Counterfeit and substandard CNC tools pose significant threats to the tool market, prompting interest in traceability and anti-counterfeiting marking technologies. Existing methods, such as pattern engraving, information code labels, and radio frequency tags, suffer from issues of imitation susceptibility, detachment, and high costs, which are problematic for both tool users and manufacturers. To address these issues, we conducted an experiment utilizing laser technology to imprint a 2 mm×2 mm information code on the surface of a cemented carbide tool. The influence of the laser process parameters on the processing quality and reading efficiency of information codes was studied and the optimum process parameters were obtained: the laser power is 9 W, the laser scanning spacing is 30 μm, the laser scanning speed is 1 000 mm/s and laser repetition frequency is 980 kHz. In addition, through the readability test of the information code, the influence of the surface damage and error correction, the information code data storage capacity, the distance of the identification device and the identification angle on the identification result was analyzed. In the first and second categories of damage does not affect the reading of the message code, the third and fourth category of damage affects the reading of the message code. Under normal lighting conditions, the message is stored within 6 to 52 characters, the recognition distance is 35 mm to 200 mm and the recognition angle is 90°±25°. The results show that laser marking of small-sized information codes on tool surfaces can satisfy the coding and surface integrity requirements for most precision CNC tools, thereby enabling tool traceability and anti-counterfeiting throughout the manufacturing process.