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Troubleshooting

If something isn't working, start here. This page covers the most common issues — sign-in problems, activation hiccups, and the few error banners you might see in the app or the dashboard.

If your problem isn't here, email support@tec.design and we'll work it out with you.

I didn't get my email

The most common reason: spam filters. The second most common: a typo at checkout.

Check spam, promotions, and "all mail"

Search your inbox for tec.design or lemonsqueezy. Both should be there — one from us, one from the payment processor. Gmail in particular likes to file order confirmations under Promotions or Updates.

If you're on a corporate email, your mail admin may be aggressively filtering automated email. Check with IT, or use a personal email instead.

Make sure the address is right

Sign in to your inbox provider's recent-deliveries log if you can. If you typed gmail.con or yahooo.com at checkout, the email is bouncing back to us and there's nothing for you to find.

Email support@tec.design with your order number (from your card statement) or your name. We'll find the order and resend to the correct address.

If you originally bought ages ago and the welcome email is long gone, just go to id.tec.design and enter your email. We'll send a fresh link.

Add us to your safe senders

To avoid this in future, mark noreply@tec.design as a safe sender (or "not spam"). Future links will land in your inbox.

Magic links expire in 15 minutes from when we send them, and they can only be used once. If you clicked the link after the expiry, or you clicked it twice, you'll see "This link has expired."

The fix: go back to id.tec.design, enter your email, and we'll send a fresh one.

I lost access to my email

If you can no longer access the email address on your TEC ID, contact support@tec.design from a different address with as much detail as you can give us:

  • The old email address
  • Your name
  • Approximate purchase date
  • Order number (from your card statement, if you can find it)
  • License key (if you've got it written down anywhere)

We'll verify your identity through a few back-and-forth messages and then move your TEC ID to the new email. This usually takes 1–2 business days because we're careful about account-recovery — we'd rather make you wait a day than hand your account to the wrong person.

I can't activate the app

The app talks to TEC ID over the internet to verify your license. If activation fails, one of these is usually the cause.

"Network error" or "couldn't reach TEC ID"

The app couldn't reach api.tec.design. Try, in order:

  1. Check you have internet. Open https://id.tec.design in a browser.
  2. If you're on a corporate or campus network, ask IT whether *.tec.design is whitelisted. Some firewalls block uncategorized domains.
  3. If you're using a VPN, try without it. Some VPNs block TLS connections to less-common hosts.
  4. Restart the app.

"Clock skew" or "your computer's time is off"

Your computer's clock is more than a few minutes off from real time. The fix:

  • macOS: System Settings → General → Date & Time → set "Set time and date automatically" to on.
  • Windows: Settings → Time & language → Date & time → toggle "Set time automatically" on.

Then retry activation.

"Invalid license key"

Check that you copied the entire key, including the MOON-, STAR-, or OWLT- prefix. License keys don't contain spaces, but some chat apps split them across lines on paste — make sure you've got the whole thing on one line.

If the key still doesn't work, sign in to your dashboard and re-copy from the Licenses card. The current key shown there is always the correct one (we may have rotated it if you transferred or recovered the license).

"No seats available"

Your license is fully used. See Devices & activations to free up a seat from another computer.

"License not valid"

This usually means the license was refunded, expired, or has been deactivated. Check the status in your dashboard:

  • Past due — update your payment method. See Billing.
  • Expired — renew or resubscribe.
  • Refunded — that license is no longer usable. Buy again to continue.

If the status in your dashboard says Active but the app still says invalid, contact support.

"Past due" banner in the app

Your subscription's most recent payment failed. The app keeps working during a short grace period, but you'll see a banner asking you to update payment.

Go to id.tec.design → Billing → Update payment method, enter a working card, and the banner clears within a few minutes.

More on this in Billing → what if a payment fails.

"Subscription expired" banner

Your subscription wasn't renewed. The app stops working until it's active again.

To resume:

  1. Sign in at id.tec.design.
  2. Open the Licenses card for the expired subscription.
  3. Click Reactivate and enter payment.

Your settings, history, and saved work are untouched. Reactivating just turns the app back on.

I changed hardware and the app doesn't recognize itself

Some hardware changes (new motherboard, fresh OS install) make your computer look like a different machine to TEC ID. The app will try to claim a new seat. If you have no free seats, you'll get a prompt to release one.

See Devices → I upgraded my hardware for the full explanation.

The dashboard won't let me sign in

If you're stuck at the magic-link step on the website itself (typing your email, never getting the email, the link not working):

  • Check spam (see above).
  • Try a different browser or a private window — some browser extensions interfere with sign-in.
  • Make sure your browser allows cookies for id.tec.design.

If you've tried all that, email us and we'll send a one-time sign-in link directly from support.

When in doubt

Email support@tec.design. Tell us:

  • What you were trying to do
  • What you saw (screenshots help enormously)
  • Your TEC ID email and (if you've got it) the license key

We answer within one business day, usually much sooner.