License key

If you use Auto Tournament commercially, you need a license. This page is about the license key in the platform. For who needs a license and what it costs, see Licensing and commercial use.

A license never blocks anything. The platform does not lock, disable or limit any feature. If something is off, you see a notice. That is all.

Add your key

1. Open Settings > License.
2. Paste the whole key into License key. It looks like ATL1.<payload>.<signature>.
3. Select Save key.

The key is checked on your own server, offline. No internet call is needed.

After you save, the key itself is not shown again. You only see the license ID. To swap it, paste a new key in Replace the license key. To remove it, select Remove key.

If a key fails the checks, it is still saved and shown as "This key could not be verified." A key from a newer signing key can start to work after you update the platform.

What you see

The License tab shows a summary, for example:

Licensed to NTLAN · Platform S · 6 servers · updates until 2027-09-01

It also shows the license ID and a Check this license link to the public check page on autotournament.gg. A founder license shows "updates for life" instead of a date. A license for a single event also shows the event dates.

Admins also get a License card on the admin home, with the same summary and a link to Settings. With no key, the card says "No commercial license key. Free for non-commercial use." and links to Pricing.

Only admins see any of this. Players never see anything about licensing, unless you turn on the public line below.

Notices

The platform shows a notice, and only a notice, when:

• The key could not be verified.
• The key is a Servers key. It covers CS2 Server Manager and Ready Up, not the platform.
• An event license is over, or has not started yet.
• This version is newer than your updates cover (see below).
• You run more game servers than the license allows.

Every game server running our software counts, including spare, practice and test servers.

Products and updates

There are two products:

• Servers: CS2 Server Manager and Ready Up.
• Platform: the platform, CS2 Server Manager and Ready Up.

A yearly license covers every version whose x.y.0 release date is on or before the license's "updates until" date. That includes the later patches of those versions. For example, if 1.4.0 came out before your date, 1.4.1 and 1.4.2 are covered too. Founder licenses are lifetime and cover every version.

If you run a newer version than your license covers, you get a notice. It still works. Renew to cover it.

Show "Licensed" on public event pages

Turn on Show "Licensed" on public event pages in Settings > License.

• It is off by default.
• It adds a "Licensed" line on public event pages. The line links to the license's public check page.
• It only shows while the saved key is valid and is a Platform key.

CS2 Server Manager and Ready Up

Your game servers use the same key. You don't have to set it on each one.

The platform hands it over

When you save, replace or remove the key in Settings > License, every CS2 Server Manager (CSM) host connected to your platform picks it up on its next update-hold poll. CSM applies it to all of its servers, the same as csm license set or csm license clear. The game servers use it from their next map load or restart.

• Both products work on the game servers. Ready Up accepts a Servers key and a Platform key.
• The platform's key wins. It replaces a key you set by hand with csm license set.
• No key in the platform? CSM only clears a key it got from the platform. A key you set by hand stays.
• Platform not reachable? Nothing changes.
• A failed hand-off is only a warning. You find it in CSM's auto_update_monitor.log. Nothing is ever blocked.
• The key is never written to logs.

Set it by hand

You can still manage the key on a server machine with CSM:

csm license set writes readyup_license_key into the server config. Ready Up reads it. In the server console, ru license shows the status.

See the CS2 Server Manager docs and the command reference.