---
title: "instance"
description: "catcli instance — show this CAT installation, or set and remove the license key."
url: "https://docs.justcat.it/reference/cat-cli/instance/"
---
# instance


## Synopsis

```
catcli instance --show [-l <level>]
catcli instance --setLicenseKey <key> [-l <level>]
catcli instance --setLicenseKey "" [-l <level>]
```

## Options

| Short | Long | Value | Meaning |
|-------|------|-------|---------|
| `-s` | `--show` | | Print the instance table. Exactly one of `-s` / `-k` is required. |
| `-k` | `--setLicenseKey` | key | Store the license key. An empty value (`-k ""`) removes the stored key. |
| `-l` | `--loggingLevel` | level | `None` (default), `Error`, `Information`, `Debug`, … — see [Logging](https://docs.justcat.it/reference/cat-cli/introduction/#logging "Logging"). |
| `-q` | `--quiet` | | Accepted for uniformity with the other verbs; `instance` never signs in, so there is nothing to silence. |

## What it does

Reads or writes `%APPDATA%\CAT\.catconfig`, the file that identifies this installation and holds the license key. It does **not** run the sign-in and plan check — that is the point: a key can be installed on a machine that has no portal access and no token, and the installation can always be inspected. Setting a key is how an **Enterprise** plan is activated; once a valid key is stored, every verb works offline and `CAT_PORTAL_TOKEN` is no longer read. The same key is shared with the other CAT tools on the machine (CAT Studio, the PowerShell module, the Python module) — it is one installation.

A key is checked before it is stored: a genuine CAT key is stored even when it is expired or not yet valid (what it unlocks is decided at every run, and a future key starts working the day its window opens); anything that is not a CAT key — a typo, a truncated paste — is refused with the reason and the stored key is left unchanged.

## Output

`--show` prints a two-column table:

```
╭─────────────────────┬──────────────────────────────────────╮
│ Property            │ Value                                │
├─────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────────────┤
│ Instance ID         │ 3f0e9a2c-…                           │
│ Installation Date   │ 2026-03-02T09:14:51.0000000+01:00    │
│ License Key         │ (the stored key, or empty)           │
│ Automation Platform │ none (interactive invocation)        │
│ Tool and version    │ CAT CLI v3.0.0                       │
│ Version of CAT Core │ 3.0.0                                │
│ Platform            │ Windows                              │
│ OS Version          │ Microsoft Windows 10.0.22631         │
╰─────────────────────┴──────────────────────────────────────╯
```

`Automation Platform` names the CI/CD platform CAT detected it was started by, or `none (interactive invocation)` — useful for checking what the [interactive-only rule](https://docs.justcat.it/reference/cat-cli/introduction/#sign-in-plans-and-the-license-key "Sign-in, plans and the license key") will see.

`--setLicenseKey` prints `The license key was set.`, `The license key was removed.`, or `The license key was not set.` followed by the reason.

## Exit code

`0` when the table was printed or the key was set or removed. `1` when the key was refused or the configuration could not be read or written.

## Examples

```
# what installation is this, and is a key set?
catcli instance -s

# activate the Enterprise plan on this machine
catcli instance --setLicenseKey "your-license-key"

# go back to no key (sign-in with CAT_PORTAL_TOKEN applies again)
catcli instance -k ""
```

## Related

- [Introduction](https://docs.justcat.it/reference/cat-cli/introduction/ "Introduction") — sign-in, plans and the license key.
- [Get CAT license](https://docs.justcat.it/how-to-guides/licensing-and-admin/get-license/ "Get CAT license") and [Apply a license key](https://docs.justcat.it/how-to-guides/licensing-and-admin/apply-license-key/ "Apply a license key").
- [Compare plans](https://docs.justcat.it/compare-plans/ "Compare plans").