Introduction

OwnLicense is a licensing system for software you sell outside the app stores. It runs as a Worker in your own Cloudflare account, charges through your own Stripe account and keeps your customers’ data in your account, not ours.

These docs describe the product as we plan to offer it. The licensing system itself already exists and runs our own desktop apps; the installer, the central service and the SDKs for other makers are still to be built. Nobody can use it or sign up for it yet: there’s only a waitlist.

Who it’s for

Any product that unlocks with a key:

• desktop apps for Windows, Mac and Linux;
• plugins and extensions (WordPress, editors, DAWs, browsers…);
• games, CLI tools and self-hosted web apps;
• APIs or services with access keys per device, server or seat.

Activating, renewing and validating is an HTTP API, and the token your app receives is signed with Ed25519, so any language can verify it offline.

Two cases to watch

• App Store and Google Play. Inside the stores, their rules require in-app purchase to unlock digital content (with exceptions in some countries). OwnLicense fits the version you sell outside the store.
• SaaS with user accounts. These usually don’t need license keys, since users already sign in.

What’s in these docs

• How it works: your Worker, your Stripe and what the central service would add.
• Concepts: apps, plans, licenses, devices and tokens.
• Activate a license in your app: the first integration step.
• Reference: POST /v1/activate: parameters, responses and errors.

More guides (renewing, free and trial licenses, add-ons, the admin and the customer portal) will come before the beta.