license-keys

Dodo Payments License Keys

License keys authorize access to your digital products. Use them for software licensing, per-seat controls, and gating premium features.

When to use this skill

• Implementing end-user license activation and validation flows
• Building merchant dashboards to manage customer license keys
• Handling license expiry, activation limits, and subscription-linked revocation
• Integrating license checks into desktop apps, CLIs, or web services
• Reacting to license lifecycle webhooks

Core concepts

License Key Entitlements deliver keys when a product is purchased. The entitlement config supplies activation limits, optional duration, and fulfillment mode (auto or manual).

Three distinct resources:

1. client.licenses.* — end-user activation flow (public, no API key required)

   • activate() — activate a key on a device
   • validate() — check if a key is valid
   • deactivate() — free an activation slot

2. Entitlement grants — merchant-side reads and revocation (requires API key)

   • client.customers.listEntitlementGrants(), client.entitlements.grants.list() — list issued keys (each license-key grant carries a license_key object)
   • client.entitlements.grants.revoke() — revoke a key
   • client.licenseKeys.create() — still supported, for importing existing keys
   • client.licenseKeys.list() / retrieve() / update() are deprecated (GET /license_keys, GET/PATCH /license_keys/{id}); use the grant endpoints above instead

3. client.licenseKeyInstances.* — per-device activation instances (requires API key)

   • list(), retrieve(), update() — track active devices per key

Activation limits: blank/null means unlimited; otherwise it's the maximum concurrent activations. Attempting to activate beyond the limit returns 422.

Expiry semantics:

• One-time-payment keys honor the entitlement duration.
• Subscription-issued keys have no independent expiry; Dodo drives their validity from subscription state automatically: past_due leaves them active, on_hold and paused disable them until the subscription recovers or resumes, cancelled/expired disable them permanently, and plan_changed replaces them. A one-time refund.succeeded also disables them. You do not need to disable keys yourself.
• Imported keys use nullable expires_at; null means perpetual.

---

End-User Activation Flow

Activate a license key

import DodoPayments from 'dodopayments';

// The license endpoints are public and don't check the token, but the SDK
// constructor requires a value. Never ship your secret API key in client software.
// Set the environment explicitly: the SDK defaults to live_mode.
const client = new DodoPayments({ bearerToken: 'public', environment: 'test_mode' });

async function activateLicense(licenseKey: string, deviceName: string) {
  try {
    const response = await client.licenses.activate({
      license_key: licenseKey,
      name: deviceName, // e.g., "John's MacBook Pro"
    });

    return {
      success: true,
      instanceId: response.id,
      customerId: response.customer.customer_id,
      productId: response.product.product_id,
    };
  } catch (error: any) {
    if (error.status === 422) {
      return { success: false, error: 'Activation limit reached' };
    }
    return { success: false, error: error.message || 'Activation failed' };
  }
}

Response includes id (instance ID), business_id, name, license_key_id, created_at, customer details, and product details.

Validate a license key

import DodoPayments from 'dodopayments';

const client = new DodoPayments({ bearerToken: 'public', environment: 'test_mode' }); // public endpoints: placeholder token; use 'live_mode' in production

async function validateLicense(licenseKey: string, instanceId: string) {
  try {
    const response = await client.licenses.validate({
      license_key: licenseKey,
      // Also checks that THIS device's activation still exists, so a
      // deactivated device stops validating even though the key is active.
      license_key_instance_id: instanceId,
    });

    return { valid: response.valid };
  } catch (error) {
    return { valid: false };
  }
}

Without license_key_instance_id, validation only checks that the key is active and unexpired. Pass the instance ID you stored at activation.

Deactivate a license

import DodoPayments from 'dodopayments';

const client = new DodoPayments({ bearerToken: 'public', environment: 'test_mode' }); // public endpoints: placeholder token; use 'live_mode' in production

async function deactivateLicense(licenseKey: string, instanceId: string) {
  try {
    await client.licenses.deactivate({
      license_key: licenseKey,
      license_key_instance_id: instanceId,
    });

    return { success: true };
  } catch (error: any) {
    return { success: false, error: error.message };
  }
}

---

Merchant-Side Key Management

List a customer's license keys

client.licenseKeys.list(), retrieve(), and update() are deprecated. Read keys through the entitlement grant endpoints; each license-key grant carries a license_key object (key, status, expires_at, activations_used, activations_limit), which is null on a manual-mode grant still Pending.

import DodoPayments from 'dodopayments';

const client = new DodoPayments({
  bearerToken: process.env.DODO_PAYMENTS_API_KEY,
  environment: 'test_mode',
});

async function listCustomerKeys(customerId: string) {
  const keys = [];
  for await (const grant of client.customers.listEntitlementGrants(customerId, {
    integration_type: 'license_key',
    status: 'Delivered',
  })) {
    if (!grant.license_key) continue;
    keys.push({
      grantId: grant.id,
      entitlementId: grant.entitlement_id,
      key: grant.license_key.key,
      status: grant.license_key.status,
      expiresAt: grant.license_key.expires_at,
      activationsUsed: grant.license_key.activations_used,
      activationsLimit: grant.license_key.activations_limit,
    });
  }
  return keys;
}

To list every key issued for one License Key entitlement, use client.entitlements.grants.list('ent_...', { status: 'Delivered' }).

