Apply License in an Air-Gapped Workspace

Air-gapped workspaces require an offline license to unlock premium features in Rocket.Chat. This guide explains how to:

Get premium license for your workspace
Generate a hashed workspace URL for added privacy (optional)
Apply the workspace license through the Admin UI or deployment environment variables

Get premium license for your workspace

If you don’t have a paid license, contact the Rocket.Chat Sales team with your workspace URL to subscribe to a premium plan. You can also activate a trial license to explore premium features before purchasing. Once you have the license, procced to apply it in your workspace.

The Starter plan license is the only license you can obtain directly from the Rocket.Chat Cloud portal after completing workspace registration. For uninterrupted service in an offline environment, it is recommended to upgrade to a paid plan.

Hash your workspace URL for privacy

If you cannot share your actual workspace URL with Rocket.Chat Sales for privacy reasons, you can provide a SHA-256 hash instead. This hash is non-reversible, meaning Rocket.Chat cannot recover or view your original domain.

To generate the hash value for your workspace URL,

Copy the exact URL used to access your workspace.
Remove http:// or https:// from the workspace URL.
Follow the instructions for your operating system below.

Mac/Linux

Windows

Other OS

If you are using a Linux or Mac terminal, run the following command:

Linux: echo -n "your-workspace-url" | sha256sum
Mac: echo -n "your-workspace-url" | shasum -a 256

You should see an output like this: 176523d046360a9180a9a3ca0af17d30e1edebc0148440e921af184166ad4c8b.

If you are using Windows, open Powershell and run the following command:

$domain = "your-workspace-url"
$bytes = [System.Text.Encoding]::UTF8.GetBytes($domain)
$sha256 = [System.Security.Cryptography.SHA256]::Create()
$hashBytes = $sha256.ComputeHash($bytes)
$hashString = [BitConverter]::ToString($hashBytes) -replace "-", ""
$hashString.ToLower()

If you are using other OS:

Use an external tool to generate the hash value of the workspace URL, such as SHA256.
Enter your workspace URL in the input section.
The hash value is displayed in the output section. For example, 82671fa26911cdd7b6855ccdcbdf3392bbf1c554c9a0d5fffdb5ff7cde6e49b6.

Always hash the exact URL used to access your workspace in the browser. For example, if you access it via example.rocket.chat:3000, hash that exact address.
Run the command more than once to confirm the same hash output each time.

Finally, contact our Sales team with the hashed URL to provide a license token for you. Once you have your license, you must apply using the deployment enviroment variable.

Apply the license in an air-gapped workspace

Once you receive your license token, choose one of the two methods below to apply it.

Option 1: Apply license via the workspace admin UI

Navigate to Manage > Workspace > Settings > Premium in your workspace.
Paste your License Token into the Premium License field.
Click Save Changes.
Verify that the license Status field displays as Valid.
Go to Manage > Workspace > Subscription and confirm the new plan upgrade.
- You may need to refresh your workspace for the changes to take effect.
- If you see an "Invalid key" error, upgrade your workspace to version 6.5 or higher and try again.

Option 2: Apply license via deployment environmental variable

If you skipped the offline registration and hashed your workspace URL, you can apply your license directly through deployment enviroment variables.

Open your compose.yml file and locate the rocketchat service.
Under the environment section, add the following variables:
```
OVERWRITE_SETTING_Show_Setup_Wizard: completed
OVERWRITE_SETTING_Enterprise_License: <ENTER-YOUR-LICENSE-KEY>
```
Replace <ENTER-YOUR-LICENSE-KEY> with the token provided by the Sales team.
Setting OVERWRITE_SETTING_Show_Setup_Wizard: completed skips cloud registration, so your workspace will not have access to cloud services like push notifications or Marketplace apps. The Workspace Info tab also shows “Not registered.”

Restart your Rocket.Chat container to apply the license:

docker compose stop rocketchat
docker compose rm rocketchat
docker compose up -d rocketchat

Refresh your workspace URL and verify the new plan upgrade in Manage > Workspace > Subscription .

Air-Gapped Starter license validation

Workspaces running on a Starter license in air-gapped environments enter read-only mode after 90 days without online validation. To avoid service interruption:

If operating offline: Manually validate or update the license every 90 days.
If continuous offline use is required: Upgrade to a paid plan to remove the 90-day validation requirement. See Rocket.Chat Pricing for plan options.

Now that you've upgraded your workspace plan, you can explore the additional benefits Rocket.Chat offers on your workspace. In the next section, you’ll explore additional configuration options your air-gapped workspace.