The license key keeps disappearing

If your GravityKit license keys suddenly show as inactive, or you see a “Licensing data is inaccessible” notice on the GravityKit → Manage Your Kit page, it almost always comes down to a change in WordPress’s secret keys (the salts defined in wp-config.php). GravityKit encrypts your licensing data with those keys, so when they change, the stored data can no longer be decrypted and your products appear unlicensed.

What changes your secret keys #

Something in your environment regenerated the WordPress secret keys. The usual causes:

• Site migrations, server moves, or copying between staging and production. A new environment brings a fresh wp-config.php with new salts, so license data carried over from the old database no longer matches. This is the most common cause.
• Security plugins that rotate keys automatically, such as Sucuri Security, WP Defender, and Salt Shaker.
• Your hosting provider rotating the keys, sometimes automatically on a schedule.
• Migration or backup plugins that regenerate salts when importing a site.

Restore your license right now #

Re-enter your license key on the GravityKit → Manage Your Kit page. Re-adding the license fetches a fresh copy from our server and re-encrypts it with your current keys, which clears the notice right away.

If the site is connected to your GravityKit account, the Licenses screen shows a Reconnect button instead. Reconnecting restores the licenses managed through the connection in one step; see Managing Connected Sites.

If you are told you have reached the activation limit, earlier attempts may have used up your activation slots. Contact our support team and we will reset them for you.

Prevent it from happening again #

Re-adding the key fixes the immediate problem, but if something keeps changing your secret keys the notice will return. To make your licensing immune to key changes:

• Define a GRAVITYKIT_SECRET_KEY constant (recommended). Add a line such as define( 'GRAVITYKIT_SECRET_KEY', '<random value>' ); to wp-config.php, using a long random value (you can generate one here). GravityKit then encrypts your licensing data with this stable key instead of the rotating WordPress salts, so it survives any future key change no matter what caused it.
• Hard-code your license keys so they are set in your configuration rather than stored encrypted in the database.
• Stop the source from rotating keys. Turn off automatic key regeneration in your security plugin (steps below), or ask your hosting provider not to rotate the keys.

Disabling security key rotation in Sucuri Security #

1. Go to Sucuri Security → Settings in your WordPress admin dashboard.
2. Select the Hardening tab.
3. Disable the Activate Automatic Secret Keys Updater option.

Disabling security key rotation in WP Defender #

1. Go to Defender → Recommendations in your WordPress admin dashboard.
2. Open Update old security keys (look in the Actioned list if you have run it before).
3. Untick Automatically regenerate security keys.