Chapter 17 — Updates, Licensing, Support

The last chapter covers everything outside the main workflow loop: getting AidaIDE up to date, activating your plan, filing bugs, and finding help.

The bottom item on the menu bar.

Welcome Guide — short overview tour.
Setup Wizard — re-runs first-run flow (Chapter 1).
Ask Macy (Interactive Guide) — voice-narrated walkthrough of the IDE; also the entry point to the 16-section Hierarchy Builder tour.
About — version, build number, OS, attribution.
Documentation — opens this guide and the online docs at aidaide.app.
Check for Updates — manual update check.
Enter License Key — paste a key to activate.
License Status — what plan you are on and how many seats/devices remain.
Bug Reports — list of recent bug-report packages.
Report a Bug — opens the bug-report dialog.

Checking for updates

Help → Check for Updates queries the manifest at updates.aidaide.app. The response lists:

Latest available version.
Your current version.
Release notes for everything in between.

If an update is available:

Download — pulls the installer (or, in dev/portable installs, the patch bundle).
Install Later — keeps you on the current version.
Install Now — runs the installer and prompts to restart AidaIDE.

The installer bucket is aidaide-downloads on R2. If you ever see a 403 from updates.aidaide.app, that is normally R2 returning 403-instead-of-404 for a missing bucket name, not an auth problem — wait for the next manifest publish.

Auto-update

Settings → General → Auto-check for updates controls whether AidaIDE checks on launch. Default is on (weekly cadence). Auto-install is off by default; you always confirm.

Activating your license

AidaIDE runs without a license, but several features (AI sidebar, AI Hierarchy Builder, Live Coding Agents, Hierarchy Builder) are gated. To activate:

Help → Enter License Key.
Paste the key from your purchase email.
Click Activate.

The activation call goes to AidaIDE's licensing endpoint, which verifies the key and binds it to this machine. From now on AidaIDE checks the license locally on launch; periodic re-verification happens in the background.

Device binding

Licenses are bound to a per-machine fingerprint:

Pro plan — 3 devices.
Teams Pro plan — 999 devices.
AI Hierarchy Single plan — 3 devices.
AI Hierarchy Teams plan — 999 devices.

The fingerprint is SHA-256(MAC | hostname). Swapping out hardware changes it; AidaIDE will refuse to launch the second-most-recent device beyond your cap.

If you replace a machine, Help → License Status → Devices lists currently-bound devices. Right-click → Revoke to free a slot. Revoke takes effect within a few minutes (soft-revoke from admin UI).

License Status

A small panel:

Plan name.
Seats used / max.
Devices bound / cap.
Renewal date.
"Open Customer Portal" — link to manage billing.

Buying a license

The pricing page lives at aidaide.app/pricing. Current tiers (July 2026):

Free — $0 forever. Full IDE, SSH/SFTP engine, terminal, file browser, unlimited Fleet Manager, OTA. No license key.
Pro — $19/month or $190/year. Full AI suite, Hierarchy Builder, advanced network scans, cameras.
Teams Pro — $70/month or $700/year. 5 users.
Enterprise — custom.

AidaIDE is free forever — Pro adds the AI suite whenever you want it.

Filing a bug

Help → Report a Bug opens the bug-report dialog:

Summary — one line.
Description — what you were doing, what happened, what you expected.
Attach logs — auto-included by default (~/.aidaide/logs/ from the last hour).
Attach screenshots — drag-and-drop into the dialog.
Include redacted vault contents — off by default. Turn on if the bug is vault-related and the redactor will strip secrets.

Submitting bundles everything into a .tar.gz and uploads to AidaIDE's bug-collection endpoint. You get a ticket ID in return. Track at Help → Bug Reports.

If your machine is offline, the bug report saves to ~/.aidaide/bug_reports/ and uploads on the next successful launch.

Logs

Three files / directories matter when debugging:

~/.aidaide/logs/aidaide.log — main app log (rotates daily).
~/.aidaide/logs/ssh.log — per-connection SSH transcripts.
~/.aidaide/audit.log — security-relevant events (vault unlock, license activation, PKI events).

Logs are sized-capped; old rotations are compressed.

Getting human help

AidaIDE community Discord — link from Help → Documentation.
Email — support@aidaide.app.
GitHub issues — for open-source-tracked bugs.
Twitter/X — @aidaide (community-tipped).

When reaching out, include your AidaIDE version (from Help → About), OS, and the bug ticket ID if you have one.

Updating Marketplace plugins

Plugins update independently of core AidaIDE. Tools → Plugins & Widgets → Plugin & Widget Manager shows what is updatable. See Chapter 15.

Uninstalling

Windows — Settings → Apps → AidaIDE → Uninstall.
macOS — drag AidaIDE.app to the Trash.
Linux — package manager (apt remove aidaide etc.) or remove the AppImage.

The uninstaller does not touch ~/.aidaide/ (your vault, settings, workspaces). Remove manually if you want a fresh start. Back up the vault first if you have credentials you need.

Terms & Setup

License key format

A long base64-ish string. Treat as a secret — anyone with your key can use your seats until you rotate.

"I lost my license key"

Sign into the customer portal (linked from License Status) — your keys are listed there. Resend by email if needed.

"My license stopped working"

Verify the renewal date in License Status.
Check that this machine is still in your bound-devices list.
Network — license verification needs outbound HTTPS to AidaIDE's licensing endpoint. Behind a strict proxy? Configure under Settings → Network → HTTP proxy.

"AidaIDE will not start after an update"

Start with the --safe-mode flag (no plugins, default settings).
If safe mode launches, the culprit is a plugin or a custom theme. Disable plugins, swap themes, retry.
If safe mode also fails, file a bug from another machine and include ~/.aidaide/logs/aidaide.log.

"I want an air-gapped install"

Run the installer on a network-connected machine first to validate.
Disable auto-update.
Pre-install required plugins via .plugin files.
Vault and license activation both work offline if you can ship one verification round-trip during initial setup. After that, periodic re-verification only happens when network is available.

EU/data-residency note

EU-jurisdiction R2 buckets are on the roadmap. Until they exist, downloads come from the global bucket which transits multiple regions. Talk to support if this matters for your compliance posture.

Roadmap pointers (subject to change)

Multi-port agents in the Hierarchy Builder.
Scoped context per agent.
Better Web Dashboard out-of-the-box experience.
Per-window AI sidebar.
EU-region installer mirror.