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Prepared License

Pre-configure license keys for automated license activation.

Manual vs Prepared Licensing​

Manual:

  1. Start EmailEngine
  2. Log into the admin interface
  3. Open License in the menu
  4. Paste the license key, or click Upload License File
  5. Click Activate License

Prepared (automated):

export EENGINE_PREPARED_LICENSE="your-license-key-here"
emailengine

At startup EmailEngine verifies the key and stores it in Redis, logging License imported. A key that does not verify, or one that has already expired, is fatal: the log shows License import failed and the process exits with status 13, so a wrong value stops the deployment rather than running it unlicensed. The _FILE form (EENGINE_PREPARED_LICENSE_FILE=/run/secrets/license) reads the key from a file, which is the simplest way to pass the multi-line format through a container secret.

License Key Formats​

EENGINE_PREPARED_LICENSE supports two formats:

Format 1: Normal License Key (PEM Format)​

The standard license key format provided by https://postalsys.com/:

export EENGINE_PREPARED_LICENSE="-----BEGIN LICENSE-----
Application: EmailEngine
Licensed to: Postal Systems OÜ

h6FspGM0NTSha6gwY2FlMjY2Y6Fus0V4YW1wbGUgQ29tcGFueSBJbmOhaKNBQ1OhYbFAZXhhbX
BsZS9kZW1vLWFwcKFjzwAAAZnw+ZsOoXPEK0VYQU1QTEVfU0lHTkFUVVJFX05PVF9WQUxJRF9G
T1JfUFVCTElDX0RFTU8=
-----END LICENSE-----"

emailengine

This is the recommended format - copy the license key exactly as shown in your account at https://postalsys.com/.

Format 2: Exported License Key​

A single-line form produced by the EmailEngine CLI. It is the base64url encoding of the license body, with the header lines and the BEGIN/END markers stripped, so it survives environments that cannot carry newlines:

emailengine license export --dbs.redis="redis://localhost:6379"

The command prints the encoded key on stdout without a trailing newline. Use it on another instance:

export EENGINE_PREPARED_LICENSE="i0-AgqFsxFWFoWvEDGC7abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz"
emailengine

EmailEngine tells the two formats apart by looking for BEGIN LICENSE: anything without that marker is treated as the encoded form.

Use case: Transfer license from one EmailEngine instance to another without accessing the license portal.

Configuration Methods​

PEM format (recommended):

export EENGINE_PREPARED_LICENSE="-----BEGIN LICENSE-----
Application: EmailEngine
Licensed to: Your Company Name

eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz...
-----END LICENSE-----"

emailengine

Exported format:

export EENGINE_PREPARED_LICENSE="i0-AgqFsxFWFoWvEDGC7abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz"
emailengine

From a file:

export EENGINE_PREPARED_LICENSE_FILE=/etc/emailengine/license.txt
emailengine

Verification​

Check license status via API:

curl https://emailengine.example.com/v1/license \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_TOKEN"

Response:

{
  "active": true,
  "details": {
    "application": "@postalsys/emailengine-app",
    "key": "1edf01e35e75ed3425808eba",
    "licensedTo": "Kreata OÜ",
    "hostname": "emailengine.example.com",
    "created": "2021-10-13T07:47:42.695Z"
  },
  "type": "EmailEngine License",
  "suspended": false
}

Without a license, active is false and details is false. The startup log also reports the outcome: License imported on success, and No active license. Running in limited mode. when nothing valid is stored.

License Management​

Update license:

  1. Change EENGINE_PREPARED_LICENSE environment variable
  2. Restart EmailEngine

The prepared key is imported on every startup, so the new license replaces the stored one at the next restart.

Remove license via API:

curl -X DELETE https://emailengine.example.com/v1/license \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_TOKEN"

While EENGINE_PREPARED_LICENSE stays set, the key returns at the next restart. Remove the variable as well to keep the instance unlicensed.

See Also​