Subject: License activation key exhausted after Docker container rebuilds
Hi,
I’m running n8n self-hosted v2.9.0 in Docker. My license activation key has been exhausted because I had to rebuild the container multiple times during debugging — each rebuild creates a new device fingerprint which n8n treats as a new activation.
Could someone from the n8n team please reset the activation counter for my key?
Key: bb6113d5-9b1e-41ac-bbbe-9b7e4ee8ea46
Thank you!
1 Like
Hi @Romeo1 Welcome to the community!
Have you checked that your n8n instance is already registered or not in the settings > Usage and Plans it would say Registered at the top if it is, else just try a different email address to get the key, let me know if the issue persists.
Hi @Romeo1
Please email:
Include:
- Your activation key (for security, avoid posting it publicly as in this message)
- The email address you used to register
- A short description that Docker rebuilds exhausted the activations
For local issues where the instance thinks a key was already used, use CLI command :
n8n license:clear
(or inside Docker: docker exec -u node -it <n8n-container-name> n8n license:clear)
But this only clears the license on your instance; it does not reset the server-side activation counter, which only the n8n team can do via support.
The n8n team does monitor these posts so you should be good, they’ll reset it when they see this. For future reference though make sure you’re mounting /home/node/.n8n as a persistent volume in your docker setup so the instance ID survives rebuilds — that’s what’s generating new fingerprints each time.