I never got a license code: Pearl, Sol and terminal buyers, and what to do when the app asks for one

You opened Booked Solid and it asked you for something you have never seen: a license key that looks like BS-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX. One owner put it exactly this way: I'm using windows. When I clicked on the app before, it asked for my license info, and then, I'm on pearl at the moment and never received one. Another wrote in with Where do I find my license key, I do not ever recall seeing anything like the BS-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX in any materials, and finished with Please help me find my license? If that is your morning, stop searching your inbox for a moment and read this first.

Two things are true here at the same time. One edition has no license key at all, so hunting for one is wasted evening. The others do have a key, and for some owners it arrived long after the purchase did. Which of those you are in decides everything, so work through the sections in order. Either way, nothing about your account is broken, nothing you did caused this, and there is nothing to re-buy.

Two questions that decide your answer

Support asks these two every single time, because the right answer flips completely depending on them. Answer them for yourself before you do anything else.

1. Are you already running Booked Solid and were thrown by an update email or the handover announcement, or are you setting the app up for the first time on this machine?
2. Did you buy under a different email address from the one you are writing to us from? A lot of the earlier purchases went through the previous checkout, and people often buy with one address and then email from another.

If you already use Booked Solid, you do not need a key

The BS- license key exists for one job: setting the desktop app up for the very first time on a computer. If Booked Solid is already installed and you have been working in it, the key plays no part in your day, and the mention of it in the announcement was not aimed at you.

1. Install the new version straight over your current one. There is nothing to uninstall first.
2. Sign in with the same username and password you already use.

Your leads, your history and your setup stay exactly where they are. If the password is the thing you have lost, click Forgot your password on the sign-in screen and enter your username, not your email address. That is the step people get wrong. Click Send me a code, and a 6 digit code goes to the email on the account, where you type it in with a new password and click Save my new password.

Which edition you bought, in both sets of names

Booked Solid has been sold under two vocabularies, and receipts from different months use different words for the same thing. They line up exactly, one to one.

• Sol, sold in the DJ and AV range as The Skill: a one-time purchase that runs inside your own Claude at claude.ai. Nothing is installed on your computer, and no license key is involved anywhere.
• Pearl, sold as The Desk: a one-time purchase of the desktop app for Windows, Mac or Linux. It does use a license key. Everything in it runs on command, when you ask for it.
• Otto, sold as The Autopilot: the same desktop app on a monthly subscription, with the unattended side switched on, so it also works to a schedule while you are away. It uses a license key too.

So Pearl and the Desk are not two different products, and neither are Otto and the Autopilot. If your receipt says Pearl and an article here says Desk, they are the same purchase. The real split is Sol on one side, with no key and no download, and Pearl and Otto on the other, both of which are the desktop app and both of which use a key.

People write in saying I bought Pearl or I have Sol and then ask where their key went. The plainest version of the question is I never got a license key, and the honest answer is genuinely different for those two.

If you bought Sol or the Skill: there is no license key, and nothing is broken

Sol is the edition that lives inside your own Claude. It needs no license key and no download of the desktop app. Nothing is missing from your purchase. What arrived after checkout was your welcome note and your way into the Green Room, where your download lives, not a BS- key.

Here is the dead end to skip. Almost everyone in this situation goes to the Green Room sign-in page and uses email me my license key, waits, checks spam, tries a second address, and gets nothing back. That tool can only send a key that already exists on a license record, and Sol does not create one, because Sol does not use a key. There is nothing for it to send and no email is coming. It is not slow and it is not stuck. Skip it.

To get your edition running, follow the article "Setting up the Skill edition in your own AI". The short version: upload the file named Booked Solid OS (upload this to Claude).zip at claude.ai > Settings > Capabilities > Skills, open a brand new chat, switch the model to Opus 4.8, and type exactly run booked solid.

If you own Sol and you want the desktop app as well, that is a different edition: the Desk, or the Autopilot if you want it running on a schedule. Open a ticket and say plainly what you want. Someone will look at your actual purchase and tell you where you stand. What we will not do is tell you a key is on its way before anyone has checked.

If you bought Pearl or the Desk: you do have a key, and it may have reached you late

Pearl is a desktop app edition, so a BS- key does belong to your account. This is where a lot of owners were let down: a batch of Pearl keys only went out on 2 August 2026, well after those purchases were made. If you looked for a key back when you bought and found nothing, that is why, and it is worth looking again now.

