fancyqr

A simple package to create fancy qr-codes with the help of the qrcode-package. You may use \fancyqr just like the normal \qrcode (\fancyqr[<qr-options>]{<url>}). See the documentation. If you just want to create a simple qr-code, please refer to the minimal example. The package also ships an l3build test suite in tests/, which you can run with l3build check. l3build scan (tests/scan/scancheck.py) scans 1000 random codes over all styles with zxing and ZBar at 100, 150 and 300 dpi. The manual is built with l3build doc and needs the xlistings submodule (clone with --recurse-submodules, or run git submodule update --init).

fancyqr is actively developed by Florian Sihler (contact me at: <florian.sihler@uni-ulm.de>) under the LPPL Version 1.3c (please note that this changed on 2026-02-27 from GPL v3, versions after v2.2 are licensed with LPPL 1.3c). I am very happy about every contribution (see CONTRIBUTING.md). You can find it on CTAN (https://www.ctan.org/pkg/fancyqr).

To hide the center (for example, to put a logo there), use the image option, or hide a rectangle by hand with \FancyQrDoNotPrintSquare{<x>}{<y>}. \FancyQrDoNotPrintRadius{<factor>} rounds its corners (

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), and \FancyQrHardCut cuts the modules at its edge straight instead of rounding them (\FancyQrRoundCut, the default).

Besides default, there are twelve styles. Load one with \FancyQrLoad{<name>} (the change stays local to the current group), and switch back with \FancyQrLoad{default} or \FancyQrLoadDefault:

• rounded: like default, but with sharp inner corners (the look before v2.4)
• flat: plain squares, used by the classic option
• frame: outlines of the module groups with a dot in every module. The finder patterns are square with round cores by default, so the code scans as it is.
• dots: one dot per module
• blobs, glitch: random styles. Use seed to get the same result on every run
• goo: drips of many kinds (sags, strands, double drips and more), varied per tile. Random, use seed.
• glows: a soft glow around every tile, tuned with \FancyQrGlow{<width>}{<strength>}{<falloff>} and \FancyQrGlowColor{<from>}{<to>}
• halloween: orange and purple tiles dripping slime. The finder rings follow the gradient, and the finder cores are pumpkins, jack-o'-lanterns, ghosts or skulls tinted by it, drawn at random (finder core=halloween). Figures are drawn in the tile color on blocks of dark modules that fit them, and replace the modules they cover: grim reapers, big and small jack-o'-lanterns, ghosts (varied hems and faces, including a happy big ghost), graves (rare), crosses, witch hats, witches with a cauldron (facing left or right), flying witches, brooms, fences, candelabras, scythes, lanterns, street lamps, bats (open-wing, flying, hanging), spiders (varied pose and position, hanging from a tile above, or sitting), skulls, eyeballs and eyes, bones with varied breaks on L-shaped groups, and many kinds of candy. Small single-module figures (pumpkins, potions, candles, a devil blob) also fit, and timing patterns carry small figures. Decorations are spider webs sized to the free white space, with long hanging threads, and slime and timing figures. Each figure has a chance, \fancyqr@<figure>@chance, for example \fancyqr@reaper@chance (1) or \fancyqr@bat@chance (.2). The slime is tuned with \fancyqr@slime@chance (.35) and \fancyqr@slime@length (.47). Random, use seed. The same code always gets the same figures.
• snow: snow lies on the top edges of the tiles, not on the top row, with ice running down over the tiles and pale drips of melting snow of varied length below. Pale snowflakes fall in the white gaps. Whole rows get snow or stay bare. The snow lies on the tiles without cutting into them, and it ends flush at the walls. It does not change the gradient. Tuned with \fancyqr@snow@chance (.7), \fancyqr@snow@height (.32), \fancyqr@snow@wave (.1), \fancyqr@snow@color and \fancyqr@snow@line. Random, use seed.
• castle: masonry in a running bond whose colors follow the gradient, with walls that have battlements, towers with roofs and flags, turrets, tree clumps, keeps, gatehouses, halls, castles, citadels, houses, tents, wells, huts, wooden watchposts, stone turrets, trees, mountain ranges, volcanoes, a rare dragon and training grounds (a target, a dummy or both), crop fields, and courtyards of packed earth inside the walls. Banners and figures on tower tops are drawn too. Rivers with forks, ponds and faint waves run across the map, and alignment patterns are ponds with a boat. The finder patterns are fortresses with a moat, windows, a drawbridge mostly at the bottom, gate and keep. Archers and knights guard the walls, and a rare princess appears in a tower window. Grass is the default background (background), and user colors are respected. Each building has a chance, \fancyqr@<building>@chance. The same code always gets the same buildings.
• christmas: pine and teal tiles with gold and cranberry accents, and snow on top by default, following the tile edges. Tiered trees with trunks and a star, candy canes in six orientations, presents, baubles, sledges, a bench, toy trains, drums, stockings and nutcrackers. Light chains hang across the gaps between tiles, and pale stars, snowflakes and candles sit in open white. The timing patterns carry lights, and the finder cores are drawn at random (baubles, light rings, gifts, snowflakes, candy canes). Tuned with \fancyqr@tree@chance, \fancyqr@cane@chance, \fancyqr@present@chance and \fancyqr@bauble@chance. The same code always gets the same decorations.

