Network Access & Offline Use
Which hosts PR Flow needs for licensing and updates, how long it keeps working without a connection, and what to ask your IT team to allow.
PR Flow reads your pull requests directly from your code hosts. Licensing is the exception: activating a license and checking it later both go to the PR Flow license server at api.prflow.app. This page covers when that needs a connection, how long PR Flow can go without one, and what a company network has to allow.
When the license server is needed
Entering a license key needs a connection to the license server. So does starting the free trial, which goes through prflow.app on its way there. Neither works offline.
Once licensed, PR Flow checks the license when it starts and every 24 hours while it runs. The check sends your license key and a hashed identifier for this computer. Nothing about your code or pull requests is part of it.
How long it keeps working offline
When a check can't get through, PR Flow keeps using the result of the last one that did, for up to 30 days. Every successful check starts the 30 days again, so a computer that gets online at least once a month never reaches the limit. There is no warning while this happens.
A trial works offline the same way until the trial ends.
After 30 days without a successful check, PR Flow shows No internet connection and stays locked until a check succeeds. Your board and drafts stay on this computer. Choose Retry once the connection is back.
There is no way to activate PR Flow on a computer that can never reach the license server. If your network blocks it, the next section is what your IT team needs. If they can't open it, contact us and tell us which message you see.
What to allow on a company network
All of these are HTTPS on port 443.
| Host | What it's for | Needed |
|---|---|---|
api.prflow.app | Activating a license and the regular license check | Yes |
prflow.app | Starting the free trial | Only to start a trial |
github.com and release-assets.githubusercontent.com | Checking for app updates and downloading them | No. Without them, update checks fail and you install new versions by hand |
raw.githubusercontent.com | Agents from the Community Store, and agents a team administrator has assigned to your license | Only if you use either |
Your code hosts, for example github.com or your own GitLab or Gerrit server, and any AI provider you've connected need access of their own.
Proxies and TLS inspection
The license check and the trial start need a direct HTTPS connection. PR Flow has no proxy setting for them, and it ignores both the proxy in your operating system's network settings and the HTTPS_PROXY environment variable. On a network where outbound HTTPS only works through a proxy, the license check can't get through.
They also fail when a network appliance re-signs HTTPS traffic with its own certificate, usually called TLS or SSL inspection. Adding your organisation's root certificate to the operating system won't fix it, because the license check doesn't use the operating system's certificate store.
So the request to IT is direct access to api.prflow.app and prflow.app, without a proxy and without inspection. App updates work differently. They do use the system proxy.
What the messages mean
Couldn't reach the license server. Please try again in a moment. Shown when activating a key or starting a trial, if the request failed or the answer didn't come from the license server. No connection, a blocked host, a required proxy or TLS inspection are the usual causes.
No internet connection. No license check has succeeded for more than 30 days. Despite the title, a blocked host, a proxy or TLS inspection cause it as often as a missing connection.
Couldn't verify your license. A response came back, but PR Flow didn't recognise it as the license server's. A block page from a network filter does this. An error on our side can too. If it happens on one network only, look at that network first. If it happens everywhere, try again later, and contact us if it keeps happening.
Deactivating without a connection
Deactivating a device normally frees its seat on the license server. Offline, the device is deactivated but its seat stays in use, and PR Flow doesn't try to free it again later. Remove the old device in the license portal, as described under "Recover an existing license" in Installation & Setup.