Enterprise Setup

Pinchy Enterprise unlocks features like Groups, agent access control, and priority support. Activating it takes one step: enter a valid license key.

Getting a license key

Contact us to get a license key:

• Trial key — 14 days, all enterprise features. Book a call or email hey@clemenshelm.com.
• Paid key — Annual license, renewable. Same contact.

No credit card required for trials. No per-agent or per-message fees.

Activating your key

There are two ways to enter your license key. Use whichever fits your workflow.

Option 1: Settings UI (recommended)

1. Log in as an admin.
2. Go to Settings → License.
3. Paste your license key and click Save.

The key is validated immediately. If valid, enterprise features activate instantly — no restart needed.

Option 2: Environment variable

Set PINCHY_ENTERPRISE_KEY in your Docker Compose configuration:

services:
  pinchy:
    environment:
      - PINCHY_ENTERPRISE_KEY=eyJ...your-key-here

Then restart the container:

docker compose up -d

Tip

The environment variable takes priority over a key entered in the Settings UI. If both are set, the env var wins.

Verifying your key

After entering a key, go to Settings → License. You should see:

• License type — Trial or Paid
• Organization — The name tied to your key
• Expiry date — When the key expires
• Days remaining

The enterprise features (Groups tab, agent access control) should now be available.

Seat cap enforcement

Enterprise license tokens include a maxUsers field that limits how many seats your organisation can use. A seat counts as either an active user or a valid pending invitation — both consume a seat.

What “at cap” means

When seatsUsed >= maxUsers:

• The Invite User button in Settings → Users is disabled and a banner explains why.
• The Settings → License page shows the current seat count next to the cap (7 / 10 seats used).
• Attempting to create an invite via the API returns 403 Forbidden with { "error": "Seat limit reached" }.
• No existing users are locked out. Pinchy never deactivates an account to enforce a cap. Only new invitations are blocked.

Freeing up a seat

To invite someone new when you are at cap, you can:

1. Revoke a pending invitation — if an invite was sent but not yet claimed, revoking it frees the seat immediately.
2. Deactivate an existing user — deactivated users no longer count toward the seat total.

Both actions take effect immediately — the invite button re-enables without a page reload.

Trials and unlimited licenses

A maxUsers value of 0 means unlimited seats. Trial keys issued by Pinchy carry maxUsers: 0, so seat enforcement does not apply during a trial. Paid keys include the seat count negotiated with your order.

Note

The seat count shown in Settings → License includes both active users and pending invitations. If the count looks higher than expected, check for unclaimed invites in Settings → Users.

What happens when a key expires

Pinchy degrades gracefully. Nothing breaks:

• Agents with Restricted visibility fall back to All users — everyone can access them.
• Group assignments stay in the database but are not enforced.
• The audit trail continues to work.
• All data, agents, and configuration remain intact.

Renew your key and permissions are restored instantly.

Note

Admins see a warning banner when the key is close to expiring: 30 days before for paid keys, 7 days for trial keys.

Enterprise features

This is the canonical list of features that require an active Pinchy Enterprise license. Any feature documented elsewhere with an Enterprise badge or a “Enterprise feature” callout maps to one of the rows below.

Feature	Where it appears	Documentation
Groups	Settings → Groups	Groups
Agent Access Control	Agent Settings → Access tab (visibility modes, group assignment)	Agent Settings
Group-scoped invites	Settings → Users → Invite User (Groups field when inviting)	User Management
Per-user usage breakdown	Usage Dashboard → Per-User Breakdown card	Usage Dashboard
Usage CSV export	Usage Dashboard → Export CSV button	Usage Dashboard
Priority Support	Direct contact with the Pinchy team with priority response times	—

When a license is not active, Enterprise-gated UI shows clear upgrade prompts rather than hiding completely — so you always know what’s available.

Offline validation

License keys are validated locally using cryptographic signatures. No internet connection is required — Pinchy never phones home. This makes enterprise features fully compatible with air-gapped and offline deployments.