Dynamic QR codes

Dynamic QR codes let you change where a QR code goes after you've printed it, and see how many people scan it.

Print a code on a menu, flyer, or package today. If the link changes next month, update it in your dashboard and the same printed code takes people to the new page.

Manage your codes at qr.quickchart.io. Dynamic QR codes are included with every paid QuickChart plan. Developers can also manage them through the API.

Try the demo to see how it works.

Static vs. dynamic QR codes

	Static (quickchart.io/qr)	Dynamic (qr.quickchart.io)
Encoded content	Your text or URL, directly	A permanent scan link (/r/CODE_ID)
Change destination later	No, you have to reprint	Yes, updates apply on the next scan
Pause or disable	No	Yes
Built-in scan analytics	No (use UTM parameters)	Yes
Content types	Any (URL, WiFi, vCard, SMS, ...)	HTTP/HTTPS URLs
Account required	No	Yes (QuickChart API key)

Static codes are still the right choice for WiFi, vCard, and other non-URL payloads, and for URLs that will never change.

Dashboard

Sign in at qr.quickchart.io using the email address on your QuickChart subscription. We'll email you a single-use sign-in link.

From the dashboard you can:

• Create a code, preview it, and download it as PNG or SVG
• Edit the destination, name, campaign, tags, and appearance
• Pause, resume, archive, restore, or delete a code
• Search and filter by status, campaign, or tag
• Bulk create codes from a CSV file or a list of URLs, then download them as a ZIP
• View scan analytics and export them as CSV

Your codes, with their destinations and status

To change where a code goes, choose Manage, enter a new destination URL, and save. The printed code keeps working and sends people to the new page from the next scan.

Edit a code's destination and design, then download it as PNG or SVG

API

Every API request authenticates with your existing QuickChart API key in the Authorization header. Keep the key on your server. Never put it in client-side JavaScript or in URLs.

Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY

The base URL is https://qr.quickchart.io/api.

Create a code

curl https://qr.quickchart.io/api/codes \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $QUICKCHART_API_KEY" \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{
    "name": "Summer menu",
    "targetUrl": "https://example.com/menu",
    "campaign": "Summer 2026",
    "tags": ["menu", "in-store"],
    "externalId": "menu-2026",
    "appearance": {"size": 512, "dark": "175e35", "light": "ffffff"}
  }'

Field	Required	Description
targetUrl	Yes	A public HTTP or HTTPS URL, at most 4,096 characters after URL encoding
name	No	Display name, up to 150 characters
campaign	No	Campaign label, up to 100 characters
tags	No	Up to 25 tags, each up to 50 characters
externalId	No	Your own identifier, up to 200 characters. Must be unique in your account, including deleted codes
appearance	No	Saved image options. See Appearance

A successful request returns HTTP 201:

{
  "success": true,
  "code": {
    "id": "CODE_ID",
    "name": "Summer menu",
    "targetUrl": "https://example.com/menu",
    "status": "active",
    "archived": false,
    "campaign": "Summer 2026",
    "tags": ["in-store", "menu"],
    "externalId": "menu-2026",
    "appearance": { "dark": "175e35", "light": "ffffff", "size": 512 },
    "scanUrl": "https://qr.quickchart.io/r/CODE_ID",
    "imageUrl": "https://quickchart.io/qr?size=512&dark=175e35&light=ffffff&text=https%3A%2F%2Fqr.quickchart.io%2Fr%2FCODE_ID&format=png",
    "createdAt": 1790000000000,
    "updatedAt": 1790000000000,
    "version": 1
  }
}

Print the image from imageUrl, or any QR code that encodes scanUrl. A QR code that links directly to the destination is a static code and cannot be updated.

If a create request times out, search for its externalId before you retry so that you don't create a duplicate.

Manage codes

Method	Endpoint	Purpose
GET	/api/codes	List your codes
POST	/api/codes	Create a code
GET	/api/codes/:id	Read a code
PATCH	/api/codes/:id	Update destination, name, appearance, tags, campaign, or external ID
GET	/api/codes/:id/image?format=svg	Download the image as PNG (default) or SVG
POST	/api/codes/:id/pause	Stop redirects temporarily
POST	/api/codes/:id/activate	Resume redirects
POST	/api/codes/:id/archive	Hide from the main list and keep redirects working
POST	/api/codes/:id/restore	Restore an archived code to the main list
DELETE	/api/codes/:id	Permanently disable a code. This cannot be undone

To change where a code points:

curl -X PATCH https://qr.quickchart.io/api/codes/CODE_ID \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $QUICKCHART_API_KEY" \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{"targetUrl":"https://example.com/new-menu"}'

Updates apply to the next scan. Redirect responses are never cached.

Status behavior:

• Paused codes stop redirecting and show a "paused" page until you resume them.
• Archived codes are hidden from the main list, but their redirects keep working. Restoring an archived code does not resume it if it is also paused.
• Deleted codes stop working permanently.

Codes do not expire when a subscription ends. A code stops redirecting only when it is paused or deleted, or when it is taken down for abuse.

List and search

GET /api/codes supports these query parameters:

Parameter	Description
q	Matches the name, destination, external ID, or code ID
status	active or paused
campaign	Filter by campaign
tag	Filter by tag
archived	true to list archived codes
limit	1–100 (default 25)
cursor	The nextCursor value from the previous page

When nextCursor is null, you've reached the last page.

