WordPress plugins and themes often require license keys to receive updates and security patches. When we encounter missing license keys on your client sites, here's how we handle it.
Our Process
Step 1: Check for Valerian agency licenses
The first step when we discover a missing license key is to check if we have an agency license available that we can use for the site.
To see a full list of our agency unlimited licenses included with our care plans, check out Available Valerian Plugin Licenses.
If we have an agency license:
- We add it directly to the site through our Partner Portal.
This is done automatically and doesn’t require any action from you. Agency licenses are provided as part of the care plan: that means there’s no extra cost for you or the client!
- The client will receive updates and support for the plugin or theme.
Important note: If a client cancels their care plan, all Valerian agency licenses will be removed from the site as part of off-boarding.
We will provide you with a list of the removed license keys as part of the off-boarding process.
If we don’t have an agency license, we proceed to Step 2.
Step 2: Partner communication
If we don't have an agency license for a particular plugin or theme, we'll reach out to you to determine next steps.
In Slack, we’ll reach out and let you know about the issue, including the site domain that is affected and the specific plugin or theme name.
At this point, you’ll have a few options:
- Provide the license key If you or your client already have a license for the plugin or theme, you can let us know and share the key with us. We’ll get everything updated for you!
- Purchase a new license If you’d like to handle the license key yourself, we can let you know where to purchase it and how to add the license key.
- Have us reach out to the client directly We can contact your client via our shared support email address to request the license key. If they don’t have one, we’ll be able to guide them through the process of purchasing it.
Step 3: Adding the license
Once we have the license key (from you or the client), we:
- Add it to our Partner Portal for tracking and apply it to the site.
- Verify that updates are now working properly.
- Document it for future reference.
Special Cases:
Envato/CodeCanyon licenses
Issues with licenses for Envato or CodeCanyon require special handling. For these, we escalate to our Development Lead. We’ll work internally to resolve the issue.
Expired licenses
If a plugin or theme has been using an active license in the past and it’s expired, we follow the same steps outlined above for a missing license key. During this process, you or your client will be able to decide if you don’t want to renew the license.
All About Licenses
Why license keys matter
Missing license keys can cause several issues:
- Security vulnerabilities Sites can't receive critical security updates, which puts the client and website visitors at risk.
- Compatibility problems Outdated plugins may conflict with WordPress updates; this can in turn cause websites to look off or for website functionality to break.
- Broken features Some plugins stop working entirely without valid licenses.
- Support access Without valid licenses, we can't contact developers for help with issues. This leads to longer resolution times and bigger headaches all around.
Tracking and documentation
For visibility, all missing license key requests are tracked in your Slack support list as individual tasks. If you ever want to check in on a missing license, you’ll be able to see it there. This ensures that nothing falls through the cracks, and we have a record for future reference.
Tasks of this nature follow a naming format. Look for:
[domain.com] Missing License Key: {plugin/theme name}
Who pays for licenses?
- Valerian unlimited agency licenses Included in a site’s care plan at no additional cost are our agency licenses. These will remain active as long as the care plan is active and there is no need for you or your clients to worry about expirations—we handle all that!
Check out Available Valerian Plugin Licenses for a full list of our agency licenses.
Important note: If a client cancels their care plan, all Valerian agency licenses will be removed from the site as part of off-boarding.
We will provide you with a list of the removed license keys as part of the off-boarding process.
- Partner-owned licenses Some of our partners choose to purchase and manage licenses on behalf of their clients. If you offer this, you’ll be responsible for handling the billing, but we’ll get the information needed from you to make sure they always remain up-to-date and fully functional as part of the ongoing maintenance of the site.
- Client-owned licenses If a client chooses to use a plugin or theme that falls outside of our available licenses and you don’t want to manage them for your clients, they will be responsible for purchasing and maintaining their own license subscriptions.
We’re happy to work with whatever model fits your business best. Sometimes it’s a mix of all three!
Timeline
We do our best to resolve issues like expired licenses as quickly as possible. For Valerian agency licenses, we apply the key immediately. For licenses that are managed by either you or your client and require purchase, we resolve them as soon as we receive the key.
If we need to communicate with your clients to resolve a missing or expired license key, we will follow our standard protocols, complete with follow-ups, as needed.