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QRCodeSDK
ALPHA

Terminal text renderer

When to use

Section titled “When to use”

Use QRCodeTextRenderer for developer-facing QR codes in terminals, CLIs, logs, text files, and deterministic snapshots.

Minimal example

Section titled “Minimal example”
import {QRCodeTextRenderer, qrcode} from '@qrcodesdk/core';


const text = qrcode('HELLO WORLD').render(QRCodeTextRenderer());


console.log(text);

Return value

Section titled “Return value”

The renderer returns a string joined with \n and no trailing newline. Compact output uses ▀, ▄, █, and spaces to represent two scaled QR rows per terminal line.

For S = (matrix width + 2 × margin) × size:

Layout Visible width Line count Representation
small: true S ceil(S / 2) UTF-8 half/full block characters
small: false 2 × S S ██ or two spaces
onlyAnsiColors: true 2 × S S Two ANSI-background-colored spaces per module

Renderer-specific options

Section titled “Renderer-specific options”
Option Type Default Effect
size number 5 Positive integer module scale
margin number 4 Non-negative integer quiet zone in modules
small boolean true Packs two scaled rows into each terminal line
ansiColors boolean false Adds 24-bit ANSI foreground/background colors
onlyAnsiColors boolean false Uses colored space cells without block glyphs
colors.colorDark six-digit hex color '#000000' Dark foreground or background when ANSI is active
colors.colorLight six-digit hex color '#ffffff' Light background when ANSI is active

onlyAnsiColors: true requires ansiColors: true and ignores small.

Renderer-specific constraints

Section titled “Renderer-specific constraints”
  • Compact and full layouts require a UTF-8 output environment for their block glyphs.
  • onlyAnsiColors: true with ansiColors: false throws an error.
  • The renderer does not inspect TTY state, NO_COLOR, or related environment variables.
  • ANSI sequences add invisible bytes but do not change the visible dimensions above. Every styled line ends with an ANSI reset.
  • The Core API defaults ANSI colors to off. The CLI intentionally enables them by default.
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