Key setup

Add your Retype Pro or Enterprise license key to activate Pro features locally, in CI, or on your hosting platform.

After purchasing Retype Pro or Enterprise, your key is emailed to you. There are three ways to activate the key depending on your environment.

Option 1: Wallet (local development)

Store the key in an encrypted local wallet so it is automatically used for every future build on your machine.

retype wallet --add <key>

Replace <key> with your actual Retype key. Once added, you do not need to pass the key again — Retype reads it from the wallet automatically.

Additional wallet commands:

retype wallet --list    # List stored keys
retype wallet --remove <key>  # Remove a specific key
retype wallet --clear   # Clear all keys from the wallet

The wallet stores keys in an encrypted file called license.dat on your local machine. Keys added to the wallet are not committed to your repository.

Option 2: --key flag (per-build)

Pass the key directly as a CLI option. The key is not stored in the wallet and must be passed with every invocation.

retype build

retype build --key <key>

This approach is useful for one-off builds or scripted environments where you manage secrets externally.

Option 3: RETYPE_KEY environment variable (CI/hosting)

Set RETYPE_KEY as an environment variable. This is the recommended approach for hosted deployments and CI pipelines because the key never needs to be stored in your repository.

GitHub Actions

1. Add the secret to your repository

   Navigate to your repository’s secret settings:

   https://github.com/<your-organization>/<your-project>/settings/secrets/actions
   

   Click New repository secret, set the name to RETYPE_KEY, and paste your key as the value.

2. Reference the secret in your workflow

   Pass the secret to the Retype build action in your .github/workflows/retype-action.yml:

   .github/workflows/retype-action.yml

   - uses: retypeapp/action-build@latest
     env:
       RETYPE_KEY: ${{ secrets.RETYPE_KEY }}
   
3. Commit and push

   Push your updated workflow file. The next build will automatically use your Pro key.

Other platforms

For Netlify, Cloudflare Pages, or any other hosting service, add RETYPE_KEY as an environment variable in the platform’s build settings. Retype automatically reads the variable at build time.

Verify the key is active

Run a build with verbose output to confirm your key is recognized:

retype build --verbose

If the key is active, the build output will reflect Pro features being enabled (e.g., no page limit, no “Powered by Retype” branding). If the key is not found or invalid, Retype falls back to Free tier behavior.

Use retype wallet --list to check which keys are currently stored in your local wallet.

Summary

Method	Use case	Key persisted?
retype wallet --add	Local development	Yes, in encrypted wallet
--key flag	Per-build or scripted	No
RETYPE_KEY env var	CI pipelines and hosting	No (managed externally)