# Licenses

Elements is commercial software. You pay for the tooling, per machine, on a
subscription. You own everything you build. Runtime packages like
`@elements/app` are MIT licensed.

## What Is a License

A license grants one machine permission to run the `elements` tooling. One
license, one machine. Any machine that runs the `elements` command needs one:
your laptop, a CI runner, a deployment box.

## The Trial

When your trial ends, run `elements purchase` to keep building. We hope you've
had a great experience. Come join us.

## `elements license`

Shows the current license on this machine.

```
elements license
```

Use this when you want to confirm a license is in place, or when an `elements`
command mentions the license and you want to see the details.

Alias: `elements l`.

## `elements license checkout`

Fetches a license for this machine.

```
elements license checkout
elements license checkout <token>
```

Run it with no arguments to grab a license from your own account. This is what
runs automatically after `elements purchase`, on every renewal, and when you
check a license back in on another machine.

Pass a token when you're joining someone else's account. The token comes
from the account administrator. It tells Elements which account the
license should come from, so the seat counts against their subscription.
This is how teams invite new developers to use Elements.

Deployment handles tokens automatically. The deploy command carries your account
token to the deployment machine, so the license checks out on its own.

Alias: `elements license c`.

## `elements license checkin`

Releases the license on this machine. The license becomes available for checkout
on a different machine.

```
elements license checkin
```

Use this when you're retiring a machine, moving development to a new laptop, or
rotating a deployment box. After checkin, this machine drops back into the same
state as a finished trial. After checkout on the destination machine, the new
machine has full access.

Aliases: `elements license release`, `elements license r`.

## Related

- Purchase: `elements man purchase`
- Pricing: [elements.dev/pricing](https://elements.dev/pricing)
- Deploy: `elements man deploy`