Licensing and activation
Self-hosted servers need a licence key. Cloud doesn't — it's included there.
Activating
Get a key
From whoever you bought Chronicler from. It's a long signed token, not a short serial number.
Admin → Licensing
Paste it into Licence key and choose Verify & activate. The server checks
it with api.chroniclerlm.com and stores the result.
Confirm
The panel should show Active, with your plan, expiry date and seats used.
What happens without one
The server starts and you can sign in, but anything that touches documents — chat, uploads, collections, search, sharing — returns an error. Activation and the licence terms stay reachable, so you can always un-block yourself.
The periodic check
Your server re-verifies its licence with api.chroniclerlm.com every 30
minutes, whether or not anyone has the app open. The check sends the licence key
and an install identifier. It does not send document content, user names, or
anything about what people are asking.
If the check fails
A failed check changes nothing at first. Chronicler keeps a 72-hour grace period measured from the last successful check, so a rebooted router or a maintenance window is invisible.
Past 72 hours with no successful check, the server blocks the document features until one succeeds again. Nothing is deleted, and it recovers by itself the moment connectivity returns.
api.chroniclerlm.com. On a locked-down network, allow that host. A server
with no internet access at all cannot stay licensed.One install per key
A key binds to the first install that activates it. Trying the same key on a second server reports Active on another install rather than quietly working in two places.
To move a server — new hardware, a rebuild — release the binding from the old install first (Admin → Licensing), then activate on the new one. If the old install is already gone, ask your supplier to release the seat.
The install identity lives in the backend_uploads volume, so a normal update or
restart keeps it. Deleting that volume loses it.
Seats
If your plan caps accounts, Admin → Licensing shows seats used against the limit, and creating an account beyond it fails. Suspending a user does not free a seat; deleting them does.
Renewing and upgrading
Paste the new token into the same field and activate. There's no need to remove the old one first, and no downtime.
Reading the status
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Active | Everything is fine. |
| No licence activated | Nothing has been activated on this install yet. |
| Licence key not found | The key isn't recognised. Check for a truncated paste. |
| Active on another install | Already bound elsewhere. Release it there first. |
| Expired | The term ended. Paste a renewal token. |
| Revoked | Cancelled by the issuer. Talk to your supplier. |
| Over seat limit | More accounts than the plan allows. Remove accounts or upgrade. |
Last checked on the same panel tells you when the last successful check happened. If it's hours old, the server is having trouble reaching the licence service — check outbound HTTPS before anything else.