Barcode Reader API

About the Barcode Reader API

Images are normalised and decoded with zxing-cpp, which tries rotated and inverted versions of the image, so barcodes printed sideways or light-on-dark are still found. Retail codes are reported in their native form, with the 13-digit GTIN alongside.

What people use it for

Product Lookup

Read the EAN or UPC from a customer's photo of a product and look the item up in your catalogue by GTIN.

Inventory and Warehousing

Decode Code 128 and ITF labels from photos taken by staff without dedicated scanners.

Returns and Receipts

Pull order or parcel numbers out of photographed labels and receipts to match them to records.

Document Processing

Extract barcodes from scanned forms and shipping documents as part of an intake pipeline.

Ways to call it

One endpoint, many ways in — REST with JSON, XML, YAML and CSV, plus GraphQL and an MCP interface for AI agents.

JSON

Default REST response

XML

Markup format

YAML

Human-readable

CSV

Tabular export

Beta

GraphQL

Query language

New

MCP

For AI agents

Request parameters — POST /v1/barcodereader

Sent as JSON in the request body. Premium parameters are accepted on every plan but only take effect on plans that include them. Anything not listed here is dropped rather than passed through.

Optional

1
2
3
4

curl -X POST "https://api.apiverve.com/v1/barcodereader" \
  -H "x-api-key: YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{}'

Authentication

Send your key in the x-api-key header. That is the only auth step — no token exchange, and no per-endpoint scope to configure.

Response — POST /v1/barcodereader

Every APIVerve endpoint returns the same three top-level keys, so one response handler covers your whole integration: status, error and data. Only data changes shape.

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56

{
  "status": "ok",
  "error": null,
  "data": {
    "text": "1234567890128",
    "format": "EAN-13",
    "isRetail": true,
    "gtin": "1234567890128",
    "orientation": 0,
    "position": {
      "topLeft": {
        "x": 49,
        "y": 6
      },
      "topRight": {
        "x": 588,
        "y": 6
      },
      "bottomRight": {
        "x": 588,
        "y": 418
      },
      "bottomLeft": {
        "x": 49,
        "y": 418
      }
    },
    "barcodeCount": 1,
    "barcodes": [
      {
        "text": "1234567890128",
        "format": "EAN-13",
        "gtin": "1234567890128",
        "orientation": 0,
        "position": {
          "topLeft": {
            "x": 49,
            "y": 6
          },
          "topRight": {
            "x": 588,
            "y": 6
          },
          "bottomRight": {
            "x": 588,
            "y": 418
          },
          "bottomLeft": {
            "x": 49,
            "y": 418
          }
        }
      }
    ]
  }
}

Response fields

Paths are relative to data. Premium fields are absent rather than zeroed on plans that do not include them, so check for presence instead of comparing to 0.

Response headers

Every response carries your balance, so your own code always knows where it stands without polling anything. All four are exposed to browsers through CORS.

Errors

Read the HTTP status first, then error for the specific reason. The body names the parameter that has to change.

What a call costs — 10 credits per call

Credits are shared across every APIVerve API — one balance, one key, one bill. Failed requests never count against it, so a rejected input costs nothing.

Calls are what the credits buy at this API's rate — spend them here, on any of the other APIs, or across both. Nothing is reserved per endpoint.

Zero-code embed — one snippet, no backend

Drop an interactive Barcode Reader form onto any page. The widget calls the API for you, so no key ever appears in your markup and there is nothing to deploy.

Changelog — Barcode Reader API

Every change to this endpoint, newest first. Breaking changes ship as a new version and the previous one keeps serving — response fields are added, never removed or retyped in place, so an integration written against v1 keeps working.

Currently v1