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License administration

Open Server Administration → License to inspect or replace the installed license. This page requires full server administrator access. It shows the license type, edition, licensed modules, expiry and restart state, plus the machine identifier used for a machine-bound trial.

First license on a new server​

Create the first administrator before installing the license. An unlicensed server serves the one-time first-admin page as well as sign-in and license recovery. Open the terminal's setup link, enter your account details, and choose Create Administrator. The License page follows sign-in. If MFA is required, sign in and complete enrollment first. See First sign-in.

Install your license or trial key on that page. The Machine ID is shown there and in the installer output for a machine-bound trial. You do not need Ask CoderFlow for any of these steps.

Restart after the first license​

A server that started without a license stays in limited mode until it restarts. Once the key is accepted, the page says Restart the server to finish applying the license and tells you to restart the server on its host:

  • A server installed with the installer restarts with sudo systemctl restart coderflow.service.
  • An installation made with --no-systemd has no unit. Sign in as the dedicated account and run the restart command from the installer's last note.
  • Otherwise use the host's service or container manager, or run coder-server restart where the CoderFlow CLI started the server.

Then refresh the page. It moves on to Server Administration → License; open the dashboard for the setup guide.

The page shows Restart Server instead only where web-managed restart was turned on with Enable Web Updates; see Server Updates. It is off by default. If the page could not check that setting, it says so and gives the same host instructions.

Read status with Ask​

On a licensed Full-edition server, administrators can ask Ask CoderFlow “What license is installed and when does it expire?”, with Allow Actions off. Ask reads the same status as this panel; the key, signed tokens, machine identifier and commercial terms stay out of the answer.

Install or replace​

Installing or replacing a license is intentionally not available in Ask; use this panel instead. These are rare administrator actions involving a secret and potentially a floating license seat. Ask can open Server Administration → License for you, but you enter the credential and submit it here. Never paste a license key or authorization code into Ask.

After submitting, review the panel's result. You can ask for the installed status again while Ask is available. Navigation alone does not mean installation succeeded, and Ask does not automatically resume or repeat installation.

A server that started without a usable license remains in limited mode until it restarts, even after accepting a license. Ask is unavailable in that mode. Sign in as an administrator and use the license recovery page; once it accepts a license it says Restart the server to finish applying the license. Follow Restart after the first license. Installing a license and restarting the server are separate actions. The recovery page can request a web-managed restart only after a valid license has been accepted, and only where web-managed restart was turned on. Otherwise restart on the host as that section describes; Docker cleanup and server updates are unavailable in limited mode.

For command-line installation and floating-seat behavior, see Installation.