Developer API

The same engines as the tools on this site, as a REST API: GTIN and GS1 validation, barcode generation, ZPL rendering and validation, barcode-to-ZPL and batch checks.

Base URL: https://barcode.tob-apps.com/api/v1

API key

Create a key on your account page (free account with a confirmed email address). The key is shown once; we store only a hash. Send it with every request:

Authorization: Bearer bpk_…
Content-Type: application/json

Limits

Plan	Requests per day (UTC)	Requests per minute
Free	1,000	60

Every response carries X-RateLimit-Limit and X-RateLimit-Remaining. Over a limit you get 429 with Retry-After in seconds. Request bodies may be up to 1 MB.

Privacy: request and response contents are not stored or logged. We count requests per key and day, nothing else.

OpenAPI: /api/v1/openapi.json (OpenAPI 3.1) for Postman, Insomnia or code generators.

Endpoints

All endpoints take POST with a JSON body.

Endpoint	Body	Returns
`/gtin/validate`	`{ "gtin": "4006381333931" }`	`valid`, `type`, `error`, `expectedCheckDigit`, `gtin14`
`/gs1/parse`	`{ "data": "(01)09521234543213(10)ABC123" }` (element string, raw scanner data or GS1 Digital Link URI)	`valid`, `elements` (AI, title, value), `dataStr`, `digitalLink` or `error`
`/barcode/generate`	`{ "symbology": "QR Code", "data": "…", "scale": 2, "includeText": true, "rotate": "N" }`	SVG image
`/barcode/decode`	`{ "image": "<base64 PNG or JPEG>" }` (max 5 MB)	`barcodes` (format, text, symbology identifier, position, GS1 data). No confidence value: the decoder reports none.
`/zpl/render`	`{ "zpl": "^XA…^XZ", "dpmm": 8, "widthMm": 101.6, "heightMm": 152.4 }`	`labels` (SVG in printer dots), `issues`
`/zpl/validate`	same as render	`valid` (no errors), `labels` (count), `issues`, `commands`
`/barcode-to-zpl`	`{ "symbology": "GS1-128", "data": "(01)…", "dpmm": 8, "x": 40, "y": 40, "module": 3, "height": 120, "hri": true, "orientation": "N" }`	`zpl`
`/batch/validate`	`{ "values": ["4006381333931", "(01)…"] }` (up to 10,000)	`rows`, `summary`

Symbologies for /barcode/generate and /barcode-to-zpl: see supported symbologies. dpmm is 6, 8, 12 or 24 (152, 203, 300, 600 dpi). GS1 engine messages are English.

Examples

curl -s https://barcode.tob-apps.com/api/v1/gs1/parse \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $API_KEY" -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"data":"(01)09521234543213(17)261231(10)ABC123"}'

curl -s https://barcode.tob-apps.com/api/v1/barcode/generate \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $API_KEY" -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"symbology":"GS1 DataMatrix","data":"(01)09521234543213(10)ABC123"}' > code.svg

Errors

Errors are JSON: { "error": "code" }, sometimes with detail.

Status	`error`	Meaning
400	`invalid_<field>`	A field is missing or out of range
413 / 415	`image_too_large`, `invalid_image`	Image over the size limit, or not PNG/JPEG
401	`api_key_required`, `invalid_api_key`	No key, unknown or revoked key
415	`json_required`	Body is not JSON
422	`cannot_encode`	The symbology cannot encode the data; `detail` says why
429	`rate_limited`, `daily_quota_exceeded`	Limit reached, see `Retry-After`