@kivora/codes

Generate QR codes and barcodes as SVG locally, without React, a browser, or a remote service. Shared by @kivora/nextjs and @kivora/native.

Installation

npm install @kivora/codes

The UI packages install this dependency automatically. Install it directly when importing its functions separately.

Usage

import { generateCode } from '@kivora/codes';

const { svg, width, height } = generateCode({
  value: 'https://example.com',
  format: 'qrcode',
  errorCorrectionLevel: 'M',
});

The result is a complete SVG document for saving, printing, or rendering. Generation is synchronous and local. No content is uploaded and no tracking links are added. Camera scanning is not included.

Formats

| format | Input / typical use | | --- | --- | | qrcode | Links and text, including Unicode | | code128 (default) | Alphanumeric inventory identifiers | | code39 | Uppercase identifiers using the Code 39 character set | | ean13 | Exactly 13 digits, including a valid check digit | | ean8 | Exactly 8 digits, including a valid check digit | | upca | Exactly 12 digits, including a valid check digit | | interleaved2of5 | Numeric identifiers with an even number of digits | | datamatrix | Compact two-dimensional labels | | pdf417 | Stacked two-dimensional codes | | azteccode | Two-dimensional codes often used on tickets |

Keep values as strings to preserve leading zeroes. Generating a retail code does not assign an official product identifier. GS1 application-identifier parsing and GS1-specific symbols are not included.

Options and errors

• value: required, non-empty string; never trimmed or truncated.
• format: one of the exported read-only barcodeFormats.
• foreground / background: opaque #RRGGBB colors, black on white by default. Maintain strong contrast.
• margin: quiet zone in unscaled SVG units, minimum/default 10 for linear codes and 4 for two-dimensional codes. Maximum: 100.
• errorCorrectionLevel: L, M, Q, or H for QR, default M. Ignored for other formats.

generateCode throws on invalid input. tryGenerateCode returns either { code } or { error }. Values are limited to 256 characters for linear codes and 4,096 for two-dimensional codes to bound synchronous work. Individual formats and correction levels can impose lower limits.

Preserve the quiet zone and aspect ratio, choose a large enough display or print size, and test with your intended scanners after resizing or changing colors.

Engine

Uses selected encoders from bwip-js, bundled for ESM and CommonJS. Its license is included in dist/LICENSE.bwip-js. Tests rasterize the SVGs and decode all ten formats using an independent ZXing reader.