Keyvane documentation

Keyvane is the monetization access layer for independent software. It sits between your payment provider and your product and answers one question reliably: what is this customer allowed to do right now?

• Plans and entitlements. Free, Pro, Business… each with on/off features and usage limits.
• License keys. Expiry, suspension, revocation and per-device activation limits for desktop apps, CLIs and APIs.
• Usage limits. Atomic, idempotent metering with daily, monthly, yearly or lifetime resets.
• Stripe subscription sync. Purchases, upgrades, failed payments and cancellations update access automatically.
• Customer access view and audit log. See every customer's plan, usage and history in one place.

 ┌──────────────┐  signed webhooks   ┌──────────────┐   SDK / REST API   ┌──────────────┐
 │    Stripe    │ ─────────────────▶ │  Keyvane   │ ◀───────────────── │   Your app   │
 │ payments,    │                    │ plans, keys, │   "can user_42     │ web, API,    │
 │ invoices,    │                    │ entitlements,│    export?"        │ desktop, CLI │
 │ taxes        │                    │ usage, audit │                    │              │
 └──────────────┘                    └──────────────┘                    └──────────────┘

Keyvane is not a payment processor, Merchant of Record or tax engine. Your payment provider keeps doing that job. Keyvane turns its commercial events into product access.

Start here

1. Quickstart: run Keyvane, define plans and make your first entitlement check in about 10 minutes.
2. Core concepts: projects, products, plans, features, customers, licenses and how access is decided.
3. Stripe integration: connect a webhook, map prices to plans and tell Keyvane who paid.
4. License keys & devices: sell desktop software and CLIs with keys and activation limits.

Guides by stack

• Next.js: server components and route handlers
• Express & Node APIs: middleware for plan checks and usage limits
• Electron & desktop apps: activation, device limits and offline grace
• Article: Seven Stripe webhook edge cases that silently break access

Reference

• JavaScript SDK (@keyvane/sdk, MIT)
• Python SDK (keyvane, MIT)
• REST API for any language, with an OpenAPI spec
• AI coding agents: llms.txt, Markdown docs and a SKILL.md for Claude Code, Cursor and others
• Self-hosting with one Node.js process and SQLite
• Security & reliability
• Pricing & licensing: what is open source and what is commercial
• Roadmap

Examples in this repository