---
title: Scanner API
description: >-
  The Scanner API allows you to use the mobile device's camera to scan barcodes.
  Use this API to capture barcode data and integrate it into your app's workflow
  on Shopify POS.
api_name: app-home
source_url:
  html: >-
    https://shopify.dev/docs/api/app-home/apis/device-and-platform-integration/scanner-api
  md: >-
    https://shopify.dev/docs/api/app-home/apis/device-and-platform-integration/scanner-api.md
---

# Scanner API

The Scanner API allows you to use the mobile device's camera to scan barcodes. Use this API to capture barcode data and integrate it into your app's workflow on Shopify POS.

### Use cases

* **Product lookup:** Scan barcodes to quickly look up products in the store catalog.
* **Inventory management:** Scan items during inventory counts or stocktaking workflows.
* **Order processing:** Scan package barcodes during fulfillment or receiving workflows.
* **Custom scanning:** Implement custom barcode scanning workflows that process scan data for your app's needs.

### Methods

The `scanner` API provides a `capture` method that opens the mobile device's scanner to capture a barcode. It returns a Promise resolving to the scanned barcode data or an error.

* **capture**

  **() => Promise\<ScannerPayload>**

  **required**

  Opens the device camera to scan a barcode. Returns a Promise that resolves to a `ScannerPayload` containing the scanned data.

### ScannerPayload

The result returned after a successful barcode scan.

* data

  The scanned barcode data as a string.

  ```ts
  string
  ```

Examples

### Examples

* ####

  ##### Description

  Look up products by scanning their barcode. This example captures a barcode and queries the Admin API to find the matching product variant.

  ##### js

  ```js
  // Scan a product barcode and look it up
  try {
    const { data: barcode } = await shopify.scanner.capture();

    // Look up the product variant by barcode
    const response = await fetch('shopify:admin/api/graphql.json', {
      method: 'POST',
      body: JSON.stringify({
        query: `
          query getVariantByBarcode($barcode: String!) {
            productVariants(first: 1, query: $barcode) {
              nodes {
                id
                title
                price
                product {
                  title
                }
              }
            }
          }
        `,
        variables: { barcode: `barcode:${barcode}` }
      })
    });

    const { data } = await response.json();
    const variant = data.productVariants.nodes[0];

    if (variant) {
      shopify.toast.show(`Found: ${variant.product.title} - ${variant.title}`);
    } else {
      shopify.toast.show('Product not found', { isError: true });
    }
  } catch (error) {
    shopify.toast.show('Scan cancelled or failed', { isError: true });
  }
  ```

***