📱 QR Code Generator API Documentation

📖 Overview

The QR Code Generator API creates QR codes for various data types including plain text, URLs, contact information (vCard), calendar events, Wi-Fi credentials, and phone numbers. Powered by goQR.me REST API for reliable, high-quality QR code generation.

📝 Multiple Data Types

Support for text, URLs, vCards, events, Wi-Fi, and phone numbers

🎨 Customizable Output

Choose size, format (PNG, GIF, JPEG, SVG), and error correction level

🔒 Error Correction

Built-in error correction (L, M, Q, H levels) for damaged codes

📦 Flexible Responses

Direct image output or base64 encoded JSON response

Powered by goQR.me: QR code generation uses the goQR.me REST API, a reliable and free service for QR code generation. Supports all standard QR code types and formats.

🌐 Base URL

https://api.lorwongam.com/api/qr-code-generator/

🔐 Authentication

No authentication required. This is a public API that can be accessed without any API keys or tokens.

📡 API Endpoints

GET / POST / Generate QR Code

Generate a QR code for one of six content types. Parameters can be supplied via the query string or as a JSON body; the same names are used in both. The format response mode decides whether you get the image bytes directly (image/png/svg) or a JSON wrapper with a base64-encoded payload (json/data).

Request Parameters

Parameter	Type	Required	Default	Description
`type`	string	Optional	`text`	One of `text`, `vcard`, `event`, `url`, `wifi`, `phone`
`format`	string	Optional	`json`	Response mode: `image`/`png`/`svg` for raw bytes, `json`/`data` for a JSON envelope with base64
`file_type`	string	Optional	`png`	Output format passed to goQR.me: `png`, `gif`, `jpeg`, `jpg`, `svg`, `eps`. Anything else silently falls back to `png`. The legacy alias `gformat` is also accepted.
`size`	integer	Optional	300	Pixel size (10–1000). Values outside this range are clamped.
`ecc`	string	Optional	`M`	Error correction level: `L`, `M`, `Q`, `H`. Anything else falls back to `M`.
`qzone`	integer	Optional	2	Quiet zone size (0–100, clamped).
`margin`	integer	Optional	1	Margin (0–50, clamped).
`charset_source`	string	Optional	`UTF-8`	Source charset: `UTF-8` or `ISO-8859-1`
`charset_target`	string	Optional	`UTF-8`	Target charset: `UTF-8` or `ISO-8859-1`
`color`	string	Optional	`0-0-0`	Foreground colour as `R-G-B` with hyphen separators (e.g. `0-0-0`)
`bgcolor`	string	Optional	`255-255-255`	Background colour as `R-G-B`

Type-Specific Fields

Fields other than the ones above are forwarded to the payload builder for the chosen type.

Type	Required field(s)	Optional fields
`text`	`text`	—
`url`	`url` (auto-prefixes `https://` if missing)	—
`phone`	`phone`	—
`wifi`	`ssid`	`password`, `encryption` (`WPA`/`WEP`/`nopass`), `hidden`
`event`	`summary`, `start`	`end`, `location`, `description`
`vcard`	at least one of: name part, nickname, `organization`	legacy fields: `first_name`, `middle_name`, `last_name`, `prefix`, `suffix`, `nickname`, `organization`, `title`, `note`, `work_email`, `home_email`, `work_phone`, `home_phone`, `mobile`, `fax`, `website`, `address`, `city`, `region`, `postcode`, `country`. Dynamic lists: `names[][type/value]`, `nicknames[][type/value]`, `emails[][type/value]`, `phones[][type/value]`, `urls[][value]`, `addresses[][...]`

Example Request — Text

curl "https://api.lorwongam.com/api/qr-code-generator/?type=text&text=Hello%20World&format=image"

Example Request — URL

curl "https://api.lorwongam.com/api/qr-code-generator/?type=url&url=https://github.com&size=300&ecc=M&format=json"

Example Request — Wi-Fi

curl "https://api.lorwongam.com/api/qr-code-generator/?type=wifi&ssid=MyWiFi&password=pass123&encryption=WPA&format=json"

Example Request — Event

curl "https://api.lorwongam.com/api/qr-code-generator/?type=event&summary=Meeting&start=2025-12-01T10:00&end=2025-12-01T11:00&location=Office&format=json"

Example Request — Phone

curl "https://api.lorwongam.com/api/qr-code-generator/?type=phone&phone=+1234567890&format=image"

Example Request — vCard (POST JSON)

curl -X POST "https://api.lorwongam.com/api/qr-code-generator/?format=json" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "type": "vcard",
    "first_name": "John",
    "last_name":  "Doe",
    "organization": "Acme Corp"
  }'

Dynamic lists must be sent as query-string / form parameters, not JSON keys. Single-value fields such as type, first_name, last_name and organization are read from the JSON body, but multi-value lists — emails[][type/value], phones[][type/value], names[][type/value], nicknames[][type/value], urls[][value], addresses[][...] — are only parsed from query-string / form-encoded arrays. Include them in the URL:

curl "https://api.lorwongam.com/api/qr-code-generator/?type=vcard&format=json&first_name=John&last_name=Doe&organization=Acme+Corp&emails[0][type]=WORK&emails[0][value][email protected]&phones[0][type]=CELL,VOICE&phones[0][value]=%2B1234567890"

📊 Response Format

JSON envelope (`format=json` or `format=data`)

{
  "success":   true,
  "message":   "QR code generated successfully",
  "type":      "wifi",
  "payload":   "WIFI:T:WPA;S:MyWiFi;P:pass123;H:false;",
  "qr_url":    "data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAA...",
  "goqr_url":  "https://api.qrserver.com/v1/create-qr-code/?data=WIFI%3AT%3AWPA%3B...",
  "file_type": "png",
  "params": {
    "size":           300,
    "ecc":            "M",
    "format":         "png",
    "qzone":          2,
    "margin":         1,
    "charset-source": "UTF-8",
    "charset-target": "UTF-8",
    "color":          "0-0-0",
    "bgcolor":        "255-255-255"
  }
}

The qr_url field is a fully-qualified data: URL (MIME + base64) so you can drop it straight into an <img src> tag. goqr_url is the underlying goQR.me URL for debugging.

