Domain-Locked Licensing

Domain locking is the core mechanism that ties a license to specific deployment domains. When a buyer activates their license, they register the domain where their dApp will run. The License API then only returns a valid response when the verification request comes from an authorized domain.

How Domain Locking Works

Every license key has a list of authorized domains. When a dApp calls the verification endpoint, it passes both the license key and the current domain. The API checks whether that domain appears in the license’s authorized list. If it does, verification succeeds. If it does not, verification fails.

This approach means a product purchased once can only operate on the domains the buyer has explicitly activated. Deploying the same product to an unauthorized domain will trigger a failed verification, and the dApp can respond accordingly (show a warning, disable features, or refuse to load).

Domain Normalization

When you activate or verify a domain, the system normalizes the input to ensure consistent matching. The following transformations are applied automatically:

• Converted to lowercase — MyDapp.COM becomes mydapp.com
• Protocol stripped — https://mydapp.com becomes mydapp.com
• Path stripped — mydapp.com/app/dashboard becomes mydapp.com
• Port stripped — mydapp.com:3000 becomes mydapp.com
• Trailing slash removed — mydapp.com/ becomes mydapp.com
• www prefix preserved — www.mydapp.com and mydapp.com are treated as different domains

Valid Domain Formats

The following are all valid domain inputs for activation. The system normalizes them to the result shown:

Subdomains are treated as distinct domains. app.mydapp.com, staging.mydapp.com, and mydapp.com are three separate entries.

One License, One Domain

Each license allows activation on one domain at a time. This keeps the model simple: one purchase, one deployment. If you need to move your dApp to a different domain, deactivate the current one and activate the new one — no support ticket required.

Activating Domains

After purchasing a licensed product, you need to activate your deployment domain before the dApp will pass verification.

curl -X POST https://verify.web3.market/activate \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "license_key": "LIC-A3F9-K2M7-P8X1-Q4R6",
    "domain": "mydapp.com"
  }'

Switching Domains

Since each license supports one active domain, attempting to activate a second domain while one is already active will be rejected. You must deactivate the current domain first.

For example, if mydapp.com is active and you want to switch to newdapp.com:

1. Deactivate mydapp.com from your dashboard or via the API
2. Activate newdapp.com

Deactivating and Reactivating Domains

You can deactivate a domain at any time from your dashboard or via the API. Deactivating a domain frees up a slot, allowing you to activate a different domain in its place.

Common scenarios for domain changes:

• Migrating to a new domain — Deactivate olddomain.com, then activate newdomain.com
• Removing a staging environment — Deactivate staging.mydapp.com to free up a slot
• Rotating deployment domains — Swap domains as your infrastructure changes

There is no limit on how many times you can switch domains. Deactivate and reactivate as often as you need.