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Adding Deployment Keys to CI/CD Services

Updated on Aug 14, 2026

This article describes how to activate your KendoReact license in popular CI/CD services. Use Deployment Keys for build pipelines and provide the key through an environment variable or a secure file.

Deployment keys are dedicated license keys for build pipelines. Each deployment key is tied to one application and its selected products. You cannot use deployment keys for application development.

Developer license keys remain valid for CI/CD deployments, so existing pipelines do not need to be updated. For new pipelines, we recommend using deployment keys. For more information, see the differences between developer license keys and deployment keys.

To activate your license in a CI/CD environment:

Go to the Deployment Keys page.
Click Add Application. In the form that opens:
- Add the application name.
- Select the type of application—public or private.
- Select the set of products used in the application.
Copy the deployment key and store it securely.
Create an environment variable named TELERIK_LICENSE, and set it to the deployment key value. Alternatively, store the key in a telerik-license.txt file, for example, through the Azure Secure Files approach.

The following general requirements apply to all CI/CD environments:

Regardless of the CI/CD tool you use, the step that installs the project dependencies must be executed before the step that activates the license.
The license activation step requires the @progress/kendo-licensing package to be downloaded and set up in your local environment or CI/CD pipeline.
Store the deployment key securely in an environment variable, a secret, or a secure file. Never hardcode a key in the build script.
The CI pipeline configurations are not executable. They merely outline the specific sequence of steps.

Creating an Environment Variable

Set TELERIK_LICENSE to your deployment key. Each platform has a different process for setting environment variables. The following examples cover popular CI/CD services.

Starting with the 2025 Q1 release, the name of the environment variable changes from KENDO_UI_LICENSE to TELERIK_LICENSE and the downloaded file changes from kendo-ui-license.txt to telerik-license.txt. This change is required as all Telerik UI and Kendo UI products now use the same licensing mechanism with a common license key. See the Handling License Key File Name and Environment Variable Name Changes in the 2025 Q1 Release knowledge base article for more details.

GitHub Actions

Create a new Repository Secret or an Organization Secret. Set the secret name to TELERIK_LICENSE and paste the deployment key as its value.
Add a build step to activate the license after running npm install or yarn:

yaml

steps:
    # ... install modules before activating the license
    - name: Install NPM modules
      run: npm install

    - name: Activate Kendo UI License
      # Set working directory if the application is not in the repository root folder:
      # working-directory: 'ClientApp'
      run: npx kendo-ui-license activate
      env:
          TELERIK_LICENSE: ${{ secrets.TELERIK_LICENSE }}

    # ... run application build after license activation
    - name: Build Application
      run: npm run build

Vercel

In vercel.com, click on your profile button in the top right corner, select dashboard, select your project, and go to settings.
Go to the Environment Variables page and add the deployment key. The variable name should be TELERIK_LICENSE.
Override the Install Command to include both the installation and license activation.

In the next deployment after completing these steps, the license will be activated for the KendoReact components in your project and will neither show a watermark or a warning message in the console.

Azure Pipelines (YAML)

Create a new User-defined Variable named TELERIK_LICENSE. Paste the deployment key as its value.
Add a build step to activate the license after running npm install or yarn:

Syntax for Windows build agents:

yaml

pool:
    vmImage: 'windows-latest'

steps:
    # ... install modules before activating the license
    - script: call npm install
      displayName: 'Install NPM modules'

    - script: call npx kendo-ui-license activate
      displayName: 'Activate Kendo UI License'
      # Set working directory if the application is not in the repository root folder:
      # workingDirectory: 'ClientApp'
      env:
          TELERIK_LICENSE: $(TELERIK_LICENSE)

    # ... run application build after license activation
    - script: call npm run build
      displayName: 'Build Application'

Syntax for Linux build agents:

yaml

pool:
    vmImage: 'ubuntu-latest'

steps:
    # ... install modules before activating the license
    - script: npm install
      displayName: 'Install NPM modules'

    - script: npx kendo-ui-license activate
      displayName: 'Activate Kendo UI License'
      # Set working directory if the application is not in the repository root folder:
      # workingDirectory: 'ClientApp'
      env:
          TELERIK_LICENSE: $(TELERIK_LICENSE)

    # ... run application build after license activation
    - script: npm run build
      displayName: 'Build Application'

Azure Pipelines (Classic)

Create a new User-defined Variable named TELERIK_LICENSE. Paste the deployment key as its value.
Add a new Bash task to the Agent job (before the npm build task)
Change the step to inline and use the following command

bash

# Activate the license
npx kendo-ui-license activate

Azure Pipelines Classic - Step type Inline

Using Secure Files on Azure DevOps

Secure files are an alternative approach for sharing the license key file in Azure Pipelines that does not have the size limitations of environment variables.

You have two options for a file-based approach:

Set the TELERIK_LICENSE_PATH variable.
Add a file named telerik-license.txt to the project directory or a parent directory.

Make sure you reference @progress/kendo-licensing v1.5.0 or later.

YAML Pipeline

With a YAML pipeline, you can use the DownloadSecureFile@1 task, then use $(name.secureFilePath) to reference it.

yaml

# ... Install modules before activating the license.
- script: call npm install
  displayName: 'Install NPM modules'

- task: DownloadSecureFile@1
  name: DownloadTelerikLicenseFile # defining the 'name' is important
  displayName: 'Download Telerik License Key File'
  inputs:
      secureFile: 'telerik-license.txt'

- script: call npx kendo-ui-license activate
  displayName: 'Activate Kendo UI License'
  # Set a working directory if the application is not in the repository root folder:
  # workingDirectory: 'ClientApp'
  env:
      # use the name.secureFilePath value to set TELERIK_LICENSE_PATH
      TELERIK_LICENSE_PATH: $(DownloadTelerikLicenseFile.secureFilePath)

Classic Pipeline

With a classic pipeline, use the “Download secure file” task and a PowerShell script to set TELERIK_LICENSE_PATH to the secure file path.

Add a “Download secure file” task and set the output variable's name to telerikLicense.
Add a PowerShell task and set the TELERIK_LICENSE_PATH variable and activate the license. Use the following script:

bash

# Set TELERIK_LICENSE_PATH
Write-Host "Setting TELERIK_LICENSE_PATH to $(telerikLicense.secureFilePath)"
$Env:TELERIK_LICENSE_PATH = "$(telerikLicense.secureFilePath)"

# Activate Kendo UI license
npx kendo-ui-license activate

Azure Pipelines Classic - Set TELERIK_LICENSE_PATH

Alternatively, copy the file into the repository directory:

bash

# Copy telerik-license.txt from secure file
echo "Copying $(telerikLicense.secureFilePath) to $(Build.Repository.LocalPath)/telerik-license.txt"
Copy-Item -Path $(telerikLicense.secureFilePath) -Destination "$(Build.Repository.LocalPath)/telerik-license.txt" -Force

# Activate Kendo UI license
npx kendo-ui-license activate

If using Task Groups, change the file name from $(telerikLicense.secureFilePath) to $(Agent.TempDirectory)\telerik-license.txt as output variables are not supported.