What the license status shows
Below the input field in the “License” area there is a “Status” line. It shows the result of the last check with the license server, triggered either with “Activate” or by the daily re-check. Four entries are possible, plus the case where no key is stored at all.
The entries in detail
- No license stored — there is no key in the field
- Active — the license server has confirmed; the tier it reported back appears after it
- Invalid — the license server rejected the key; if it sends a text of its own along, that text appears in the message
- Unverified — the license server was not reachable, did not respond with code 200 or sent an unreadable response; the key was saved anyway
- Stored — the key sits in the database, but it has not been checked; this only appears when the check address has been emptied via the “kwp_license_endpoint” filter
When the key is checked
The key is checked in two situations: when you click “Activate”, and once a day in the background. Each plugin schedules the daily re-check itself via WP-Cron, with a random offset so that not every website asks at the same minute. It only runs when a key is stored. Both routes send the key, the website’s address and the product identifier to the same check address; the request is aborted after ten seconds.
kwp_license_endpointOut of the box this is the kakapowp.com license server. This filter lets you redirect the address to another server or empty it completely. Only in the second case is nothing checked: the key is saved, the status reads “Stored”, and the interface says openly that no license server is configured. If the address is empty, the plugin also stops asking for updates, unless the “kwp_update_endpoint” filter supplies an address of its own.
If the server does not answer
After a click on “Activate” the status then reads “Unverified”. The daily re-check overwrites nothing in this case; the last known status stays in place. Neither “Unverified” nor “Stored” switches a plugin off — its functions are only paused if the server explicitly rejects the key or no key has been entered at all.