The decorations of one style can be added to another, for example castle walls with spider webs: \fancyqr[style=castle,add=halloween]{...}. place puts figures where you want them.

halloween, snow, castle and christmas bring their own colors or finder shapes. Options passed to \fancyqr still override them, and loading another style restores what was set before. All styles work with pdfLaTeX, LuaLaTeX and XeLaTeX.

The three big squares in the corners (finder patterns) and the smaller alignment patterns can get their own shape and color. For example, flat black data with teal rings, orange cores, and alignment patterns drawn like the data:

\fancyqr[content color=black,finder=rounded,finder color=teal!60!black,
  finder core color=orange,alignment=inherit]{https://github.com/EagleoutIce/fancyqr}

Text beyond ASCII (umlauts, other scripts, emoji) works with pdfLaTeX, LuaLaTeX and XeLaTeX. fancyqr stores it as UTF-8 and adds a short ECI header that tells the scanner so. eci=false leaves the header out. Use it as a fallback if a scanner rejects codes with an ECI header (Google ML Kit reportedly does), at the cost that some scanners (ZBar) then garble non-ASCII text.

he style draws inner corners. \FancyQrFigure[*]{<name>}{<chance>}{<pattern>}{<code>} replaces blocks of dark modules that match a pattern with a figure drawn by <code>. The pattern is rows separated by /: x is a dark module of the figure, 1 a dark module, 0 a white one and . any module. Bigger figures are placed first, the placement is deterministic, and figures never land on the finder or alignment patterns, the hidden center or other figures. The starred form marks grid positions instead of pattern matches. \FancyQrFigureTile{<tile>} wraps a tile so that it draws the figure at its first module and nothing at the others. Neighbouring tiles end cleanly against figures. \FancyQrFigureAt{<row>}{<col>} places a figure at a grid position, and \FancyQrDiagonals gives the tiles \@upleft, \@upright, \@downleft and \@downright for their diagonal neighbours. \FancyQrIfTiming{<true>}{<false>} expands to <true> if the current tile is part of a timing pattern, and to <false> otherwise.

\FancyQrListFigures and \FancyQrListExtras log the names of the figures and decorations, \FancyQrShowFigure and \FancyQrShowPattern draw one, and \FancyQrFigureGallery, \FancyQrExtraGallery and \FancyQrTileGallery draw the figures, decorations and tiles. Style authors also get \FancyQrExtra, \FancyQrIfExtra, \FancyQrExtras and \FancyQrSince for decorations (see the manual for their arguments). The manual shows every figure, tile and decoration of each style, generated from the style files.

