines.

What happens is that if the air in the mine is dangerous, the canary will stop singing or even die before any of the humans in the mine are harmed. This gives the humans a signal to leave the dangerous area before they are hurt.

The same idea can be used in technology, where people use a canary value to test the safety of a new feature or software update. They release the new thing to a small group of people first, and if everything goes well, then they release it to everyone.

So think of the canary value like the canary in the coal mine – it helps us stay safe by warning us of danger.