Appearance

Images are rendered by the QuickChart QR code API. The appearance object stores these renderer options:

• size (100–3000 pixels), margin (0–20)
• dark, light, ecLevel
• centerImageUrl, centerImageSizeRatio (0–0.4), centerImageWidth, centerImageHeight
• caption, captionFontFamily, captionFontSize, captionFontColor
• dotStyle, finderStyle, finderDotStyle, finderColor

See QR code parameters and styled QR codes for what each option does.

PNG and SVG downloads use the same saved options. Codes with a logo (centerImageUrl) must be downloaded as PNG, because the renderer can't embed logos in SVG. When you send appearance in a PATCH, it replaces all saved options. Changing only the destination leaves the appearance as it is.

Scan-test your codes before printing them.

Bulk creation

In the dashboard, choose Bulk create to upload a CSV or paste a list of URLs. A single import can create up to 10,000 codes from a CSV of up to 2 MB. The CSV columns are:

Column	Required	Notes
targetUrl	Yes
name	No
externalId	No
campaign	No
tags	No	Separate tags with commas and quote the cell

You can set a shared appearance, campaign, and tags for the whole import. The dashboard validates every row before it creates anything. Keep the page open while the import runs. If the import is interrupted, you can resume it from the same browser. When it finishes, you can download the images as a ZIP and a CSV that maps each source row to its code ID, scan link, and image URL.

Batch API

POST /api/codes/batch creates between 1 and 100 codes per request, up to 256 KiB of JSON:

curl https://qr.quickchart.io/api/codes/batch \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $QUICKCHART_API_KEY" \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{
    "batchId": "catalog-2026:0",
    "codes": [
      {"targetUrl":"https://example.com/one","externalId":"sku-1","name":"One"},
      {"targetUrl":"https://example.com/two","externalId":"sku-2","name":"Two"}
    ]
  }'

Each code accepts the same fields as single creation. A batch is atomic: either every code in it is created, or none are. On success, the API returns HTTP 201 with {"success":true,"batchId":"...","replayed":false,"codes":[...]}, listing codes in the order you sent them.

Give each batch a unique batchId (1–100 letters, numbers, underscores, colons, or hyphens). This makes batch requests safe to retry:

• Retrying with the same batchId and the same payload returns HTTP 200 with the original results and "replayed": true. No new codes are created.
• Reusing a batchId with a different payload returns HTTP 409.
• A retry never restores a code that was deleted after the batch was created.

To check rows without creating anything, send {"codes":[...]} to POST /api/codes/batch/validate. Invalid rows return HTTP 422, and external ID conflicts return HTTP 409. Both include an errors array such as [{"row":2,"error":"..."}], where row numbers start at 1 within the request. Validation does not reserve external IDs or account capacity.

Download images as a ZIP

curl https://qr.quickchart.io/api/codes/download \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $QUICKCHART_API_KEY" \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{"ids":["CODE_ID_1","CODE_ID_2"],"format":"png"}' \
  -o qr-codes.zip

The ZIP contains one CODE_ID.png or CODE_ID.svg file per code. Each image encodes the code's scan link and uses its current saved appearance. A single request can include up to 1,000 codes and at most 450 million output pixels in total. Split larger downloads into several requests. Each image counts toward your account's rendering usage.

Scan analytics

Open a code and choose Scan activity to see its scans over time and where they came from. The dashboard also shows totals for your whole account.

Scan activity for a single code

To get the same data from the API:

curl 'https://qr.quickchart.io/api/analytics?days=30&codeId=CODE_ID' \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $QUICKCHART_API_KEY"

Parameter	Description
days	1, 7 (default), 30, or 60
codeId	Limit results to one code. Omit it for account totals
campaign	Filter by campaign
tag	Filter by tag
includeBots	true to include scans from known bots
format	csv to export as CSV

Results include total scans, daily unique scans, scans per UTC day, the time of the last scan, and top codes. They also break scans down by country, region, city, device, browser, operating system, referrer, and destination host. For windows of 30 days or less, results include a comparison with the previous period.

How scans are counted:

• A scan is a visit to the redirect link. Opening the link directly also counts. Generating or downloading an image does not.
• Known bots are excluded by default, but bot detection is imperfect.
• Counts may be sampled and can be delayed. Total scans are adjusted for sampling.
• Daily unique scans count the devices seen for each code on each UTC day. They don't count distinct people across codes or days. When summary.sampled is true, daily uniques include only the devices in the sample and may undercount.
• Campaign and tag filters use the labels a code had when it was scanned.
• Location is approximate. No tracking cookies or raw IP addresses are stored. Referrers are reduced to hostnames, and query strings are removed from destinations.

Limits

• Up to 10,000 codes on the Professional plan. Paused and archived codes count toward the limit. Deleted codes do not. Contact us if you need more.
• Destinations must be public HTTP or HTTPS URLs. Private addresses, embedded credentials, and other qr.quickchart.io links are rejected.
• Analytics history goes back 60 days.

Errors

Errors return JSON in the form {"success":false,"error":"..."}.

Status	Meaning
400	Invalid input
401	Missing or invalid authentication
403	Access denied
404	Code not found
409	External ID conflict, batch ID conflict, or code limit reached
413	Request too large
422	Batch contains invalid rows
503	A dependency is temporarily unavailable. Retry with backoff

Need help?

See the full API reference or contact support.