On-prem deployments can enforce a signed license file that controls the number of allowed seats and the license expiry date. Your ManyLayers account contact issues license files during onboarding.

​
How licensing works

  • License files are cryptographically signed JSON documents
  • The gateway verifies the signature on startup
  • An absent license_file (empty string or omitted) keeps unlimited default behavior
  • A configured but invalid license file causes the gateway to refuse to start — it fails closed rather than granting unauthorized access

​
Installing your license

1

Receive your license file

Your ManyLayers account contact provides a signed customer.json license file. The file looks like:
{
  "seats": 100,
  "expires_at": "2026-12-31T00:00:00Z",
  "sig": "base64-encoded-signature"
}
2

Place the license file on your server

scp customer.json server:/etc/manylayers/
For Kubernetes, create a secret:
kubectl create secret generic manylayers-license \
  --namespace manylayers \
  --from-file=license.json=customer.json
3

Configure the gateway

billing:
  license_file: /etc/manylayers/customer.json
Restart the gateway. On startup you will see:
INFO on-prem license loaded seats=100 expires_at=2026-12-31T00:00:00Z

​
License verification behavior

license_fileBehavior
Empty / omittedUnlimited — no seat enforcement
Set, valid signatureLicense enforced (seats and expiry)
Set, invalid signatureGateway refuses to start
Set, file missingGateway refuses to start

​
Renewing your license

Contact your ManyLayers account contact before your license expires to receive a renewed license file. Replace the file on your server and restart the gateway to apply the new license.