Offline license

Syside checks a license key with our licensing servers as it runs. On a machine that cannot reach them, because it is air-gapped, behind a strict proxy, or kept offline by policy, you import a license file instead. This page is how to get that file and import it.

You need a Business Individual license with offline usage enabled, available on Sensmetry.com, and a connected machine to download on. Get the installer there too, from the product’s own page, so one trip carries both over: Modeler from a downloaded .vsix, Modeler CLI, or Automator’s offline install.

Get the offline license file

On the connected machine, get the file by form or with the license tool, syside-license. It is valid for a year from download, or until your license expires if that comes first:

The form asks for your license key and saves syside-license.lic.

Warning

If your offline license file expires and you have also entered a license key, Syside starts trying to reach the licensing server again. To prevent this on an air-gapped machine, do not enter a license key into Syside there, as offline license is completely sufficient.

With Python 3.12 or newer on the connected machine, the license tool writes the same file from a terminal. --renew-duration, as in --renew-duration "30 days", shortens the validity. Renewing early, write to a new path: check leaves a file with more than a day left as it is:

uvx syside-license check --license-key <your-license-key> --output syside-license.lic

pip install syside-license
syside-license check --license-key <your-license-key> --output syside-license.lic

Carry the file over

Copy syside-license.lic to the offline machine on a USB drive or a shared network drive, together with the installer.

Import the license file

On the offline machine, install the product, then import the file. Modeler imports it with a command, and puts it where Automator and Modeler CLI read it too. Without Modeler, put it there yourself, or point SYSIDE_LICENSE_FILE at it:

  1. Open the Command Palette (Ctrl/Cmd+Shift+P) and run Syside Modeler: Import Syside license

  2. Select the syside-license.lic file

    A confirmation message should appear.

Both read the file from one place in your home directory. Move it there, creating the folders on the way if they do not exist:

  • Linux and macOS: ~/.local/share/syside/syside-license.lic

  • Windows: %LOCALAPPDATA%\sensmetry\syside\data\syside-license.lic

Or leave it where it is and set SYSIDE_LICENSE_FILE to its path in the environment Automator or the CLI runs in, as on a CI runner:

export SYSIDE_LICENSE_FILE="<path/to/syside-license.lic>"

The next import syside or CLI run reads the file.

Renew the license file

The file works for a year from the day it was downloaded, or until the license expires if that comes first. To renew, repeat the steps above with a new file before then. Where the license tool is installed, syside-license show license prints the day the current file stops.

Continue to verify the install of Modeler, Modeler CLI or Automator, or start at Troubleshooting if something did not work.