License Setup

Getting a License Key

1. Visit bext.dev/pricing and choose Pro or Enterprise 2. After purchase, you'll receive a license key starting with BEXT-PRO- or BEXT-ENTERPRISE- 3. Configure it using one of the methods below

Configuration

Option 1: Config file (recommended)

Add a [license] section to your bext.config.toml:

[license]
key = "BEXT-PRO-eyJ0aWVy..."

Option 2: Environment variable

export BEXT_LICENSE_KEY="BEXT-PRO-eyJ0aWVy..."
bext-server run .

If both are set, the environment variable takes precedence. This is useful for keeping keys out of config files in CI/CD.

Option 3: .env file

# .env
BEXT_LICENSE_KEY=BEXT-PRO-eyJ0aWVy...

bext automatically loads .env on startup.

Verifying Your License

Use the license CLI subcommand:

bext-server license

Output:

bext license

  Tier:       Pro
  Org:        Acme Corp
  Expires:    2027-04-03
  Remaining:  365 days
  Servers:    5

  Features (23):
    - adapters
    - auto-tls
    - cli
    - compression
    - deploys
    - flow-engine
    - h3-quic
    - http2
    - image
    - isr-cache
    - metrics
    - nginx-compat
    - otel
    - plugins-quickjs
    - plugins-nsjail
    - plugins-wasm
    - realtime
    - redis
    - seo
    - ssr
    - transforms
    - waf
    - websocket-proxy

Startup Behavior

When the server starts, it validates the license key and logs the result:

INFO License: Pro (Acme Corp)
INFO tier="Pro" features=23 "License validated successfully"

If a paid feature is configured but not licensed, you'll see an info message:

INFO WAF configured but requires a Pro license — skipping
INFO Real-time hub configured but requires a Pro license — skipping

The server never refuses to start. Unlicensed features are silently disabled.

How Keys Work

License keys are Ed25519-signed JSON payloads encoded in Base64:

BEXT-PRO-{base64_payload}.{base64_signature}

The payload contains your tier, org, server limit, and expiry date. Verification uses a public key embedded in the binary — no network calls are ever made.

Expiry

- Licenses have an expiry date set at purchase

- After expiry, there is a 14-day grace period where all features remain active

- After the grace period, the server falls back to the Community tier

- Renewal generates a new key — just update your config