---
id: self-hosted-instances
title: Self-hosted instances
sidebar_label: Self-hosted instances
---

A self-hosted instance is your install, licensed through HQ. HQ never touches
it: it issues a signed file that your install verifies locally.

## Free

Install first, then link and claim. Step by step in
[Claim a Free licence](../getting-started/claim-free-licence.md).

## Paid

Buying happens **before** the install has to exist, because you may well be
buying in order to build it.

```mermaid
flowchart LR
    A["Buy in HQ"] --> B["Placeholder instance<br/>awaiting_link, no licence"]
    B --> C["Install Vantage<br/>get its instance UUID"]
    C --> D["Paste the UUID<br/>claim-link"]
    D --> E["Licence issued<br/>bound to that UUID"]
```

1. **Overview → Buy self-hosted**, choose tier, term and configuration.
2. Complete checkout. HQ creates a **placeholder** instance in state
   `awaiting_link` with no licence attached.
3. [Install Vantage](../getting-started/self-hosted-install.md) if you have not
   already, and find its instance UUID at **Settings → Licence**.
4. Back in HQ, open the placeholder and paste the UUID.
5. The licence is issued, bound to that UUID. Download it and paste it into your
   install.

:::info Why there is a placeholder at all
A licence binds to an instance UUID, and at the moment of payment that UUID may
not exist yet. Issuing early would mean issuing to nothing; refusing to sell
until you had installed would be the wrong order. The placeholder holds the
purchase until there is something to bind to.
:::

## Linking an existing install

If the install already exists, **Link an instance** takes the UUID directly. A
UUID already claimed by another account is refused with a conflict.

## Relinking

Rebuilding the host produces a new instance UUID, and the old licence no longer
matches. **Relink** moves the licence to the new UUID and reissues.

The number of relinks per term is capped, and the portal shows how many you have
left. This is not meant to obstruct disaster recovery — if you have exhausted
them for a real reason, ask support.

## Installing the licence

Paste it at **Settings → Licence** in your install. The instance verifies the
signature and checks that the UUID matches its own.

Pasting works even while the current licence is expired — that endpoint is
exempt from the licence check, because it is the route out of degraded mode.

## Keeping it current

Your install does not fetch licences. When a licence is reissued — renewal,
configuration change, relink — download the new one from HQ and paste it in.

:::warning Nothing reminds your install
The control plane knows only what its licence says. Expiry emails come from HQ,
to the account's address. Make sure someone reads them.
:::