# Pro licence keys

Community is free under the AGPL-3.0 and needs no key. Pro is a yearly licence for your own business, and it unlocks the Pro features on your install. This page follows a key from purchase to renewal.

## 1. Buy

Choose Self-host Pro on the [Self-host](/self-host) page and pay by card. When the payment is confirmed, a key is made for you and emailed once to the address on the payment. We keep only a fingerprint of the key, never the key itself, so it cannot be shown again. Keep the email.

## 2. Install the key

Add it to the `.env` of your install and restart:

```bash
DOCUSTAY_LICENSE_KEY=<the key from the email>
```

```bash
docker compose up -d
```

The install checks the key against the public key shipped with it (`license-public.pem`). That check happens on your machine: a key is valid if it was signed by us, has not ended, and was not cancelled.

## 3. Renewal

When your yearly payment succeeds, the key is extended to the end of the paid year plus 14 days of grace, so a late card does not switch your install off. You do not need to change anything: an install that can reach docustay.app renews its record by itself.

## 4. Working offline

An install with no route to the internet cannot renew by itself. Open Settings and download the usage report (it holds five whole numbers and an install id, never a document, name or address), and send it to us when we ask. You can also turn off the daily anonymous ping with `DOCUSTAY_TELEMETRY=off`; the key still works.

## 5. When the licence ends

If you cancel or the grace days pass, the Pro features stop. Your documents, signed PDFs and settings are not touched, and the install keeps running as Community. Nothing is deleted.

## Lost key?

Write to the address on your payment receipt.