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Licensing

A TideCloak license authorizes a realm to use Tide's Cybersecurity Fabric and sets limits such as the maximum number of users. Licensing is handled by the payer ORKs in coordination with Stripe, so the license itself is anchored to keys held in the decentralized fabric rather than to any single server. The Set up this realm wizard provisions an initial free-tier license, and from then on the license is viewed, activated, and renewed from the tide-console.

This page explains the two flows that keep a realm licensed: initial checkout and activation, and the periodic renewal that rotates the license key. For the task-by-task steps in the console, see Setting Up and Managing a TideCloak License.

Checkout and Activation​

When a user requests a license, TideCloak opens a Stripe checkout session through the payer ORKs, which set the billing anchor and return an activation package and redirect URL. Once the user completes checkout, two things happen in parallel: TideCloak polls to confirm the license became active, and a Stripe webhook drives the payer ORKs to pause the subscription, gather invoice and customer details, and issue a license valid through the current period end plus a grace window. The grace window is why a realm stays usable across the boundary of a billing period while a fresh key is minted.

Renewal and Key Rotation​

TideCloak renews automatically every 30 days. A renewal is two stages. First, a new license key is requested (either manually or by the scheduler), the subscription is updated with new vendor data, Stripe metadata is updated and the subscription resumed, and the vendor data is saved.

Second, the subscription is updated with the new license: the subscription is validated, metadata updated, and any draft invoices processed before the subscription resumes. The unpaid-months guard is what protects the realm from silently running indefinitely on an unpaid subscription. To finish a renewal, the admin re-signs the realm configuration with the new key via the Secure Settings link in the renewal email.