Status host

License

Every copy of Construction Paper checks a signed status file published at this address. This page shows what that file currently says.

How it works

A license is a small signed file. It carries an id, an expiry, and either a machine fingerprint or nothing at all — and the program verifies that signature before it opens. There are three kinds:

Redeemable	Binds to the first computer that runs it, and is refused on a second.
Locked	Issued for one specific machine and runs only there.
Master	Runs anywhere. Held by the author.

The status file

status.json is the revocation list. It is signed with the same key as the licenses themselves, which means this host does not have to be trusted — it can refuse to answer, but it cannot forge a status. A tampered file is rejected by every copy of the program.

Because it is signed rather than trusted, an unreachable host is not a failure: a normal license keeps working while this site is down. Only the strict check-in keys, which are issued deliberately, care.

What is stored on your machine

The license gate reads license.igl and writes only its own files beside the executable — the binding record, the cached status, and a machine fingerprint. It never touches your photos, layers, profiles or output. That is a hard rule, not a current behaviour.

The fingerprint is a hash of two values Windows already exposes about the computer. It is not derived from anything about you.

Getting a license

Construction Paper is in an invitation-only rollout. Email chris@chrisputnam.me with the project you are working on. If a key ever needs to be withdrawn, it is added to the revocation list above and stops working at the next check-in.