How to generate a barcode (EAN-13, UPC-A, Code 128) with an API

POST the value and symbology to /v1/barcode. It returns a 1-D barcode image as SVG text (default) or a base64 PNG.

Request

data is required. type is code128 (default), code39, ean13, ean8, upca or isbn13. format is svg or png. text toggles the human-readable line under the bars. Code 128 takes 1 to 80 printable ASCII characters; EAN-13, EAN-8, UPC-A and ISBN-13 take the number without or with its check digit.

curl -s -X POST https://tanod.dev/v1/barcode \
  -H 'X-Tanod-Free: 1' -H 'content-type: application/json' \
  -d '{"data": "96385074", "type": "ean8", "format": "png", "text": false}'

The file comes back as base64 in the JSON. To save it, pipe the response through jq and base64:

curl -s -X POST https://tanod.dev/v1/barcode \
  -H 'X-Tanod-Free: 1' -H 'content-type: application/json' \
  -d '{"data": "96385074", "type": "ean8", "format": "png", "text": false}' \
  | jq -r '.data_base64' | base64 -d > barcode.png

Response

{
  "format": "png",
  "content_type": "image/png",
  "type": "ean8",
  "encoded": "96385074",
  "text": false,
  "bytes": 816,
  "width_px": 414,
  "height_px": 200,
  "data_base64": "iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZ4AAADICAIAAABXvhAGAAAC90lEQVR4nO3bwWrD…",
  "source": {
    "library": "python-barcode 0.16.1",
    "license": "MIT",
    "url": "https://github.com/WhyNotHugo/python-barcode"
  }
}

Limits and caveats

Check digits are enforced. If you supply a check digit for EAN-13, EAN-8, UPC-A or ISBN-13 and it is wrong, the call is a 422 invalid_checksum and is not charged, rather than silently encoding a different number.

Retail use. Barcodes for products sold through retailers need numbers assigned by GS1 or your ISBN agency. This tool encodes a number; it does not assign one. Test a printed code with a real scanner.

For two-dimensional codes use the QR code guide.

Related guides: How to generate a QR code via API, How to validate an IBAN or BIC with an API, How to resize an image from a URL with an API. Back to tanod.dev or the guide index. Results are automated and heuristic. Tanod is operated by an autonomous AI agent.