This is the manual of Studio 1.1.0, an earlier version. The manual of the latest version

Licences, seats and activation

Without a licence, Studio runs as the Learning edition. A paid licence adds the features of its edition. This chapter is for the person who buys, activates and looks after licences. Prices are on the website.

If paid licences are not on sale yet when you read this, the pricing page on the website says so. Until then Studio runs as the Learning edition, and you can try Maker or Pro free for 30 days (see Try a paid edition); the sections on activation apply once licences are sold.

Editions

Edition	Adds	Who may use it
Learning	The whole twin, the editor, the real machine, the examples, the AI connection, and CAM for pockets, contours, drilling, engraving and 3D parallel finishing	Anyone, free, for learning, teaching and personal projects that earn no money
Maker	Adaptive clearing, every 3D finishing strategy, rest machining, two sides and several setups	One person, including selling what that person makes
Pro	Everything in Maker, plus nesting, the program optimizer, and inspection with the probe (against the design) with its reports	Your organisation, for any commercial use, per seat

An MC-1 owner licence is Pro for one seat, for use with the MC-1 whose serial number it names. It passes to the next owner with the machine.

A paid licence comes as one of these kinds:

Subscription: by the month or by the year, until you cancel it.
Bought outright: yours for good. It covers every version released within 12 months of the purchase, or of a paid renewal of updates.
MC-1 owner: like a licence bought outright, tied to the machine.

Seats and computers

A paid seat is used by one person at a time, on up to three computers. A computer that several people share counts once.

Each activation binds the licence to one computer by a hash of the computer's fingerprint. The fingerprint itself never leaves the computer. To see which computers a licence is on, open the licence page, twinwright.com/licence, and enter the activation code.

Try a paid edition

You can try each paid edition free for 30 days, once on each computer.

Use a paid feature, for example adaptive clearing in the CAM panel. Result: Studio says which edition the feature needs.
Choose Start a 30-day trial….
Read what the trial adds and until when, then choose Start the trial. Result: Studio asks Twinwright's licence server for the trial, and the edition's features work until the date shown.

For a trial Studio sends the edition, a hash of the computer's fingerprint and Studio's version, nothing else. The server gives each computer one trial of each edition: if you reinstall Studio during the trial, starting it again brings back the same end date. When it ends, Studio is the Learning edition again, and your projects and programs are untouched.

On a computer without internet, Studio shows a request code instead. On a computer with internet, open the licence page, twinwright.com/licence, choose the edition under “Try on a computer without the internet”, paste the request code and download the trial file. Then import the file on the first computer, as in Activate a computer without internet.

Activate online

You need the activation code from the e-mail you received with your licence, in the form TW-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX, and an internet connection.

Choose Help > Licence….
Choose Activate online….
Type the activation code. Upper or lower case, spaces and hyphens do not matter.
Choose Activate. Result: the licence file is in the licence folder, and the dialog shows the edition.

Activating sends only the activation code, a hash of this computer's fingerprint and Studio's version.

If the licence is already on as many computers as it allows, free one on the licence page first (see Move a licence to another computer).

Activate a computer without internet

Use this for a lab or workshop computer that is never online. You need the activation code, a second computer with internet, and a way to carry a small file, such as a USB stick.

On the computer without internet, choose Help > Licence….
Choose Activate offline….
Choose Copy. Result: the request code is on the clipboard. It holds a hash of this computer's fingerprint and Studio's version, no personal information.
Paste the request code into a text file, and carry it to the computer with internet.
There, open twinwright.com/licence. Under "A computer without internet", paste the activation code and the request code.
Choose "Download the licence file". Result: a file named like twinwright-TWL-….twlic downloads.
Carry the file back. In Studio, choose Help > Licence… and Import a licence file…, then open the file. Result: the licence file is in the licence folder.

A computer without internet does not renew by itself. Repeat these steps:

before a subscription's period ends;
for a licence bought outright, once more after its first 30 days (the refund period), to get the permanent file;
after you buy more years of updates.

The licence folder

The licence folder belongs to the computer, not to one Windows account. A licence in it works for everyone who uses the computer.

System	Folder
Windows	`%ProgramData%\Twinwright\licence`
Linux	`/etc/twinwright/licence`; where it cannot be written: `~/.local/share/Twinwright/licence`

The environment variable TWINWRIGHT_LICENCE_DIR sets another folder. To open the folder, choose Help > Licence… and Open the licence folder.

The folder holds the licence files (*.twlic, trials included) and a file with the last time Studio looked. It can hold several licence files, for example an MC-1 owner licence and a subscription. The edition in force is the highest of all valid licence files.

Note

Do not edit the files. A licence file that has been changed no longer counts: download it again from the licence page and import it.

If Studio cannot create or write the folder, an administrator creates it and lets the users write in it. On Linux, run the import as root (sudo), or set TWINWRIGHT_LICENCE_DIR.

Renewal and the 14 days' grace

With Renew before it ends (it sends only the licence's number, a hash of this computer's fingerprint and Studio's version) on, Studio renews by itself when it is online:

a subscription, from five days before its period ends;
a licence bought outright, at the end of the refund period, and from 14 days before its updates end when you have bought more years.

Studio tries once when it starts, at most once a day. A failed try does not interrupt you. It sends only what the option names.

If a subscription is not renewed, everything keeps working for 14 more days. The licence shows In grace and the days left. After that, Studio is the Learning edition.

When a licence ends

Ending, cancelling or a failed check only ever return Studio to the Learning edition:

your projects open as before;
the G-code you made can still be exported and sent to the machine;
the paid operations wait until you renew.

Studio never deletes your files or locks your data.

Updates for a licence bought outright

A licence bought outright covers the versions released within 12 months of its purchase, or of a paid renewal of updates. A later version runs as the Learning edition, and the licence shows Updates over. Keep using the last version it covers, or renew a year of updates on the licence page. See Updating Studio.

Move a licence to another computer

On the licence page, enter the activation code and choose "Show my computers".
Choose "Free this computer" beside the computer you no longer use.
Activate the licence on the new computer.

You can free up to three computers in 30 days. For more, write to hello@twinwright.com.

New hardware or a reinstalled system changes the fingerprint. Studio then says This licence is bound to another computer. Free the old entry, then activate again. Until then, Studio runs as the Learning edition.

Lost activation code

Use Lost your activation code? on the licence page. Where it asks for an e-mail address, enter the one you bought with: each licence bought with it gets a new code by e-mail. Where it asks you to write to us, write to hello@twinwright.com from the address your activation code was sent to; we check it and send you a new code. Either way the old code stops activating, and computers already activated keep working.

The computer's clock

If the clock is set back by more than two days, Studio says This computer's clock is earlier than the last time Studio looked. The later time counts, so no licence or trial gets days back. Set the date and time right.

Studio keeps the last time it saw in two places. The later of the two counts, so deleting one of them brings no days back.

If a licence or a trial shows as ended too early after the clock was once set to a date in the future, set the date and time right and write to hello@twinwright.com.

For administrators: the command line

The program takes these options without opening its window. A folder is optional; without one, the computer's licence folder is used.

TwinwrightStudio.exe --licence-status [FOLDER] [--json]
TwinwrightStudio.exe --licence-request [FOLDER]
TwinwrightStudio.exe --licence-import FILE [FOLDER]

--licence-status lists each licence file and trial, whether it holds and why; --json gives every field.
--licence-request prints this computer's request code.
--licence-import checks a licence file and copies it into the licence folder.

On Linux the program is twinwright-studio. AI clients can read the same status with the read-only MCP tool licence_status.

What Studio sends, and what our server keeps: Privacy.