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License Types

The Three License Models

Type Machine Limit Enforcement Typical Use Case
Per-machine Fixed seat count Each activation consumes one slot; moving requires deactivation Solo artists, small studios
Floating Concurrent cap Sessions checked out/released; any machine can activate up to the cap Render farms, shared workstations
Site Unlimited No seat enforcement; geo spread detection disabled Enterprise, studio-wide deployments

Per-machine

Each activation is permanently bound to a machine fingerprint. Activating a new machine when all slots are full requires an admin to revoke an existing activation.

  • Machine fingerprint is embedded in the JWT machineFingerprint claim.
  • Token storage is obfuscated using the machine fingerprint as the key. Copying the cache file to a different machine renders it unreadable.
  • Admins can view and revoke individual machine activations from the admin API.

Floating

Licenses are borrowed for the duration of a job or session. Any machine can activate, but only max_machines may hold active sessions simultaneously.

  • Sessions expire after 15 minutes without a heartbeat (cleaned up by periodic job).
  • Render managers should call /deactivate on job completion to release the seat.
  • Activation is refused if the concurrent cap is reached.

Site

A single key unlocks unlimited machines. Intended for studios deploying across an entire facility.

  • Geo-spread detection is disabled for site licenses. Machine churn detection still applies.
  • Rate limiting on /activate still applies (15 attempts/hour per key).
  • JWT tokens are still issued per machine (audit trail).

Variants

Variants define the commercial tier of a product. Each product can have multiple variants targeting different buyer segments.

Variant Seats / Concurrency Offline Days Trial Typical Price Point
indie 1-2 machines 30 days No Low
studio 3-10 machines 30 days No Mid
render-farm Floating, up to 50 Session-only No Per-node or flat
site Unlimited 30 days No Enterprise
trial 1 machine 30 days (token) Yes Free

Variant configuration

Variants are configured per-product via the admin API. Key fields:

  • maxMachines: seat or concurrency cap
  • durationDays: license validity period (not token validity; token validity is determined by threat level)
  • defaultTrialDays: trial length in days (used when creating trial licenses via discount codes)
  • licenseType: per-machine, floating, or site

Offline Behavior by Status

License status affects how long the SDK will work without an internet connection.

License Status Token Valid? Max Offline Duration Behavior
active Yes 30 days Full functionality; auto-refresh within last 7 days
degraded Yes (short) 1 day Nag dialog shown; tool still runs
suspended No 3 days (cached) Nag dialog shown; reconnect required soon
revoked No 0 days Hard block immediately on next validation

Suspended licenses

A suspended license will still pass local JWT validation for up to 3 days if the machine has a cached token. Once online, the server will reject the token and force a re-sync.

Revoked licenses

Revoked licenses fail online validation immediately. The server checks license status in Firestore on every /validate call, so a revoked license is blocked even if the local JWT has not expired yet.

Token Auto-Refresh

The SDK handles refresh transparently when calling /validate online.

Token Age          Action
-----------        ----------------------------------------
0 - 23 days        No refresh. Server validates and returns existing token.
23 - 30 days       Refresh window. Server issues a new 30-day token and
                   returns it in the response. SDK stores it locally.
Expired            Token has expired. User must go online to re-activate.
                   (Token validity varies by threat level: 30d / 1d / 3d.)
Post-grace         Hard block. User must go online to re-activate.

Refresh is automatic

No code change needed in your plugin. The SDK's check_license() call handles token refresh internally. See the Python SDK docs for details.

Choosing the Right Type

Is the user an individual or small team?
    Yes -> Per-machine (indie or studio variant)

Is the deployment a render farm or pipeline tool?
    Yes -> Floating (render-farm variant)

Is the buyer a whole studio / facility?
    Yes -> Site license