License & activation
How the one-time license works, how an install activates, and what happens if piqo.app can't be reached.
Buying a license
Licenses are sold at piqo.app/self-hosted. Payment is one-time through Stripe. The key is emailed to you and shown on your licenses page, where you can also see and remove installs.
- Startup Founders: one install, unlimited sites on it.
- Agency: unlimited installs, so each client can have their own container.
An “install” is one running container, identified by the hostname in its APP_URL.
Activating
There are two ways. Both need APP_URL set to a public hostname first, because that hostname is what gets registered.
From the environment
PIQO_LICENSE_KEY=PIQOSH-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXXThe install activates itself on first boot and you never see the activation screen. This is what one-click deploys use.
From the activation screen
Leave the variable unset. After you create the owner account on /setup, you land on /activate. Paste the key there. Only the owner account can activate.
The daily check-in
Once a day the install contacts piqo.app with its key, hostname and version. That is how revocation, “remove install” from your licenses page, and the “update available” banner work. Visitor data is never part of it.
If piqo.app is unreachable, the install keeps working for 14 days from the last successful check-in. After that the dashboard locks until it can verify again. Tracking never stops: the collector keeps writing events throughout, so nothing is lost.
Moving to a new hostname
The hostname is the install. If you change APP_URL, the install re-registers under the new name and the old one stays listed. On a one-install license that means you'll hit the limit: remove the old install from your licenses page first, or deactivate from inside the app (Settings → License) before changing the URL.