Getting started

marklife is a TypeScript driver for the Marklife / Deli / FeiOou AbleMark family of thermal label printers and their whitelabels. The runtime ships in three packages:

Package	When to use
@thermal-label/marklife-core	Encoders, device and media registries. No transport code.
@thermal-label/marklife-node	Node.js: MarklifePrinter over any Transport, plus MarklifeDiscovery for OS-paired Bluetooth SPP.
@thermal-label/marklife-web	Browser: requestPrinters() over Web Bluetooth, WebUSB and Web Serial, plus WebMarklifePrinter.

Install

pnpm add @thermal-label/marklife-node    # Node.js
pnpm add @thermal-label/marklife-web     # browser

Hello label — browser

requestPrinters opens the browser picker for the transport you name, identifies the chassis where the transport allows it, and returns a map of printers keyed by engine role. Marklife chassis have one engine, primary.

import { requestPrinters, MEDIA, DeviceIdentificationRequiredError } from '@thermal-label/marklife-web';

// From a click handler — every browser picker needs a user gesture.
let printers;
try {
  printers = await requestPrinters({ transport: 'bluetooth-gatt' });
} catch (err) {
  if (err instanceof DeviceIdentificationRequiredError) {
    // The advertised name matched nothing in the registry. Offer
    // err.candidates to the user and resume with their choice.
    printers = await err.continueWith('S2');
  } else {
    throw err;
  }
}

const printer = printers.primary!;
try {
  await printer.print(image, MEDIA.GAP_50X30);
} finally {
  await printer.close();
}

• 'bluetooth-gatt' — the picker is filtered on the registry's name prefixes and the chassis is identified from its advertised name (P12_ZA15B_BLE → P12). The BLE profile is probed after connect; Profile A's credit gate is handled for you.
• 'usb' — WebUSB; identified by vendor and product id. The P12 and P15 expose USB.
• 'serial' / 'bluetooth-spp' — Web Serial carries no identity, so pass deviceKey up front or the call rejects with DeviceIdentificationRequiredError immediately.

const printers = await requestPrinters({ transport: 'bluetooth-spp', deviceKey: 'S8' });

Hello label — Node.js

Pair the printer at the OS level; the SPP channel surfaces as a serial port (/dev/rfcomm0, /dev/tty.<Name>-SPPDev, COMx).

import { MarklifeDiscovery, MEDIA } from '@thermal-label/marklife-node';

const printer = await new MarklifeDiscovery().openBluetoothSpp({
  serialPath: '/dev/rfcomm0',
  deviceKey: 'S8',
});
try {
  await printer.print(image, MEDIA.GAP_50X30);
} finally {
  await printer.close();
}

image is RawImageData — RGBA pixels, typically from a <canvas> or @mbtech-nl/bitmap's renderText. The driver thresholds, dithers and rotates it for the media you pass.

Media is required

No marklife chassis reports what is loaded, so print() needs to be told: it throws MediaNotSpecifiedError when called without a media descriptor. Pick one from MEDIA or build your own — the family takes any third-party stock, and a descriptor is just dimensions and a type:

const myRoll = { id: 'gap-30x20', name: '30 × 20 mm', type: 'die-cut', widthMm: 30, heightMm: 20, targetModels: ['mobile-2in'] };

The catalogue

MEDIA carries researched rolls grouped by head-size class (targetModels):

Class	Keys
narrow-tape (P12, P15 …)	CONTINUOUS_15MM, GAP_12X40, GAP_14X40, GAP_15X30, GAP_15X50, CABLE_FLAG_12_5X109
mobile-2in (S2, P50, X2 …)	GAP_50X30, GAP_40X30, GAP_40X20, GAP_40X60, GAP_50X50, GAP_50X80, ROUND_40X40, CONTINUOUS_50MM
industrial-4in (D210, X8 …)	SHIPPING_100X150, GAP_100X100, GAP_70X50, GAP_60X40, CONTINUOUS_100MM

findMediaByDimensions(width, height?) looks a roll up by size. Add entries to packages/core/data/media.json5 and re-run pnpm --filter ./packages/core run compile-data.

Print options

print(image, media, options) accepts MarklifePrintOptions:

Field	Values	Default
density	'light' | 'normal' | 'dark'	'normal' — on L11 the chassis' stored density, since no command is sent unless asked
densityLevel	number	— ; wins over density, sent through on the chassis' own scale
rotate	'auto' | 0 | 90 | 180 | 270	'auto' — rotates landscape input on media tagged defaultOrientation: 'horizontal'; no catalogue roll is, so the default prints the image as given
copies	number	1 — only the TSPL path honours it; loop print() elsewhere

What is not implemented

• The JBIG payload encoder (D100, X4, X8, U210, L100). The wrapper bytes exist; print() throws UnsupportedOperationError.
• Status. getStatus() reports whether the link is open and nothing else — no chassis has a status query wired, and the only reply ever observed is a one-byte ack after a job.
• Red + black on the X2. Recorded on the registry entry, printed in black.
• BLE on Node. MarklifeDiscovery.openBluetoothGatt throws; hand MarklifePrinter a Transport from a BLE library of your choice.