Standalone vendor-side tool for producing signed Ed25519 license tokens consumed by `cameleer-server`. The minter is intentionally **not** a runtime or compile-scope dependency of the server — the server only ships with the matching public key and validates tokens via `LicenseValidator`. The private signing key never leaves the vendor's environment.
-`target/cameleer-license-minter-1.0-SNAPSHOT.jar` — plain library JAR (consumable as a Maven `test` dependency or via the `LicenseMinter` API in custom tooling)
-`target/cameleer-license-minter-1.0-SNAPSHOT-cli.jar` — fat CLI JAR with main class `com.cameleer.license.minter.cli.LicenseMinterCli`
## Table of contents
## Audience
## Build
## Public Java API
## CLI usage
## Token format
## LicenseInfo schema
## Limits dictionary
## Generating an Ed25519 key pair
## Worked example
## Security guidance
## Compatibility / runtime separation
---
## Audience
Vendors / SaaS operators issuing licenses to customers who run `cameleer-server`. End-customer operators looking for *how to install* a token should read `docs/license-enforcement.md` instead.
## Build
```bash
# From the repo root
mvn -pl cameleer-license-minter package
```
Two JARs land in `cameleer-license-minter/target/`:
| Artifact | Purpose |
|---|---|
| `cameleer-license-minter-1.0-SNAPSHOT.jar` | Plain library (the `repackage` execution for the main artifact is disabled; see `pom.xml:50-54`). Use this when embedding the minter inside your own tooling or a unit test that needs a fresh signed token. |
| `cameleer-license-minter-1.0-SNAPSHOT-cli.jar` | Fat CLI JAR. Repackaged by Spring Boot's `spring-boot-maven-plugin` with classifier `cli`; main class is `com.cameleer.license.minter.cli.LicenseMinterCli`. |
## Public Java API
`com.cameleer.license.minter.LicenseMinter` is the only entry point for the library. It is a final, stateless utility class:
The method is thread-safe; the underlying Jackson `ObjectMapper` is configured once with `ORDER_MAP_ENTRIES_BY_KEYS` so canonical-JSON serialization is deterministic across runs and process boundaries.
`LicenseMinter.mint` will throw `IllegalStateException` if the JCE provider rejects the private key or the payload cannot be serialized.
## CLI usage
The CLI entry point is `com.cameleer.license.minter.cli.LicenseMinterCli`. Run it from the fat JAR produced by the build:
Source of truth: `cameleer-license-minter/src/main/java/com/cameleer/license/minter/cli/LicenseMinterCli.java:26`.
| Flag | Required | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| `--private-key=<path>` | yes | Path to a PKCS#8-encoded Ed25519 private key. Both PEM (`-----BEGIN PRIVATE KEY-----`) and raw base64 are accepted (`LicenseMinterCli.readEd25519PrivateKey`). |
| `--tenant=<tenantId>` | yes | The exact `tenantId` the server will compare against `CAMELEER_SERVER_TENANT_ID`. Mismatch causes the validator to throw at install / revalidation. |
| `--expires=<YYYY-MM-DD>` | yes | Expiration date interpreted as midnight UTC. The validator considers tokens expired once `now > exp + gracePeriodDays`. |
| `--label=<text>` | no | Human-readable label, surfaced via `GET /api/v1/admin/license` and `/api/v1/admin/license/usage`. |
| `--grace-days=<int>` | no | Number of days the license stays usable after `--expires`. Defaults to `0`. |
| `--max-<limitkey>=<int>` | no, repeatable | Each `--max-foo-bar` flag becomes the limit key `max_foo_bar`. See the limits dictionary below. Unknown keys are accepted by the minter (the server side ignores keys it does not understand and falls through to defaults). |
| `--output=<path>` | no | Write the token to a file. When omitted, the token is printed to stdout. On `--verify` failure the file is deleted. |
| `--public-key=<path>` | no, required for `--verify` | Path to the matching base64 X.509 SPKI public key file (one line, no PEM markers). |
| `--verify` | no | After minting, parse + signature-check the token using `--public-key` and `--tenant`. Exits non-zero if verification fails. |
Exit codes: `0` on success, `1` on minting / IO failure, `2` on argument validation failure, `3` on `--verify` failure.
## Token format
A token is the concatenation of two **standard** base64 segments joined by a literal `.`:
- The canonical JSON payload is produced by `LicenseMinter.canonicalPayload(...)` with keys sorted lexicographically and `limits` rendered as a sorted object. This makes the byte sequence deterministic given a fixed `LicenseInfo`.
