How to Add License Keys to Your Software
To add license keys to your software, sell it on a platform that issues one key per sale, then have your app activate the key once and validate it on launch. Pocketsflow does this for one-time products: switch on License keys for the product, and every sale gets its own key, which your app checks against Pocketsflow's public license endpoints with no secret key inside the app.
What a license key does
A license key ties one purchase to the copies of your software that may run. The buyer pays, gets a key, and types it into your app. Your app asks the seller's server whether the key is real and how many devices already use it. With Pocketsflow, the key also follows the order: when an order is refunded or disputed, Pocketsflow disables its key, so the copy stops validating without any code on your side.
How Pocketsflow license keys work
- One key per sale. Each sale of a Pocketsflow product with keys turned on gets one key, like
7KQ2M-X9D4R-T3VWB-8HNPC. Payment retries never create a second key. - Hard to guess. Pocketsflow keys are four groups of five characters from a random source, about 100 bits. Input is forgiving: case, spaces and dashes are ignored.
- Activation limit. You choose how many devices one key may activate, or leave it unlimited. Pocketsflow copies the limit onto each key when it is issued, so changing it later never takes seats from buyers who already paid.
- Where the buyer finds it. The key is in the Pocketsflow receipt email, in the buyer's purchases, on the order in your dashboard and in the
order.completedwebhook.
How to add license keys with Pocketsflow
- Create a free Pocketsflow account and add your software as a one-time product, with the installer as the file.
- In the product editor, open License keys and switch on "Generate a license key for each sale".
- Optionally set an activation limit, for example 3 for "three computers".
- Copy the product id: it is the last part of the product's address in the Pocketsflow dashboard. Your app sends it with every license call.
- When the user enters a key, call
POST /licenses/activateonapi.pocketsflow.comwithproductId,licenseKeyand aninstanceIdfor that device. - Save the key and the
instanceIdon the device. On every launch, callPOST /licenses/validatewith both, so Pocketsflow checks that this install holds one of the key's activations. Readvalid, andcodewhen it is false. - When the user moves to a new computer, call
POST /licenses/deactivateto free the seat.
Pocketsflow's license endpoints need no Authorization header, answer any origin and allow 60 requests a minute per IP. Every answer has the same shape, so one function in your app handles all three.
Handle the answers Pocketsflow sends
| Answer | What your app does |
|---|---|
valid: true | Unlock the app and cache the result |
activation_limit_reached | Ask the user to deactivate another device |
license_disabled | Lock the app: the order was refunded, disputed or switched off |
instance_not_found | Ask the user to activate the key on this device again |
license_not_found | Show "check the key" and let the user retype it |
rate_limited | Not a bad key: keep the cached result and try again later |
Cache the last good Pocketsflow validation and allow a grace period offline. A network error at launch should never lock out a paying customer.
What a license sale costs on Pocketsflow
Pocketsflow license keys come with every plan, including the free one. Pocketsflow charges 4.7% + $0.30 per sale, with card processing and sales tax handling included, as of October 2026.
| Point | Pocketsflow fee |
|---|---|
| $19 | $1.19 |
| $49 | $2.60 |
| $149 | $7.30 |
Source: Pocketsflow pricing (www.pocketsflow.com/pricing), 4.7% + $0.30 per sale, October 2026. Prices from the Pocketsflow apps page examples.
On a $19.00 Mac app, Pocketsflow takes $1.19. On a $49.00 Pro license it takes $2.60, and on a $149.00 team license $7.30. Pocketsflow is the merchant of record, so the VAT and sales tax on each license are collected and paid for you.
Manage Pocketsflow keys from your dashboard, API or AI
Support requests about licenses are usually "I replaced my laptop" or "please turn my key back on". In Pocketsflow, open Orders, pick the order and use its License key panel to disable, enable or reset activations. The same actions are on the Pocketsflow API with your API key, and as 5 MCP tools, such as reset_license_key_activations, so you can ask Claude or Cursor to fix a customer's key in one sentence.
When Pocketsflow license keys are not the right fit
Pocketsflow license keys are for one-time products. For a subscription, grant and remove access from Pocketsflow's subscription webhooks instead; per-seat plans, on the Pocketsflow Pro plan, can issue one key per subscriber. If you already run your own license server, skip Pocketsflow keys and unlock from the order.completed webhook. See Pocketsflow for apps for the full setup, and how to sell SaaS with AI agents over MCP for subscription billing.