Recover Access When a Machine Is Lost

If a machine that had Canopy activated is lost, wiped, or broken beyond use, you cannot run canopy deactivate on it. The binding stays registered server-side until you release it. Use the self-service portal to revoke the dead machine and free the seat.

You do not need to re-enter or retrieve your license key. Your key is unchanged — you are just revoking the old machine’s binding so you can activate on a new one.

What happened

Each machine activation registers a fingerprint on the license server. When your machine dies, that fingerprint stays bound until explicitly removed. The license is still valid; it is just pointing at a machine that no longer exists.

Recover from the portal

Step 1. Open the portal login page:

https://canopy.ironpinelabs.com/portal/login

Step 2. Enter the email address associated with your Canopy license. Click Send sign-in link.

The page always shows a success message after you submit. If you do not receive an email within two minutes, check your spam folder or confirm you used the correct email address from your purchase confirmation.

Step 3. Open the sign-in email and click the link. The link is valid for 15 minutes and works once.

Step 4. You are now on the Machine Activations page. You will see a table listing every machine currently bound to your license, showing platform, last heartbeat date, and Canopy version.

Step 5. Find the row for the dead machine. The Last heartbeat column shows when it last contacted the license server. Identify the machine by platform and last-seen date.

Step 6. Click Revoke next to that machine. Confirm the prompt.

The binding is removed immediately. The seat is now free.

Note

The portal sends you an email notification when a binding is revoked, so you have a record of the change.

If the portal does not work

If you cannot receive the sign-in email (wrong email address on file, email account lost), contact support directly:

[email protected]

Include your order confirmation number or the email you used at purchase. Support can revoke the binding manually and confirm the correct email on file.

After recovery

Once the old binding is revoked, activate Canopy on your new machine:

canopy activate <your-license-key>

Expected output:

canopy: license activated (tier: solo, expires: 2027-04-17)
canopy: machine fingerprint registered (1/1 slots used)
canopy: all 21 MCP tools unlocked

Your license key is unchanged. The portal revoke does not alter the key — it only removes the machine entry that was blocking the seat.

Tip

If you have been using the dead machine’s binding for more than 90 days since the machine went offline, canopy activate on the new machine may offer to evict the stale binding automatically, without requiring the portal. Accept the prompt and the activation will complete in one step.

If you need to index your repo on the new machine, run:

canopy index /path/to/your/repo

See Move Canopy to a New Machine for the full happy-path flow when the old machine is still accessible.