# Sell digital products

A digital product is an ordinary product whose variant does not require shipping,
plus a configuration saying how it is delivered. Delivery happens on its own when the
payment settles; nothing is queued for you to approve.

## The three kinds

<Columns cols={3}>
  <Card title="File" icon="file-arrow-down">
    A download served through a short-lived signed link, with a per-buyer download
    count you set.
  </Card>
  <Card title="License key" icon="key">
    Issued from a pool you upload, or generated from a pattern at the moment of
    purchase.
  </Card>
  <Card title="Subscription" icon="repeat">
    Recurring access, either billed by your provider or expiring on a date you set.
  </Card>
</Columns>

## Set one up

1. Create the product and mark the variant as not requiring shipping.
2. Attach a configuration with a `fulfillment_type` of `file`, `license_key` or
   `subscription`.
3. For a file, upload it. For license keys, either import a pool or define the pattern
   to generate from.

## What happens when someone buys

The payment settles, and every line on that order whose variant does not require
shipping and has a matching configuration produces an **entitlement**: the buyer's
durable right to that thing. The buyer sees it under their account, and you can see it
against the order.

Delivery is guarded against duplicates. A payment provider that retries a settlement
webhook, which they all do, cannot mint a second key or drain your pool twice.

## Things worth knowing before you launch

<Warning>
  A download link is deliberately short-lived and counted. If a buyer says a link
  expired, that is the design working. Raise the download allowance on the entitlement
  rather than reissuing the product.
</Warning>

License keys are stored encrypted and are revealed to the buyer through a rate-limited
endpoint, not printed into an email or an order page. If you are integrating your own
software with key checks, validate against the public validation endpoint rather than
storing a copy of the key yourself.

## Reference

- The **Catalogue** tab covers `digital-products`, its files, and license key pools.
- Entitlements, revocation and download resets live under the same tab.
- [Webhooks](/cli/webhooks) if you want to react to a grant in your own system.