Most first-time activation errors come from confusing two unrelated credentials.
NextlerAI licence key
Purpose: proves the purchased product entitlement and controls activation, runtime and update access.
Found at: nextlerai.com → My Account → My Products for direct purchases.
Entered at:
- NAI Assistant → License, or
- NextlerAI Publisher → License.
Scope: one product, purchased website capacity and allowed environments. An Assistant licence cannot activate Publisher.
Data sent to the licence service: key, product identifier, domain, installation UUID and environment. Customer chat, orders and catalogue content are not sent for licence validation.
AI-provider API key
Purpose: authorises AI calls and usage billed by the provider account.
Found at: the provider’s own console—Google AI Studio, OpenAI Platform, Anthropic Console or xAI Console.
Entered at:
- Assistant → Settings → General → API keys, or
- Publisher → Settings → AI Providers.
Scope: provider capabilities and models allowed by that account. The key may cover chat, embeddings, images or only some of these.
Quick comparison
| Question | NextlerAI licence | Provider API key |
|---|---|---|
| Who issues it? | NextlerAI | Google/OpenAI/Anthropic/xAI |
| What does it enable? | Plugin entitlement/runtime/updates | AI requests/models |
| Where is it stored? | Product License screen | Product AI-provider settings |
| Is usage included in plugin price? | Product entitlement is purchased | Provider usage is separate |
| Can it activate another NextlerAI product? | No | A provider key may be reused if its provider policy allows |
| Should it appear in screenshots? | No | No |
Safe handling
- Use separate provider keys for production and development when practical.
- Restrict provider keys, set budgets and enable alerts.
- Never put a provider key in browser JavaScript, a public shortcode or an external embed snippet.
- Never email a complete licence/API key in an ordinary support thread.
- Use the masked last four characters to identify a key.
- Rotate a provider key by saving/testing the replacement before revoking the old one.
- Deactivate a NextlerAI licence before moving production domains.
Typical errors
- Licence screen says invalid format/product: the wrong product key or an API key was pasted.
- Provider test says unauthorised: a NextlerAI licence key or wrong provider key was pasted.
- Plugin is active but AI calls fail: licence and provider access are separate; test both.
- Chat works but embeddings fail: selected chat provider may not support embeddings; use Gemini or OpenAI for Assistant embeddings.
- Images fail but text works: image/vision capability and model access must be tested separately.
Support-safe evidence
Report the credential type, issuer/provider, product, masked suffix, status/error and where it was entered. Do not transmit the full value.