- The signature is computed with `Signature.getInstance("Ed25519")` over the canonical payload bytes (not over the base64-encoded form).
- Encoding is `Base64.getEncoder()` (RFC 4648 §4 — *not* base64url). The validator decodes with the matching `Base64.getDecoder()`.
`LicenseValidator.validate(...)` (`cameleer-license-api/src/main/java/com/cameleer/license/LicenseValidator.java:42`) splits on the first `.`, decodes both halves, verifies the signature, then deserializes the payload.
| `licenseId` | `UUID` | yes | Stable identifier for this token. The server's audit trail records install/replace transitions by license id; renewals must use a fresh UUID so audit history is non-ambiguous. |
| `tenantId` | `String` | yes | Must equal the server's `CAMELEER_SERVER_TENANT_ID`. The validator throws `IllegalArgumentException` on mismatch. Blank values are rejected by the canonical record constructor. |
| `label` | `String` | no | Free-form human label. Surfaced on the admin/usage endpoints and the operator UI. Has no enforcement semantics. |
| `limits` | `Map<String,Integer>` | yes (may be empty) | License-specific overrides. Any key that appears here is unioned over `DefaultTierLimits.DEFAULTS` to form the effective caps in `ACTIVE` / `GRACE` states. Keys not present fall through to defaults. |
| `issuedAt` | `Instant` (epoch seconds in JSON `iat`) | yes | Stamped by the minter; not currently consulted by the validator beyond informational logging. |
| `expiresAt` | `Instant` (epoch seconds in JSON `exp`) | yes | The validator throws if `now > expiresAt + gracePeriodDays * 86400` at install or revalidation. |
| `gracePeriodDays` | `int` | yes (>= 0) | Window after `expiresAt` during which the gate transitions to `GRACE` (license still grants its caps) before flipping to `EXPIRED`. Negative values are rejected at construction. |
Canonical key set: `cameleer-license-api/src/main/java/com/cameleer/license/DefaultTierLimits.java`. Any key not listed here is silently ignored by the server's `LicenseGate.getEffectiveLimits()`.
A one-liner using the JDK's `keytool` is **not** sufficient — `keytool` cannot produce raw Ed25519 PKCS#8 in a directly-usable shape for our reader. Generating via the API above (or `openssl genpkey -algorithm ed25519`) is the supported path.
For boot-time installation (preferred for SaaS-managed deployments), set `CAMELEER_SERVER_LICENSE_TOKEN` instead of POSTing — see `docs/license-enforcement.md`.
## Security guidance
- **The Ed25519 private key is the trust root.** Anyone who holds it can mint licenses for any tenant. Treat it like a code-signing key.
- **Storage.** Production private keys belong in an HSM, KMS (e.g. AWS KMS / GCP KMS with non-exportable signing), or a sealed Vault transit backend. A sealed file on a laptop is acceptable for low-volume / pre-production minting only and should never be committed to git or shared via chat.
- **Rotation.** Rotation is destructive: every customer running with the *old* public key will reject all new tokens signed with the *new* private key. The pragmatic procedure is:
1. Generate the new keypair.
2. Distribute the new public key (`CAMELEER_SERVER_LICENSE_PUBLICKEY`) to every tenant's server config.
3. Once tenants confirm they are running with the new public key, re-mint and re-issue every active license under the new key.
4. Decommission the old private key.
Practical revocation flows through expiry — keep license terms short enough (12 months or less) that planned rotations stay aligned with renewal cadence.
- **Auditing.** The server records every install/replace/reject under `AuditCategory.LICENSE`. The minter itself does not write audit rows; if you need a vendor-side audit trail of mint operations, wrap `LicenseMinter.mint(...)` in your own ticketing pipeline.
- **Never commit private keys.** `.gitignore` does not block them by name — use a `secrets/` directory excluded by your repository's policy, or store them entirely outside the working tree.
## Compatibility / runtime separation
The minter is intentionally absent from `cameleer-server-app`'s production classpath. To verify after a build:
`cameleer-license-minter/pom.xml` depends on `cameleer-license-api` for the pure license contract types (`LicenseInfo`, `LicenseValidator`) used by mint + `--verify`. It deliberately does **not** depend on `cameleer-server-core`, so consumers of the minter (e.g. `cameleer-saas`) do not inherit server-runtime types onto their classpath. The server app intentionally does not depend on the minter — vendors mint outside the customer-deployed runtime, and a compromised customer cannot leverage server code to forge tokens.