Artifact Licenses

This guide walks you through how to use Artifact Licenses to control which artifacts and tags your end-customers can access and pull from your Distr registry.

Note

Artifact Licenses are a Pro feature available in Pro, Enterprise, and Pro Trial plans. Learn more about License Management and subscription plans.

With Artifact Licenses, you can control access to specific artifacts and their tags in your registry. You can grant access to all tags, specific tags, or future tags for one or multiple artifacts. Once you create your first artifact license, customers will only see artifacts they have a valid license for.

Caution

Creating your first license will restrict what all your customers see. After you create your first license, your customers will only see artifacts which they have a valid license for. Without any license, your customers will see all artifacts and tags.

Use case

Artifact Licenses enable you to:

• Control Registry Access - Restrict which container images, Helm charts, and other artifacts customers can pull
• Tag-based Access Control - Grant access to specific tags (e.g., only stable releases) or all tags including future ones
• Tiered Artifact Access - Offer different artifact sets based on customer subscription tiers
• Multi-artifact Bundling - Bundle multiple artifacts in a single license for simplified management

License features

1. Each license can include one or multiple artifacts.
2. Each license can grant access to specific tags, all tags, or all tags including future tags.
3. A customer can be associated to multiple licenses.
4. License edits are reflected in the customer portal in real time.
5. Before creating your first license, all customers can see all artifacts. After the first license is created, customers only see licensed artifacts.

How to use it

If you don’t see the feature yet, make sure you’re on a Pro plan or Pro Trial. Once you’re in, here’s how it works:

1. Create a customer: If none exist, create a customer first
2. Navigate to the “Licenses” tab in the sidebar, then select “Artifact Licenses”
3. Click “Create Artifact License”
4. Give it a name (required)
5. Set an expiration date (optional) - Use the date picker to select when the license expires
6. Select an artifact (required) - Choose which artifact(s) to include in the license
   • You can add multiple artifacts by clicking ”+ Add Artifact”
7. Choose artifact tags (required) - Select which tags to grant access to:
   • All tags and future tags - Grants access to all current and future tags
   • Specific tags - Select individual tags to grant access to
8. Select the owner - Choose which customer organization owns this license
9. Save: Hit “Save” and you’re done!

The customer can now access and pull the assigned artifacts and tags directly from your registry through their customer portal.

Managing existing licenses

You can view and manage all your artifact licenses from the Artifact Licenses page:

• View licenses - See all licenses with their ID, name, customer, and associated artifacts
• Edit licenses - Click on a license to modify its settings
• Filter licenses - Use the search bar to filter licenses by name, customer, or artifact

Best practices

• Start with broad access - Consider starting with “All tags and future tags” for new customers, then refine as needed
• Set expiration dates - Use expiration dates for time-limited access or trial periods
• Bundle related artifacts - Group related artifacts in a single license for easier management
• Review regularly - Periodically review licenses to ensure they match your current access policies