Developers
Build on TigerTag.
The TigerTag protocol is open — CC-BY-4.0, with an irrevocable right to implement it in any product, free, forever. Tiger Studio and Tiger-Scale are MIT; the SDKs are Apache-2.0. The mobile app is free to use, but proprietary.
- 1
An open protocol
Any NTAG 213/215/216, any ACR122U reader, bought anywhere. The Pod is 3D-printed — print it yourself.
- 2
TigerTag is 100% offline
The data lives on the chip. No cloud, no account, nothing phones home.
- 3
TigerTag+ adds an optional online layer
The same offline chip, plus a catalogue entry its manufacturer maintains. Optional. Additive. Never a dependency.
- 4
TigerData
For spools with no chip at all: tracked in the app, upgradeable to a real chip anytime.
- 5
TigerData+
A chipless spool that still carries a real catalogue product id — so it knows exactly which filament it is, without a chip. Identified, not certified: only silicon can prove its own origin.
- 6
The .ttag file
A spool description as a file, for when there is no chip to read: the same fields the protocol defines, exchangeable between apps, importable into an inventory.
- 7
The ecosystem
Desktop and mobile apps, the Pod, the Scale. Installs in a minute — no self-hosting required.
- 8
Factory partners
Filament that arrives already knowing what it is, tagged on the production line.
- 9
The tag outlives the spool
Rewrite it onto the next spool, or reflash it as a plain NDEF tag.
What is open, component by component
Verified against the public repositories.
| Component | Licence | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Protocol spec | CC-BY-4.0 | The protocol specification and the public registry tables. LICENSING.md carries an irrevocable, worldwide, royalty-free implementation grant. |
| Tiger Studio | MIT | The desktop app. Fork it, sell it — just don't call your fork Tiger Studio. |
| TigerScale V3 | MIT | The scale firmware (ESP32-S3, touchscreen, dual NFC). |
| TigerPOD | CC-BY-4.0 | The Pod, presented: free design, free electronics — two ACR122U readers, a printed shell, a splitter. |
| SDK-JS | Apache-2.0 | JavaScript SDK. Apache-2.0 carries an express patent grant. |
| SDK-Python | Apache-2.0 | Python SDK. Same terms as the JS SDK. |
| Firebase integration | CC-BY-4.0 | Integration reference for third parties: security-rules mirror and data model. |
| Mobile app | Proprietary | Free to use. Not open source. |
Everything else lives on GitHub
The whole ecosystem is public: every repository under the organisation, and TigerSystem-Docs — the source of truth, where the protocol, the history and every design decision are written down.
The public API
The product catalogue is readable without a key. These are the endpoints this very site runs on — the catalogue page and every product page are built from them, so what you get is what we get.
- POST
https://api.tigertag.io/api:tigertag/product/get/allThe whole catalogue, paged.
- GET
https://api.tigertag.io/api:tigertag/product/get?uid=0&product_id=<id>&lang=<xx>One product: EAN, description, print settings, datasheets. `uid=0` for an anonymous read.
- GET
https://cdn.tigertag.io/img?id=<id>&size=largeProduct image. size = thumb (32px) · small (64) · compact (128) · medium (256) · large (512).
The catalogue endpoint has no “return everything” mode: page through it and follow the {nextPage} the response gives you, until it is null.
Open the API reference (Swagger) ↗Free protocol, guarded name
Anyone may implement the protocol and say “compatible with TigerTag”. Only a TigerTag Certified partner may put the TigerTag name and logo on a product and issue TigerTag+ signatures — TigerTag holds the private key. Two gates: the trademark (marketing) and the signature (technical). Neither restricts the protocol by one line.
An uncertified chip works perfectly — offline, with any app, on every supported printer. It just can't prove its origin. The free tier actually works; the certified tier proves.
Built on TigerTag
Others are already building on it.
Independent projects that read the open spec and shipped. No partnership, no endorsement, no certification — just an open protocol doing its job.
Worth being precise about the firmware: no stock printer firmware reads TigerTag natively yet. This community one already does.
OpenRFID
github.com/suchmememanyskill
A community toolkit that reads many vendors' spool tags. TigerTag is one of them — the open payload made it a straightforward add.
Visit the project →Spooly Tracker
spoolytracker.com
An independent filament-inventory platform — web, mobile, Home Assistant, OrcaSlicer, self-hostable. It identifies spools with TigerTags.
Visit the project →Snapmaker U1 Extended Firmware
GPL-3.0 · 850+ ★
First printer to read TigerTag natively
An independent community firmware for the Snapmaker U1. With it, the U1 reads TigerTags on the machine itself.
Visit the project →
Building on TigerTag? Tell us — and if you want the integration verified, TigerTag Certified is there for that. Join the Discord →