Direct image (`format=image` / `png` / `svg`)

The API returns the raw image bytes with the appropriate Content-Type header (image/png, image/svg+xml, etc.) and Content-Disposition: inline; filename="qr-code.<ext>".

Error Response

All errors come back as JSON with HTTP 400 (bad request) or 500 (upstream failure).

Unsupported type

{
  "error":   "Bad request",
  "message": "Unsupported type 'banana'. Allowed: text, vcard, event, url, wifi, phone"
}

Missing required field for a type

{
  "error":   "Bad request",
  "message": "vCard requires at least one name part, a nickname, or Organization"
}

Invalid format response mode

{
  "error":   "Invalid format parameter",
  "message": "Supported formats: image, json, svg"
}

Upstream failure (goQR.me unreachable / non-200)

{
  "error":   "Internal server error",
  "message": "Failed to fetch QR code from goQR.me: HTTP 502"
}

🔧 Error Correction Levels

QR codes include built-in error correction that allows them to be read even when partially damaged. Choose the appropriate level based on your use case:

Level	Recovery Capacity	Use Case
L (Low)	~7%	Clean environments, small QR codes
M (Medium)	~15%	General purpose, balanced
Q (Quartile)	~25%	Outdoor use, potential damage
H (High)	~30%	Harsh environments, logos overlay

💡 Common Use Cases

🔗 Marketing & URLs

Link to websites, landing pages, app downloads, or promotional content.

📇 Contact Sharing

vCard QR codes for business cards or networking events.

📅 Event Management

Embed events into calendars with summary, start, end and location.

📶 Wi-Fi Access

Share WPA/WEP/nopass credentials for guests to auto-connect.

📞 Quick Call

Encode a phone number so a scan starts a call on most phones.

📝 Plain Text

Encode arbitrary text snippets, serial numbers, or short messages.

✨ Best Practices

Sizing: Use 300px for most web display, 600–1000px for print. Defaults are tuned for typical web use.
Error correction: Use H when overlaying logos or printing on curved/harsh surfaces.
Colours: Always keep the background lighter than the foreground and use high contrast.
Quiet zone: Keep qzone ≥ 2 so scanners can latch onto the code reliably.
Output type: Use format=image (or png/svg) when you only want the bytes; use format=json when you need the raw payload string alongside the image.
Payload inspection: The payload field in JSON responses is the raw string that was encoded — useful for debugging or generating equivalent codes yourself.

⚠️ Error Codes

The API does not return a numeric code field. Every error has the shape { "error": "<title>", "message": "<details>" } with an appropriate HTTP status:

HTTP status	`error`	When
`400`	`Bad request`	Unsupported `type`, or a required type-specific field is missing / malformed
`400`	`Invalid format parameter`	`format` is not one of `image`, `json`, `svg`, `png`, `data`
`500`	`Internal server error`	goQR.me call failed (non-200 response, network error, malformed payload)

Note: an unsupported file_type (e.g. bmp) is not an error — the server silently falls back to png so old clients keep working.

🔗 Integration Examples

HTML display

Point an <img> tag straight at the endpoint with the raw image format (format=image / png / svg):

<img src="https://your-host/api/qr-code-generator/?type=url&url=https://example.com&format=image"
     alt="QR code" />

JavaScript fetch (JSON)

fetch('/api/qr-code-generator/?type=url&url=https://example.com&format=json')
  .then(r => r.json())
  .then(data => {
    document.getElementById('qr').src = data.qr_url;   // data:image/png;base64,...
    console.log('Encoded payload:', data.payload);     // "https://example.com"
  });

JavaScript fetch (raw bytes)

fetch('/api/qr-code-generator/?type=wifi&ssid=Demo&encryption=nopass&format=image')
  .then(r => r.blob())
  .then(blob => {
    document.getElementById('qr').src = URL.createObjectURL(blob);
  });

POST JSON body

fetch('/api/qr-code-generator/?format=json', {
  method:  'POST',
  headers: { 'Content-Type': 'application/json' },
  body: JSON.stringify({
    type:         'vcard',
    first_name:   'John',
    last_name:    'Doe',
    organization: 'Acme Corp'
    // Note: dynamic lists (emails[], phones[], ...) are read from
    // query-string/form parameters only — not from the JSON body.
  })
})
  .then(r => r.json())
  .then(data => console.log(data.qr_url));

🚦 Rate Limits

This endpoint is rate-limited per client identity (IP address, or API key when one is supplied): 30 requests per minute. When the budget is exhausted the API responds with HTTP 429 and includes X-RateLimit-* headers so clients can self-throttle. The exact policy is configured in api/includes/api_config.php.

📱 QR Code Generator API