labelwerk

Design and print labels on Brother QL label printers under Linux.
Text, images, symbols, barcodes and series on a label shown in real size – plus parcel labels converted for the label printer. No P-touch Editor, no Wine.

Download · Installation · Printers · Parcel labels · Translations · Report a printer

• Text with per-character formatting, images (PNG, JPG, SVG, PDF pages, screenshots), symbols, barcodes and QR codes, decorative frames – placed freely on a label shown in real size
• Series from CSV/Excel or numbering, favourites, *.labelwerk files
• Parcel labels (DHL, Hermes, Amazon returns) converted for 62 mm tape or 4×6" labels
• Prints PDFs and images 1:1 (e.g. postage stamps), also from the command line
• English and German

Printers

The printer model is detected automatically (labelwerk printers). Tried an untested model? Please open an issue with model, label roll and result.

Installation

Download from the latest release:

• AppImage – one file, runs on any distribution with glibc 2.28 or newer:

  chmod +x labelwerk-*-x86_64.AppImage
  ./labelwerk-*-x86_64.AppImage                 # the app
  ./labelwerk-*-x86_64.AppImage cli printers    # the command line
  

• Flatpak – flatpak install --user labelwerk-*-x86_64.flatpak, then start it from the launcher (needs the runtime org.freedesktop.Platform//25.08 from Flathub).
• pip – Python 3.10 or newer:

  pip install "labelwerk[gui]"
  labelwerk install-desktop          # adds labelwerk to the app launcher
  

The printer needs access to /dev/usb/lp* – add yourself to the group lp once, then log in again: sudo usermod -aG lp "$USER". On the QL-600 the Editor Lite LED must be off, otherwise it shows up as a USB drive.

Usage

Start the app with labelwerk-gui (or from the launcher). The command line covers the basics:

labelwerk print "X1 -K3\nTerminal 24V" -l 62x29 --preview preview.png
labelwerk print "Shelf 4" -l auto                  # label from the loaded roll
labelwerk print-file stamp.pdf -l 62               # PDF/PNG/JPG 1:1
labelwerk parcel label.pdf -l 62                   # convert a parcel label
labelwerk printers                                 # detected printers and supported models
labelwerk labels                                   # labels of the printer

labelwerk --help and labelwerk <command> --help list all options.

Parcel labels

Open a parcel label in the PARCEL tab (or labelwerk parcel): the type is recognized, the label is cut into pieces and arranged on the tape – barcodes at full size. DHL domestic is tested on real labels; the other types are measured from sample sheets and marked untested. You can draw your own types on any label. Always check that the barcodes scan before shipping.

Translations

Translations are welcome – see src/labelwerk/po/README.md.

Development

git clone https://github.com/siN161/labelwerk.git && cd labelwerk
python3 -m venv .venv && source .venv/bin/activate
pip install -e ".[dev]"
QT_QPA_PLATFORM=offscreen pytest -q

Tests never talk to a printer. The core (src/labelwerk/*.py) has no Qt dependency; gui/ only displays and edits. Packages: packaging/appimage/build.sh (Docker) and packaging/flatpak/build.sh (flatpak-builder).

License

GPL-3.0-or-later. Uses brother_ql-inventree (GPLv3+), PySide6 (LGPL), segno (BSD-3-Clause) and more; symbol licenses in src/labelwerk/clipart_data/LICENSES.md.