Docs

Barcode endpoint

One key for both APIs. Use the same X-API-Key you use to render labels. A barcode call and a label render count against the same daily allowance, on the same plan.

One symbology, one payload, an image back. Unlike the label endpoint it takes no ZPL: the symbol is encoded directly, so the response is cropped to the barcode rather than sitting on a label you had to size. The same engine backs both, so output matches the playground.

GET /v1/barcodes?type={type}&data={data}&...

curl "https://api.arkalabel.io/v1/barcodes?type=code128&data=ARKA-123456789&module=3&height=120" \
     -H "X-API-Key: $ARKALABEL_KEY" \
     -o barcode.png

The generator’s Link to this image points at /api/barcode on this site, which proxies to the same endpoint and keeps the key server-side. Call the API host directly from your own code.

Parameters

Always accepted

Accepted where the symbology uses them

An option that does not apply is ignored, not refused, and named in X-Warnings. A link built for a Code 39 therefore keeps working when you change the type — minus the options the new symbology has no use for.

Symbologies

38 available. The columns show which options each one uses; a blank means the option is ignored for that type.

Linear (29)

Two-dimensional (9)

Content types

A vCard QR is a QR code. So is a Wi-Fi credential, a calendar event or a payment request — the symbology is identical, only the string inside it differs. Rather than list those as separate barcode types, pass content with the fields it needs and data becomes unnecessary. Structural characters are escaped for you, so a semicolon in a company name cannot end a vCard field early.

GET /v1/barcodes?type=qr&content=wifi&ct_ssid=Office&ct_password=hunter2&ct_security=WPA

An asterisk marks a required field. Each value is passed as ct_<field>. Content types apply to the 2D symbologies; asking for one on a linear type warns and encodes the data as given. GET /v1/barcodes/templates returns this list as JSON, which is how the generator builds its form.

Data modes

Response headers

Vector output

format=svg returns the symbol as geometry rather than pixels. That matters for print: a raster barcode scaled to a size the renderer did not anticipate loses its module edges to resampling and stops scanning, where a vector one is exact at any size. The SVG is built from the same encoders as the raster output and carries the same dimensions, so the two describe one symbol — every symbology this API offers, QR included. Rotation is the one thing not applied to vector output, and that is reported in X-Warnings rather than silently ignored.

Colour, font and font size are applied after rasterising, because ZPL itself is black and white. Colour therefore survives PNG and TIFF but not PDF, which is written greyscale and says so in X-Warnings. A transparent background cannot be saved as JPEG and is refused rather than silently flattened.

Error codes

Errors are JSON: {"error": "…"}. The message names the specific problem rather than describing the class of problem — msi accepts digits only, got 'ARKA-1', not invalid data.