Product Activation

Information

PSPDFKit Server has been deprecated and replaced by PSPDFKit Document Engine. All PSPDFKit Server and PSPDFKit for Web Server-Backed licenses will work as before and be supported until 15 May 2024 (we will contact you about license migration). To start using Document Engine, refer to the migration guide. With Document Engine, you’ll have access to robust new capabilities (read the blog for more information).

PSPDFKit is a commercial product, and each installation needs to be activated according to your license.

  1. This activation happens via the ACTIVATION_KEY, which you configure as part of PSPDFKit Server’s container environment — for example, in the docker-compose.yml file.

  2. The first time this container is started, it will authenticate the key against the PSPDFKit Portal and store license-related data in the configured database.

  3. Each installation is identified by data stored in the configured database; the PSPDFKit Server containers are meant to be treated as ephemeral.

  4. Production activation keys can only be used once, while trial and development keys have no such limitation.

If you see the following error message in the server logs, you need to set a valid ACTIVATION_KEY:

No `ACTIVATION_KEY` or `LICENSE_KEY` set. You need to set one of them in your `docker-compose.yml`. https://pspdfkit.com/guides/server/deployment/product-activation