Commands and scripting

Everything the app does is also a command. In a terminal, a command that's missing something asks for it (a policy to pick, a customer's email); in a script it never prompts, and says which flag is missing instead.

Naming a license

Anywhere a license is expected, give whichever you have:

You type	Matches
7QF2-EDRF-CJ78-RBRT	The full key
7QF2	A license whose key starts with this (if only one does)
[email protected]	The customer's email (if they have one license)
1dac7798-d6db-…	The license id

With nothing, in a terminal, you get a list to pick from.

Licenses

sunlicense licenses                              # all, newest first; keys masked
sunlicense licenses --status active -s acme      # filter by status and text
sunlicense licenses --product "Acme Paint" --reveal

sunlicense licenses show [email protected]     # details, machines and recent checks
sunlicense licenses issue                        # asks for policy and customer; copies the key
sunlicense licenses issue --policy Studio --product "Acme Paint" --email [email protected] --name "Olivia Chen"
sunlicense licenses revoke 7QF2                  # asks first; --yes to skip
sunlicense licenses suspend 7QF2 --yes
sunlicense licenses reinstate 7QF2
sunlicense licenses download 7QF2 -o olivia.lic  # signed offline file (- for stdout)

Products and policies

sunlicense products
sunlicense products create "Acme Paint" --description "Raster image editor"
sunlicense policies --product "Acme Paint"
sunlicense policies create --product "Acme Paint" --name Studio --type subscription --machines 3 --days 365
sunlicense policies create --product "Acme Paint" --name Lifetime --type perpetual --machines 0   # 0 = unlimited

A product is the app you sell; a policy is the terms its licenses get. Policies can be named the same in different products, so add --product when a name repeats.

API keys

sunlicense keys
sunlicense keys create --name "Acme Editor 2.x"   # shown once
sunlicense keys revoke "Acme Editor 2.x" --yes    # by name, prefix or id

Account

Command
sunlicense login [--email E] [--local | --server URL]	Sign in (details)
sunlicense signup	Create an organization and sign in as its Owner
sunlicense whoami	Organization, role, plan, server, session time left
sunlicense switch [account]	List saved accounts, or switch to one
sunlicense logout [account] [--all]	Sign out
sunlicense open	Open the web dashboard

Scripts and CI

Add --json to any command for machine-readable output. It's the API's data as-is, so license keys are not masked in JSON.

KEY=$(sunlicense licenses issue --policy Pro --product "Acme Editor" \
        --email [email protected] --json | jq -r .key)
sunlicense licenses revoke "$KEY" --yes
sunlicense licenses --status active --json | jq length

To sign in without a prompt:

echo "$SUNLICENSE_PASSWORD" | sunlicense login --email [email protected] --password-stdin

or pass an existing session token in SUNLICENSE_TOKEN (with SUNLICENSE_SERVER for a server other than production); nothing is written to disk then. Use a member with the smallest role that can do the job.

Test an integration

These use an API key, exactly like your app, not your session:

export SUNLICENSE_API_KEY=slk_...
sunlicense validate --key 7QF2-EDRF-CJ78-RBRT                       # ✓ VALID, and activates this machine
sunlicense validate --key 7QF2-EDRF-CJ78-RBRT --fingerprint machine-b
sunlicense deactivate --key 7QF2-EDRF-CJ78-RBRT                     # free this machine's slot
sunlicense verify-offline --file license-7QF2.lic                    # no network; uses your org's key when signed in
sunlicense verify-offline --file license-7QF2.lic --public-key public-key.txt
sunlicense fingerprint                                              # this machine's id

The fingerprint is the CLI's own machine id. Each SDK computes its own, so pass --fingerprint to act on a machine your app registered.

Exit codes

Code	Meaning
0	Done (for validate and verify-offline: valid)
1	Failed, or the license is not valid
2	validate / deactivate could not reach SunLicense (your app should fall back to its offline license)
130	You cancelled a prompt

Environment variables

Variable
SUNLICENSE_SERVER	API server for login and signup (default https://api.sunlicense.com)
SUNLICENSE_TOKEN	Use this session token instead of a saved account
SUNLICENSE_CONFIG	Where sessions are saved
SUNLICENSE_API_KEY	API key for validate and deactivate
SUNLICENSE_PUBLIC_KEY	Public key for verify-offline
NO_COLOR	Plain output, no colours