Licensing

A client runs the product on the license they bought, whatever hosts it:

Licenses are sold on the Sharkhex Spaces page. Every license is a lifetime license: it never expires, and updates are free. The key arrives by email with the receipt and stays in My orders, together with the release archives.

Activating a key

Each install has an id, generated once, and a domain, the host of VWS_PUBLIC_URL. One key runs one install at a time.

• From the command line. On the server, as the service user, vws license activate KEY activates the key and prints the license.
• From the admin pages. The tenant's admins keep the license under Administration, then License (/admin/license); operators of a multi-tenant platform keep it in the central admin under License (/operator/license). Either page takes a key, shows the licensee, the tier, the install and the last check, and releases the key.

The install keeps the key sealed with VWS_ENCRYPTION_KEY, and checks it against Lemon Squeezy once a day.

Tiers and tenancy

A multi-tenant platform (VWS_TENANCY=multi) needs an extended license: a server whose license is missing or standard refuses to start in that mode and names vws license activate. A standard install with an extended key runs single-tenant as usual.

Moving a key to another server

Release the key on the old install first, with vws license release or Release on the license page, then activate it on the new one. A key that is still active elsewhere is refused as taken. If the old server is gone, write to us through the contact form with your order number and we reset the activation.

When a check fails

• A check that cannot reach Lemon Squeezy changes nothing: the install keeps running on its last answer for 7 days.
• Once 2 days pass without a good check, the license page and a banner on every page of the license's keepers warn that rooms close after 7.
• A license lapses when its key is disabled or refunded, when it is taken by another install, or when no check has succeeded for 7 days. A lapsed license closes rooms and leaves the admin pages open, so that a key can be entered again; rooms open again with the next good check. No data is touched.

Builds without a license check

Release archives check licenses. A build of the source without the store's details, and any development environment (VWS_ENV=development), runs on no license: its license page says so and its rooms always open.