Revoke a license key

// Disables the key with revocation_reason: manual. Manually revoked keys are
// not re-granted on subscription renewal.
await client.entitlements.grants.revoke('entg_abc123', { id: 'ent_license_key_id' });

Import a license key (POST /license_keys)

Use this to migrate keys from another system. Imported keys do not trigger a customer email; notify the customer yourself. For keys Dodo issues, Dodo emails them.

const newKey = await client.licenseKeys.create({
  customer_id: 'cus_abc123',
  key: 'PREMIUM-AAAA-BBBB-CCCC',
  product_id: 'pdt_abc123',
  activations_limit: 5,
  expires_at: new Date(Date.now() + 365 * 24 * 60 * 60 * 1000).toISOString(),
});

console.log(newKey.key); // The actual license key string

---

List Activation Instances

import DodoPayments from 'dodopayments';

const client = new DodoPayments({
  bearerToken: process.env.DODO_PAYMENTS_API_KEY,
  environment: 'test_mode',
});

// List all instances for a specific license key
for await (const instance of client.licenseKeyInstances.list({
  license_key_id: 'lk_abc123',
})) {
  console.log({
    id: instance.id,
    name: instance.name,
    createdAt: instance.created_at,
  });
}

Optional query fields: page_size (default 10, max 100), page_number (default 0), license_key_id, and grant_id.

---

Desktop App Integration

Full guide: references/desktop-app.md.

Covers:

• Electron app example
• React component for license input

CLI Tool Integration

Full guide: references/cli-tool.md.

Covers:

• Node.js CLI example
• CLI commands

Webhook Integration

Handle license key delivery

Dodo generates and emails each auto-fulfilled key to the customer (including the entitlement's activation message), and it disables, re-enables, and replaces keys as the subscription changes state. Your webhook only needs to mirror that state for your own records - do not email keys yourself and do not disable keys on cancellation.

When a product with licensing enabled is purchased, an auto-fulfilled key arrives as entitlement_grant.created with status: "Delivered" and a license_key object; no separate entitlement_grant.delivered follows. entitlement_grant.delivered fires only when a grant moves to Delivered later (for example, when you manually fulfill a Pending grant, or a revoked grant is restored), so handle both:

// app/api/webhooks/dodo/route.ts
import { NextRequest, NextResponse } from 'next/server';
import DodoPayments from 'dodopayments';

const client = new DodoPayments({
  bearerToken: process.env.DODO_PAYMENTS_API_KEY,
  webhookKey: process.env.DODO_PAYMENTS_WEBHOOK_KEY,
  environment: process.env.DODO_PAYMENTS_ENVIRONMENT === 'live_mode' ? 'live_mode' : 'test_mode',
});

export async function POST(req: NextRequest) {
  try {
    const body = await req.text();
    const event = client.webhooks.unwrap(body, {
      headers: {
        'webhook-id': req.headers.get('webhook-id') || '',
        'webhook-signature': req.headers.get('webhook-signature') || '',
        'webhook-timestamp': req.headers.get('webhook-timestamp') || '',
      },
    });

    if (
      (event.type === 'entitlement_grant.created' || event.type === 'entitlement_grant.delivered') &&
      event.data.status === 'Delivered' &&
      event.data.license_key // other entitlement types (and Pending manual grants) have no key
    ) {
      // Dodo emails the key to the customer itself, so there is no email to send here.
      await mirrorGrant(event.data, 'active');
    }

    if (event.type === 'entitlement_grant.revoked') {
      // Dodo already disabled the key (cancellation, expiry, refund, on_hold,
      // pause, plan change, or manual revoke). Mirror it locally.
      await mirrorGrant(event.data, 'revoked');
    }

    return NextResponse.json({ received: true });
  } catch (error) {
    console.error('Webhook error:', error);
    return NextResponse.json({ error: 'Invalid signature' }, { status: 401 });
  }
}

type Grant = DodoPayments.Entitlements.EntitlementGrant;

