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CG Lounge License Server

Software licensing for CG/VFX creators.

Protect your Houdini tools, Blender add-ons, and pipeline scripts with machine-bound activations, offline tokens, and built-in anti-piracy. Designed for indie developers and studios on cglounge.

Features

  • Machine-Bound Activations

    Licenses bind to hardware fingerprints. Offline JWT tokens validate in under 1ms with 30-day validity, so users keep working without phoning home constantly.

  • Flexible License Types

    Per-machine, floating, and site licenses. Indie devs get 2 seats. Studios get 5. Enterprise gets unlimited. You set the rules per variant.

  • Anti-Piracy Engine

    Geo-spread detection (one key, multiple countries), machine churn rate analysis, and tiered threat levels (low / medium / high / critical). Automatic escalation to human review.

  • Render Farm Support

    Floating licenses with heartbeat keep-alive. Render nodes check out seats without blocking the pipeline. Heartbeat interval: 5 minutes, auto-release on timeout.

  • Webhook Automation

    Stripe and cglounge webhooks trigger license generation on purchase. Zero manual intervention. Dedup protection prevents double-issuance on retry storms.

  • Python SDK + HDA

    Five lines of Python, one HDA parameter. The SDK handles token caching, offline validation, and machine fingerprinting. Ships with a Houdini shelf tool for easy integration.

Tech Stack

Layer Technology
Backend Firebase Cloud Functions (TypeScript)
Database Firestore
Auth tokens RS256 JWT (signing key rotation, zero downtime)
Offline validation Local RS256 verify, no network call
Webhook security Shared secret verification + dedup

Performance

Operation Latency
Offline license validation <1ms
Activation (online) 200-500ms
Heartbeat (render farm) <100ms
Concurrent license checks Scales to 10k+

Download SDK

SDK Version
Python 2.0.0 Download ZIP

Unzip into your project's vendor/ folder and import. See the Python SDK guide for setup. For Houdini HDAs, see the Houdini HDA guide.

  • Quickstart - Selling on cglounge? Up and running in 5 minutes.

  • API Reference - Full endpoint docs with request/response schemas.

  • Python SDK - Integration guide, offline mode, error handling.

  • Creator Guide - Variants, pricing, anti-piracy settings, and best practices.