TSC Bridge aims to be the universal thermal label printing bridge. It connects web applications to thermal label printers through a local HTTP API, removing the need for browser extensions, Java applets, or vendor-specific SDKs.
The following are the project goals, in order of priority from most to least important. In case of conflict, goals higher on the list take precedence.
Labels must print correctly, every time. A misprinted label costs time, money, and trust. The bridge must never silently drop print jobs, corrupt label data, or produce partial output.
Support as many thermal label printers as possible through a driver architecture. No single vendor lock-in. The same web application should work with TSC, Zebra, Brother, BIXOLON, Honeywell, or any other thermal printer.
A single binary with zero external dependencies. No runtime, no installer wizard, no database. Drop the binary on any machine and it works. The HTTP API is plain JSON over localhost.
Define and maintain an open label format specification that any application can produce and any driver can consume. The format is JSON-based, human-readable, and version-controlled.
Make it easy for anyone to contribute a driver for their printer. Clear interfaces, complete documentation, working examples, and a test harness that validates driver correctness without physical hardware.
macOS, Windows, and Linux are first-class citizens. Platform-specific features (USB direct printing, native windows, system tray) are implemented where available, with graceful fallbacks where not.
- TSC Bridge is not a print server. It runs on the same machine as the printer, not on a remote server.
- TSC Bridge is not a label designer. It renders labels from templates and data. Design tools are separate concerns.
- TSC Bridge does not manage printer queues. It sends jobs and reports success or failure. Queue management is the operating system's job.