Chapter 13

Licensing

Source: docs/manual/13-licensing.md

Tiers

Tier	Description
Free	Same installer. Limited to 20 non-hydrogen atoms and 5 result tabs (Editor not counted).
Basic	One-time purchase. Full features on one computer. Includes the version line at activation, plus new version lines that ship within one year of purchase. Entitled builds remain usable afterward.

Purchase links are configured in the signed license policy (your vendor may update URLs without shipping a new installer).

Activate on this computer

About → License → Activate Basic... — enter the Basic key from your Creem receipt email.
About → License → Status... — view tier, update window end date, and allowed version lines.

Moving to a new computer

Basic allows one active machine. On the old PC: About → License → Deactivate. On the new PC: Activate Basic with the same key.

Offline use

After a successful online activation, Basic features work offline for a grace period (default 30 days, vendor-configurable). After that, connect to the internet and open License → Status to refresh.

Version lines, updates, and bug fixes

MOptima uses major.minor version lines (e.g. 0.4.x). Patch numbers (0.4.1, 0.4.2) are bug-fix releases on that line.

License (enforced):

At activation: the current major.minor line is entitled.
Within one year of purchase: any new version line whose first release falls in that period (e.g. 0.5.x) can be added to your entitlement when you validate online with that build.
After the update window: you keep using already entitled lines and any patch build on those lines (e.g. stay on 0.4.3 or move to 0.5.2 if 0.5 was entitled during the window). New lines that shipped after the window require a new Basic purchase.

Vendor maintenance (documented, not a license timer):

For each line x.y, MOptima typically ships bug-fix releases (x.y.1, x.y.2, …) for at least one year after `x.y` first ships. After that, the line may be frozen — no further patches from us, but your last entitled build on that line remains usable.

Example: if 0.4 shipped in 2026 and 0.5 ships within your first purchase year, you may use any entitled 0.4.x and 0.5.x builds you qualify for, even after the one-year update window ends.

Configuration file (optional)

The license API runs on your Cloudflare Pages domain (e.g. https://yourdomain.com/api/license). The application uses a built-in production URL at release time, or optionally license_client.json in ~/.moptima/ to override (useful for testing).

Policy updates (Free limits, purchase links, offline grace) are downloaded from that API; they do not configure the API address itself.

For technical architecture, see docs/LICENSE_SYSTEM.md in the source repository.