Skip to content
Oxrion Docs

How Oxrion works

Oxrion has a simple shape: you protect your code in the Cloud, distribute it, and it runs on any server with the Loader. This page walks the whole path end to end so the rest of the docs make sense in context.

The three parts

Section titled “The three parts”

Everything in Oxrion is one of three things:

  • Oxrion Cloud — the web app where you protect your code, manage keys, issue licenses, and recover files.
  • The Loader — a small, free PHP extension installed on the server that runs your protected code.
  • The Tools — Licenser and Recovery, also downloadable to run offline on your own machine.

The journey of a protected file

Section titled “The journey of a protected file”

1. You protect your code in the Cloud

Section titled “1. You protect your code in the Cloud”

In the Encoder, you upload a PHP file — or a whole project as a ZIP — and choose how it’s protected:

  • Access: Public (runs anywhere the Loader is installed) or Private (also needs an external key on the server).
  • Licensing (optional): bind the file to a customer’s domain and an expiry date.
  • Recovery (optional): attach a public key now so you can restore the file to source later.

Oxrion returns a protected version of your code. It’s no longer readable source, and it can’t run on its own.

2. You distribute it

Section titled “2. You distribute it”

You ship the protected file (or project) to wherever it needs to run — your own servers, or your customers’. Alongside it, you include the Loader, which is free to distribute. If you licensed the file, you also include the customer’s license file (.lic).

3. It runs through the Loader

Section titled “3. It runs through the Loader”

On the destination server, the Loader is installed once (one line in php.ini). From then on, protected files run exactly like normal PHP — your application includes and executes them as it always has. No code changes needed.

Depending on how you protected the file, the Loader checks the rules at runtime:

  • A private file needs the matching external key present on the server.
  • A licensed file needs a valid .lic for that domain, not yet expired.
  • Any file that’s been tampered with — even one changed byte — is refused.

How the keys fit in

Section titled “How the keys fit in”

Three kinds of keys support this flow, each with one job:

  • License keys bind files to customer licenses.
  • External keys unlock private files on a server.
  • Recovery keypairs let you restore protected files to source.

They’re all managed on the Keys page.

Staying independent of the Cloud

Section titled “Staying independent of the Cloud”

Two jobs don’t require the Cloud at all. Licenser and Recovery are available as standalone tools that run fully offline — so you can issue a customer license or restore your own source on your own machine, with no internet and no dependency on Oxrion being reachable.

Where to go next

Section titled “Where to go next”