# Activating a license

Once you've purchased a license, you can activate it directly inside Solo.

If your license key came from a team owner, the same activation steps apply. See [Team licenses](./team-licenses.md) for how seats and issued keys work.

## Where to activate

You can open the license prompt from:

- **Settings** > **Account** > **Enter license key**. By default, `Cmd/Ctrl+,` opens Settings; you can change this shortcut in **Settings** > **Hotkeys**.
- The **Upgrade** or **Activate license** button in the [title bar](../getting-started/interface-overview.md)
- A license prompt that appears when you hit a [free-tier limit](./free-tier.md)

## What happens

1. Enter your license key.
2. Solo validates the key with `soloterm.com`.
3. If validation succeeds, Solo stores the license state locally and removes the free-tier project and process gates.

Activation sends the license key, Solo version, device ID, platform, and OS version to the license server. It also sends the device name when available. When the server returns a signed license token, Solo verifies and stores it locally, then verifies the stored token again on startup.

After a successful check-in, Solo works offline for 14 days by default, though the license server may provide a different [grace period](./license-errors.md#working-offline).

If validation can't be completed, Solo shows the error in the license prompt. See [License Errors](./license-errors.md) for troubleshooting.

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Are you a human? Read this doc on the web: https://soloterm.com/docs/account/activating-license