# schmich/instascan

HTML5 QR code scanner using your webcam

Repository: https://github.com/schmich/instascan
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/instascan
Homepage: https://schmich.github.io/instascan/
Language: JavaScript
License: MIT
License Family: permissive
Topics: html5, qr-code, qrcode, quick-response, webcam, video, camera, javascript, zxing, emscripten, browser
Last push: 2021-12-15T13:21:36+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 23/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-02T17:46:02.011165+00:00)
- activity 0, release rhythm 8, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 3721, "days_push": 1722, "days_rel": null, "gap_med": null, "n_releases_24m": 0}
- flags: none
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 3022, forks 855 (observed 2026-08-28T04:07:38.546707+00:00)

## What it is
Instascan is a JavaScript library that provides real-time QR code scanning from a webcam feed in the browser, built on top of ZXing compiled with Emscripten. It exposes a simple event-driven API for continuous or manual scanning with a live video preview.

## Use cases
- scan QR codes with a webcam in the browser
- add QR code scanning to a web page
- read QR codes from camera in real time
- build a check-in or ticket-scanning web app
- decode QR codes using JavaScript without a server

## When to choose
- you need client-side QR scanning in Chrome over HTTPS with a simple event-based API
- you want real-time continuous scanning with a video preview element

## When to avoid
- you need to scan barcodes other than QR codes
- you need broad browser support beyond Chrome or offline file-based decoding
- you need an actively maintained library with recent updates

## Facets
- artifact type: library
- maturity: maintenance
- function: computer-vision, image-processing, browser-extension
- domain: web-development, computer-vision, frontend
- platform: browser
- tags: qr-code, webcam, webrtc, zxing, real-time-scanning, camera-access, javascript, web-server

## Member repositories
- schmich/instascan (main) score 23

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:07:38.546707+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-29T18:46:53.610982+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/schmich/instascan (fetched 2026-08-28T04:07:38.546707+00:00, sha edf5800aab9a)
  - homepage: https://schmich.github.io/instascan/ (fetched 2026-08-29T09:45:19.559873+00:00, sha 6245a44a21a3)
  - registry_npm: https://registry.npmjs.org/instascan (fetched 2026-08-29T09:45:19.568585+00:00, sha 8fced64bca4b)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.