// Webhooks can arrive out of order and be retried concurrently. Apply a grant
// only when it is newer than the stored copy (by the grant's own updated_at),
// using a conditional UPDATE so a stale "delivered" can never overwrite a newer
// "revoked". If no row exists yet - including a revocation that arrives before
// the delivery - insert one; the unique externalId keeps concurrent inserts
// safe, and the loser retries the conditional update so the newest grant wins.
async function mirrorGrant(grant: Grant, status: 'active' | 'revoked') {
  const grantUpdatedAt = new Date(grant.updated_at);
  const fields = {
    customerId: grant.customer_id,
    status,
    grantUpdatedAt,
    ...(grant.license_key && {
      key: grant.license_key.key,
      expiresAt: grant.license_key.expires_at ? new Date(grant.license_key.expires_at) : null,
      activationsLimit: grant.license_key.activations_limit,
    }),
  };

  const applyIfNewer = () =>
    prisma.license.updateMany({
      where: { externalId: grant.id, grantUpdatedAt: { lt: grantUpdatedAt } },
      data: fields,
    });

  const updated = await applyIfNewer();
  if (updated.count > 0) return;

  // Either no row yet, or the stored copy is already as new or newer.
  const inserted = await prisma.license.createMany({
    data: [{ externalId: grant.id, ...fields }],
    skipDuplicates: true,
  });
  if (inserted.count === 0) {
    // A concurrent webhook inserted the row first. It may hold an OLDER grant,
    // so re-run the conditional update; it is a no-op if the row is newer.
    await applyIfNewer();
  }
}

Webhook events:

• entitlement_grant.created — grant created; status: "Delivered" with a license_key for auto-fulfilled keys (the primary issuance event), status: "Pending" with no key for manual fulfillment
• entitlement_grant.delivered — an existing grant moved to Delivered (manual fulfillment, or a revoked grant restored); not sent for auto-fulfilled keys
• entitlement_grant.revoked — license key revoked (Dodo already disabled it; mirror the state, inspect revocation_reason)
• license_key.created — legacy event (still fires, but use entitlement_grant.* for new integrations)

Subscription cancelled/expired/on_hold/paused events need no license action from you: Dodo disables the keys itself, and licenses.validate() reflects it immediately.

---

Common Mistakes

1. Validating only at install time

Don't validate once and trust forever. Validate periodically (e.g., weekly) to catch revoked or expired keys.

// Bad: validate once
if (await validateLicense(key)) {
  store.set('trusted', true);
}

// Good: validate on each startup
const isValid = await validateLicense(key);
if (!isValid) {
  // Fail closed
  process.exit(1);
}

2. Not handling activation-limit errors

When a user hits the activation limit, they need a clear path to deactivate an old device.

try {
  await client.licenses.activate({ license_key: key, name: deviceName });
} catch (error: any) {
  if (error.status === 422) {
    // Show UI: "You've reached your activation limit. Deactivate a device first."
    // Provide a list of active instances so they can choose which to remove.
  }
}

3. Trusting client-side validation alone

Always validate on your server before granting access to sensitive features.

// Bad: trust the client
if (localStorage.getItem('license_valid')) {
  showPremiumFeature();
}

// Good: validate server-side
const response = await fetch('/api/validate-license', {
  method: 'POST',
  body: JSON.stringify({ licenseKey }),
});
const { valid } = await response.json();
if (valid) {
  showPremiumFeature();
}

4. Hardcoding license keys

Never embed keys in client code or version control.

// Bad
const LICENSE_KEY = 'PRO-AAAA-BBBB-CCCC-DDDD';

// Good
const licenseKey = process.env.DODO_LICENSE_KEY;
// or read from user input / secure storage

5. Not storing the instance ID

The instance ID is required for deactivation. Store it alongside the key.

// Bad: only store the key
store.set('license_key', key);

// Good: store both
store.set('license', {
  key,
  instanceId: response.id,
  activatedAt: new Date().toISOString(),
  lastValidatedAt: new Date().toISOString(),
});

6. Failing open on validation errors

If validation fails (network error, server down), fail closed. Don't grant access.

// Bad: assume valid if offline
try {
  const valid = await validateLicense(key);
  return valid;
} catch {
  return true; // WRONG: grants access on error
}

// Good: fail closed, with optional grace period
try {
  const valid = await validateLicense(key);
  return valid;
} catch {
  // Only trust local cache if within grace period
  const lastValidated = store.get('last_validated_at');
  const daysSince = (Date.now() - lastValidated) / (1000 * 60 * 60 * 24);
  return daysSince < 30;
}

---

Resources

• License Keys Guide
• Activate License API
• Validate License API
• Deactivate License API
• License Key Instances API
• List Customer Grants API
• Entitlement Grant Webhooks
• Webhook Verification