Manage the license

How Bonita Process Designer enforces its license, how to activate and validate a license, and what happens when the license is missing, invalid, or expired.

Bonita Process Designer is a licensed product. A license gate protects access to the application. Until a valid license is present, the application blocks access and redirects administrators to the license page so the license can be activated.

Only an Admin can activate, validate, or deactivate the license. See Roles and permissions.

How the license gate works

Every request to Bonita Process Designer passes through the license gate before it reaches the application. The gate checks that a valid license is in place:

  • If the license is valid, the request continues normally and the application is fully usable.

  • If the license is missing, invalid, or expired, the request is rejected with an HTTP 402 Payment Required response, and the user interface redirects an administrator to the license page so the license can be activated or renewed.

License status is checked at startup and re-validated periodically while the application runs, so an expired or revoked license is detected without requiring a restart.

Activate a license

When Bonita Process Designer starts without a valid license, administrators are sent to the license page. From there an Admin enters the license key supplied by Bonitasoft and activates it.

After activation, the license is stored with the installation and validated automatically. Once a valid license is in place, the gate stops redirecting and the application becomes available to all users according to their roles and permissions.

Validate the license

You can re-check the current license at any time from the license page. Validation confirms that the stored license is still valid and not expired. This is useful after renewing a license or when troubleshooting unexpected access blocks.

Deactivate a license

An Admin can deactivate the active license from the license page. Deactivating releases the license from this installation so it can be activated on another machine — useful when you move Bonita Process Designer to new hardware or retire an environment.

Once the license is deactivated, the license gate blocks the application again and administrators are redirected to the license page. Activate a valid license to restore access.

What happens when the license is invalid or expired

When no valid license is in place, the license gate blocks the application:

  • All requests receive a 402 Payment Required response.

  • Users cannot view, create, or edit diagrams.

  • An Admin is redirected to the license page to activate or renew the license.

Restore access by activating a current license. As soon as a valid license is recorded, normal access resumes for every user.