thermal-label

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thermal-labelTypeScript drivers for thermal printers

55 supported devices across Brother QL and DYMO. Six transports. Reverse-engineered wire-protocol references. MIT-licensed, no vendor SDK.

Browse 55 devices
Introduction
Hardware harness
GitHub org
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55 devices, one table

Brother QL DK-tape, Brother PT-P/PT-E TZe tape, DYMO LabelManager D1 tape, DYMO LabelWriter die-cut, DYMO LetraTag LT tape. Filter by family, transport, and verification status.

Open hardware coverage

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Six transport classes

Node: USB (libusb), TCP 9100, Serial. Browser: WebUSB, Web Serial, Web Bluetooth GATT. Same pull-based Transport interface, subpath imports keep native addons out of web bundles.

Transport reference

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Wire-protocol references

Brother QL raster, Brother PT raster, DYMO D1 tape, LW 450 raster, LW 550 raster, LabelWriter Duo tape, LetraTag BT — opcodes, status frames, compression, all documented.

Architecture overview

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thermal-label-cli

List printers, read status frames, push quick text or image jobs from the shell. Intentionally small — diagnostics and scripts, not a layout engine.

CLI overview

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Verify your printer in the browser

Pair a printer over WebUSB or Web Bluetooth, run a one-page diagnostic print, and file a verification report — straight from the browser, no install. Two minutes turns an "untested" row into a "verified" one for everyone who buys the same model. One harness app per family — Brother QL, LabelManager, LabelWriter, and LetraTag.

Open the harness

🖨️ Hardware coverage at a glance ​

The contracts-shape DEVICES registry across the four driver packages currently lists 55 printers. Each row links to a per-device page with transports, engines, supported media, and verification reports.

FamilyDevicesTape / label modelTransports
🟦 Brother QL24DK rolls (QL series) and TZe / HSe tape (PT-P, PT-E)USB, TCP, Bluetooth SPP, Bluetooth GATT
🟧 DYMO LabelManager8D1 tape, single colourUSB, Bluetooth GATT
🟥 DYMO LabelWriter22Pre-cut die-cut labels (550/5XL require NFC-locked DYMO media)USB, Web Bluetooth on selected models
🟨 DYMO LetraTag1LT label cassettesWeb Bluetooth

→ Browse all 55 devices in the interactive table

📜 Wire-protocol references ​

If you are reverse-engineering, porting to another language, or auditing a payload, the protocol pages document opcodes, status frames, and compression in one place:

  • Brother QL raster — DK-tape QL series, including two-colour QL-800 / QL-810W / QL-820NWB.
  • Brother PT raster — PT-P / PT-E P-touch lineup, 128-pin and 560-pin heads, TZe + HSe.
  • DYMO D1 tape — LabelManager command stream and the LW Duo's tape engine, shared in @thermal-label/d1-core.
  • LabelWriter raster — classic LW 3xx/4xx generation (incl. SE450, Twin Turbo, Wireless, Duo label side).
  • LabelWriter 5xx raster — LW 5xx generation, including NFC media gate.
  • LetraTag BT — DYMO LetraTag LT-200B, the Bluetooth-LE label maker.

📦 Pick a driver ​

Who this is for ​

If you maintain a warehouse app, a SaaS shipping integration, a kiosk, or an internal tool that must talk to a label printer from TypeScript, you are in the right place. The code is MIT-licensed, split into packages you can depend on selectively, and designed so hardware details stay inside driver packages while your product code stays boring.

If you need templates, barcodes, CSV batches, and sheet PDFs, pair these drivers with burnmark-io — same printer ecosystem, different layer. The unified thermal-label-cli here stays intentionally small: list printers, read status, quick text/image prints for diagnostics and scripts.

🤝 Companion and prior-art projects ​

  • burnmark-io — burnmark label design stack (headless designer, Vue/React bindings, CLI, Avery sheet templates). Pair with thermal-label when you need typed printer access inside a designer product.
  • mbtech-nl — small shared libraries, notably @mbtech-nl/bitmap (re-exported by contracts so bitmap payloads stay consistent).
  • pklaus/brother_ql — the established Python implementation of the Brother QL raster protocol.
  • tylercrumpton/brotherql-webusb — JavaScript / WebUSB port of brother_ql.
  • labelle-org/labelle — Python implementation of the DYMO LabelManager protocol.

→ Full list on the See also page.