These are the extra options (set them for all following codes with \fancyqrset{<keys>}):

Option	Type	Default	Explanation
alignment	finder/inherit/hide	finder	finder styles the alignment patterns like the finder patterns, inherit draws them like the data, hide replaces them with modules that look like data (test that the code still scans).
alignment color	color	Color of the alignment patterns. Defaults to finder color.
alignment core color	color	Color of the alignment cores. Defaults to alignment color, or to finder core color if that is not set.
background	color	none	Fill behind the whole code, including the padding.
background radius	number	1	Corner radius of the background, in modules. 0 gives square corners.
cache	boolean	true	Remember codes that were already computed, so drawing the same code again is fast.
externalize	boolean	false	Turn every recorded code into a pdf of its own and include it. Needs -shell-escape, or compile the written files yourself.
externalize prefix	text	<jobname>-fqr-	Where the records and externalized pdfs go.
figures	list, all or none	all	Draw only the figures named. bone* stands for every figure starting with bone. \FancyQrListFigures logs the names.
figure chance	{name=value,...}	Frequency of the named figures.
no figures	list	Leave out the figures named, in the same way.
place	{name=row/col,...}	Put a figure at a module, or at the closest place it fits.
extras	list, all or none	all	Draw only the decorations named, in the same way as figures. land/* stands for every decoration starting with land/.
no extras	list	Leave out the decorations named.
persist	boolean	true	Record every code in a file <prefix><hash>.fqr and replay it in later runs, so only the first run draws.
classic	boolean	false	Black, square modules, like a normal QR code. Loads the flat style.
color	color	One color for the whole code. Turns off the gradient.
compensate	length	Tile overlap as a fixed length. Turns off overlap.
content color	color	Color of the data, that is, everything except the finder and alignment patterns.
eci	boolean	true	Mark text beyond ASCII as UTF-8, so scanners do not guess the character set.
finder	inherit/square/rounded/circle	inherit	Shape of the pattern rings. inherit (or none) keeps the tiles of the style.
finder color	color	Color of the finder and alignment patterns.
finder core	auto/inherit/none/square/rounded/circle/star/pumpkin/halloween	auto	Shape of the pattern cores. auto uses the ring shape. Other values work even if the ring keeps its tiles.
finder core color	color	Color of the pattern cores. Defaults to finder color.
finder radius	number	0.5	Corner radius of the rounded shape.
finder thickness	number	1	Width of the ring, in modules.
gradient	boolean	true	Turn the color gradient on or off.
gradient angle	angle	135	Direction of the gradient, in degrees. 0 runs from left to right.
image	LaTeX	Content to put in the center. The modules behind it are hidden.^1
image padding	number	Hide this many extra modules around the image.
image x padding	number	0	Same, left and right only.
image y padding	number	0	Same, top and bottom only.
inner rounding	number	0.25	Radius of inner corners. 0 makes them sharp.
l color	color	see below	Gradient color at the left end. With the default angle, this is the bottom right.
left color	color	Same as l color.
level	L/M/Q/H	M	qrcode error correction: low, medium, quartile, high.
overlap	number	0.045	How much neighbouring tiles overlap, as a fraction of a module. Hides thin white lines that some PDF viewers draw between tiles.
padding	flag	qrcode option: add a white border around the code.
r color	color	see below	Gradient color at the right end. With the default angle, this is the top left.
random color	colors	List of colors. Every module gets a random one. Needs pgfmath.
right color	color	Same as r color.
rounding	number	0.5	Corner radius of the tiles in the default style.
seed	integer	Fixed random seed, so the random styles (blobs, glitch, goo, halloween, snow, christmas) look the same on every run, including their figures and finder designs.
size	length	Size of the code. Same as qrcode's height.
style	style name	Style for this one code. The other options override it.
tight	flag	qrcode option: no white border.
timing color	color	Color of the timing patterns, the dotted lines between the finder patterns.
version	0–40	0	qrcode option: size of the module grid. 0 picks the smallest one that fits.
width	length	Same as size.

The defaults are set like this:

\fancyqrset{image padding=0,gradient=true,gradient angle=135,r color=red!68!black!88!white!90!white,
  l color=purple!40!red!20!black!90!white}

image keeps its own size and does not scale with the code. If the code no longer scans, use a higher level (for example level=H) or a smaller image.