1. Search every folder in your mailbox, including spam and promotions, for the subject Your Booked Solid OS license key. It comes from Booked Solid, at booked@send.kivimedia.co. Search the whole mailbox, not just around your receipt date, because the key and the receipt may be months apart.
2. Nothing there? Go to booked.kivimedia.co/green-room, type the address you bought with, and choose email me my license key. It sends the key on file straight to that address.
3. Still nothing after a few minutes? Open a ticket. A person checks your purchase against the license records by hand.

One thing about Pearl, so nothing surprises you once you are in: Pearl runs everything on command, at full power, whenever you ask. The parts that run unattended, on a schedule and without you present, belong to Otto. On Pearl those controls show an upgrade prompt instead of running.

Where your key lives and how to use it

For the Desk and the Autopilot, and for Pearl and Otto, the key is emailed to your purchase address from booked@send.kivimedia.co, with the subject Your Booked Solid OS license key.

You can also have it sent again without contacting anyone:

1. Go to booked.kivimedia.co/green-room.
2. Type the email address you bought with.
3. Choose email me my license key.

The key goes to that inbox, along with the username on your account if you set one. It is never shown on screen, and it is only ever sent to the address on the license itself, so nobody can fish it out with someone else's email. If you are already signed in to the Green Room and the key card says the key was revealed earlier, use Email it to me again on that same card.

Once you have it, open the app, click First time here? Enter your license key on the account screen, and paste the key into the field marked License key, like BS-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX. That wording in the field is only a rough example of the shape. Real keys are BS- followed by four groups of four characters, so if yours does not match the example character for character, you still have the right key. Paste it, do not retype it.

If the app tells you the key was not found or is already in use, read "That license code was not found or is already in use: the three causes" instead, because a key activates exactly once and every computer after the first uses Already set up on another computer? Sign in.

The Green Room

The Green Room at booked.kivimedia.co/green-room is the owners hub: your current download, setup help, owner guides and version notes. There is no password and no new account to create.

1. Open booked.kivimedia.co/green-room.
2. Enter the email address on your receipt. It has to be the address you bought with.
3. We email you a 6 digit sign-in code. Type it in. Each code is good for 15 minutes, only the newest one works, and a correct code unlocks the room for 30 days on that device.

Nothing after a minute or two? Use Send a fresh code. We send at most one code a minute, so give it a moment before asking again. DJ and AV owners also see a card called The DJ and AV skill edition, which holds the complete download for your own AI assistant. The Green Room always keeps your newest download, so come back to that same card for updates.

One thing that trips up long-time owners: the members area that Chris Michael ran before the handover has retired, and old bookmarks to it now land on the main Booked Solid site instead. That redirect is expected and it is not your access being cut off. The Green Room at booked.kivimedia.co/green-room is the current one. If you are hunting for something that used to live in the old area, open a ticket and name it, because some of that material is now built into the app or covered by an article here.

If you own the desktop app and never received a license code

Some accounts predate the current key system. If you are starting completely fresh, on a new machine or because you never got into the app at all, and there is no key in any of your inboxes, there may genuinely be no key on file for you yet. Do not keep hunting. There is nothing to find, and nothing you did caused it.

Open a ticket with the email address you bought with, and say which edition you bought and whether you have ever had the app running before. A person checks your purchase against the license records by hand and takes it from there. We will not tell you a key is being issued before someone has looked at your account, because that promise has been made on this help desk before and it was not ours to make. If you bought one of the one-time editions, the Skill or the Desk, what you own stays yours and there is nothing to pay and nothing to re-buy.

Moving from the terminal to the desktop app

If you do have a key and you have been working in the terminal, this is not a migration and there is nothing to export. Download the app at booked.kivimedia.co/download for Mac, Windows or Linux. When it opens, it recognises the Booking HQ you already built in the terminal and picks up right where you left off. Nothing is lost, it is the same license, and there is no new charge.

If the email still does not arrive

• Give it a couple of minutes. Delivery is fast but not instant.
• Check spam and junk for anything from Booked Solid.
• Make sure you are looking in the inbox of the exact address you used at checkout, not a forwarding address.
• If you have more than one address, tell us both. An email mismatch is the most common reason a real purchase looks missing.

If none of this gets you in

Open a ticket from this help center or write to bookedsolid@kivimedia.freshdesk.com, and include three things: the email you bought with, the edition your receipt names (Sol, the Skill, Pearl, the Desk, Otto or the Autopilot), and whether you have ever had Booked Solid running before. With those three, a person can find your purchase and tell you exactly which door is yours rather than guessing. You can also reach us any time at booked.kivimedia.co/support.