flaky

also adj., -i·er, -i·est.

1. Made of or resembling flakes.
2. Forming or tending to form flakes or thin, crisp fragments: flaky pastry.
3. Slang. Somewhat eccentric; odd: "that slightly flakey quality, in joy as well as in grief, that prepares us subtly for the mad scenes to come" (Village Voice).

flakily flak'i·ly adv.
flakiness flak'i·ness n.

Hacker Slang: flaky

(var sp. flakey) Subject to frequent lossage. This use is of course related to the common slang use of the word to describe a person as eccentric, crazy, or just unreliable. A system that is flaky is working, sort of — enough that you are tempted to try to use it — but fails frequently enough that the odds in favor of finishing what you start are low. Commonwealth hackish prefers dodgy or wonky.