Reticle Docs: verification for AI coding agents

Every Reticle package is Apache-2.0. An enterprise customer gets a signed license key, which you set as RETICLE_LICENSE_KEY. Activation is verified locally with Ed25519 and makes no network call. Usage metrics are separate: they are on by default, and on a licensed build they carry your licence id. Turn them off with RETICLE_TELEMETRY=0. See telemetry. Run npx @reticlehq/server license to see whether you are active, eval, missing, expired or invalid.

For how to connect a platform to Reticle, see Platform integration.

Already have a key and just need to switch it on? Activating a license key is the step-by-step version: where to set it on each platform, the editor and CI cases, how to read every status, and what to do when it does not work.

How a license key works (offline, no phone-home)

No feature in the open packages needs a key. A key identifies your organisation to Reticle. Activation is verified locally with Ed25519 and sends nothing. Usage metrics, which you can turn off, carry your licence id on a licensed build. The flow, end to end:

Buy. Contact hey@reticle.sh; we issue you a signed license key (license id, org, plan, expiry). The license id is the stable handle on your subscription: it survives a rename, and it is what a renewal continues.

Install. Set it on the machine running the Reticle server:

export RETICLE_LICENSE_KEY="<your key>"
# the release already bakes the issuer public key (RETICLE_LICENSE_PUBLIC_KEY)

Verify. reticle status --json carries a license object whose status and detail say where you stand:

active    licensed to Acme Corp (enterprise), expires 2027-06-20T00:00:00.000Z
eval      evaluation mode (no issuer key configured)
missing   set RETICLE_LICENSE_KEY to activate a license. Request a key from hey@reticle.sh
expired   license expired. Renew with hey@reticle.sh
invalid   license key rejected (<reason>). hey@reticle.sh can re-issue it

Every status reports contact, so a reader who is stuck always has somebody to write to. A published release has the issuer key baked in. Only a build from source, with no issuer key, reports eval.

Renew. Keys carry an expiry, shown as expiresAt; once it passes, the status is expired.

Procuring a license: contact hey@reticle.sh. Keys are issued offline and signed with Ed25519; the activation check (reticle status) verifies them locally with no network call.

Roadmap

SSO/SAML, SCIM, RBAC / team permissions, audit logs, multi-org management, verify-before-merge policy gates, and the hosted control-plane connectors are planned for the hosted Reticle platform, not for the open packages. The core verification engine stays free.

For pricing, write to hey@reticle.sh. This page describes the mechanism, not the price list.

Security & data handling

The honest one-pager a security review needs. Reticle is built so the answer to “where does our data go?” is nowhere, unless you link a project to the dashboard. It runs on your machine, in your infra.

Question	Answer
Does the SDK ship to production?	Not by default. The dev SDK is dev/preview-only and tree-shaken from production builds. If you opt in to production mode, the `@reticlehq/browser/activate` loader ships. A visitor’s page load reads one query parameter and loads no SDK, opens no socket and writes nothing. Only a signed, single-use ticket loads the SDK.
Where does the server run?	Localhost. The bridge binds `127.0.0.1`; the verify endpoint is localhost-bound + token-guarded (constant-time), with request/body-size/timeout limits.
Does anything phone home?	No app data unless you opt in. Linking a project to the dashboard (`reticle connect`) sends its runs there; see what is recorded and `reticle config` for what it sends. License checks are offline (Ed25519). The CLI sends opt-out usage metrics only (random id + event names, no code, no PII; on a licensed build they carry your licence id; see telemetry); disable fleet-wide with `RETICLE_TELEMETRY=0` or per-machine with `reticle telemetry disable`. Feedback your team explicitly sends us (`reticle feedback`) is the only free text that ever leaves; it is never collected passively, is redacted client-side, and is disabled fleet-wide with `RETICLE_FEEDBACK=0`.
Where do artifacts live?	Your disk: `.reticle/runs/<id>.json` (atomic writes, bounded retention), `.reticle/flows/`, `.reticle/contract.json`. You own them.
What can the server read?	The DOM/network/console/routing/state of the app under test, locally.
Leak risk downstream?	The `prod-preview` profile redacts source `file:line`, raw bodies, and app-state values.
Path safety	Run/flow ids are validated as single path segments on read and write (no traversal).

Verify it yourself: the SDK and server are open source, so read the tree-shaking, the 127.0.0.1 bind, and the offline license verify. SECURITY.md has the disclosure process; an SBOM is available on request. SOC 2 is not in place; the posture above is the honest current state.

Licensing model

Scope	License	Why
The protocol and the rules (`open-verification`, `core`, `engine`)	Apache-2.0	the part that DECIDES a verdict, auditable and reimplementable by anyone
Embeddable SDK (`browser`, `react`, `babel-plugin`, `next`, `vite-plugin`, `electron`, `eslint-plugin`)	Apache-2.0	safe to ship inside your customers’ apps; explicit patent grant
Server / CLI / MCP (`server`, `init`, `test`)	Apache-2.0	use, change and redistribute it anywhere

Embedding / OEM / enterprise: hey@reticle.sh.

How it works

Compare

Practice

Trust & licensing

Enterprise

How a license key works (offline, no phone-home)

Roadmap

Security & data handling

Licensing model

​How a license key works (offline, no phone-home)

​Roadmap

​Security & data handling

​Licensing model

How a license key works (offline, no phone-home)

Roadmap

Security & data handling

Licensing model