CapSkip Python SDK — Captcha Solver for Python

Solve reCAPTCHA v2, reCAPTCHA v3, Cloudflare Turnstile, GeeTest, ALTCHA and image captchas from Python.

Official Python client for CapSkip, a local captcha solver that runs on your own machine. Licensed once, not billed per solve.

pip install capskip

How it works

CapSkip is a desktop app. It does the solving on your machine and exposes the standard captcha-solver HTTP API — the same in.php / res.php endpoints every 2captcha-compatible client already speaks — on 127.0.0.1:8080.

This SDK is a thin wrapper over that API, with the method names you would expect: normal(), recaptcha(), turnstile(), geetest(), altcha(). Nothing leaves your network, and there is no credit balance to keep an eye on.

Supported captcha types

hCaptcha and FunCaptcha/Arkose are not supported. hCaptcha is the one people misidentify most often, since it also puts a data-sitekey on the widget — check for class="h-captcha" or a js.hcaptcha.com script before reaching for recaptcha().

Point the SDK at the live captcha demo pages to sanity-check your setup against real widgets.

Quick start (5 minutes)

1. Install the CapSkip captcha solver

Download and run the CapSkip desktop app — CapSkipInstaller.msi. Leave it running in the background.

In CapSkip settings, note:

• API port (default: 8080)
• API key (optional — if validation is disabled, any string works)

2. Install the SDK

pip install capskip

Or from source:

git clone https://github.com/capskip/capskip-python.git
cd capskip-python
pip install -e .

3. Solve your first captcha

from capskip import CapSkip

solver = CapSkip(host="127.0.0.1", port=8080)

result = solver.recaptcha(
    sitekey="YOUR_SITEKEY",
    url="https://example.com/page-with-recaptcha",
)

print(result["code"])  # g-recaptcha-response token

Prerequisite: CapSkip must be running before you call the SDK. If you see a connection error, see Troubleshooting.

Why solve captchas locally

Cloud captcha APIs charge per solve, which turns a retry loop into an expense and routes every page URL and sitekey you touch through someone else's queue.

CapSkip flips that around:

• Unlimited solving — one license, no per-captcha charge, no balance to top up
• Runs on 127.0.0.1 — the SDK never talks to a third-party server
• No per-key rate limit — throughput is whatever your machine can manage
• Fast — image captchas come back in well under a second; a typical reCAPTCHA v2 lands in 30–45 seconds

Coming from 2captcha or Anti-Captcha

CapSkip answers on the same in.php / res.php endpoints, so it works as a 2captcha API alternative: an existing integration usually needs nothing more than its host pointed at 127.0.0.1:8080. The migration notes cover the details, if you would rather keep your current client library than switch to this one.

Documentation

Configuration

from capskip import CapSkip

solver = CapSkip(
    apiKey="capskip",        # your CapSkip API key (or any string if validation is off)
    host="127.0.0.1",        # CapSkip host
    port=8080,               # CapSkip port from app settings
    defaultTimeout=120,      # seconds — image captcha polling timeout
    recaptchaTimeout=300,    # seconds — reCAPTCHA / Turnstile / GeeTest polling timeout
                             # (ALTCHA uses defaultTimeout — it is CPU work, not a browser solve)
    pollingInterval=5,       # max seconds between res.php polls (starts at 0.25s, backs off to this)
)

Use environment variables in production:

# Linux / macOS
export CAPSKIP_API_KEY="your-key"
export CAPSKIP_HOST="127.0.0.1"
export CAPSKIP_PORT="8080"

# Windows PowerShell
$env:CAPSKIP_API_KEY = "your-key"
$env:CAPSKIP_HOST = "127.0.0.1"
$env:CAPSKIP_PORT = "8080"

import os
from capskip import CapSkip

solver = CapSkip(
    apiKey=os.getenv("CAPSKIP_API_KEY", "capskip"),
    host=os.getenv("CAPSKIP_HOST", "127.0.0.1"),
    port=int(os.getenv("CAPSKIP_PORT", "8080")),
)

Usage examples

Image captcha

result = solver.normal("captcha.png")
result = solver.normal("https://example.com/captcha.jpg")
result = solver.normal("data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgo...")
print(result["code"])

reCAPTCHA v2 / v3

# reCAPTCHA v2
result = solver.recaptcha(sitekey="...", url="https://example.com")

# reCAPTCHA v3
result = solver.recaptcha(
    sitekey="...",
    url="https://example.com",
    version="v3",
    action="submit",
    score=0.7,
)

Cloudflare Turnstile

result = solver.turnstile(
    sitekey="0x4AAAAAAA...",
    url="https://example.com",
)

GeeTest v3

gt is static per site, but challenge is single-use and expires in about a minute — fetch a fresh pair right before solving.

result = solver.geetest(
    gt="81388ea1fc187e0c335c0a8907ff2625",
    challenge="7cf6a8b1a2c34d5e6f7089abcdef0123",
    url="https://example.com/login",
)

# Post these back exactly as the site's own front-end would
result["challenge"], result["validate"], result["seccode"]

ALTCHA

ALTCHA is proof-of-work, not recognition — there is nothing to read, so a solve is deterministic and takes milliseconds. Give CapSkip the endpoint that serves the challenge, or the challenge document itself.

result = solver.altcha(
    url="https://example.com/signup",
    challenge_url="https://example.com/captcha/api/altcha/challenge",
)

# Post this back in the form field the widget uses, named `altcha`
result["token"]

Challenges expire fast — some sites inside two minutes — so fetch one immediately before solving and submit the token promptly.

With a proxy (reCAPTCHA, Turnstile, GeeTest & ALTCHA only)

# Proxy is not supported for image captcha
result = solver.recaptcha(
    sitekey="...",
    url="https://example.com",
    proxy={"type": "HTTPS", "uri": "user:pass@1.2.3.4:3128"},
)
result = solver.turnstile(
    sitekey="...",
    url="https://example.com",
    proxy={"type": "HTTP", "uri": "1.2.3.4:3128"},
)

Async (parallel solving)

import asyncio
from capskip import AsyncCapSkip

async def main():
    solver = AsyncCapSkip()
    r1, r2 = await asyncio.gather(
        solver.recaptcha(sitekey="...", url="https://a.com"),
        solver.turnstile(sitekey="...", url="https://b.com"),
    )
    print(r1["code"], r2["code"])

asyncio.run(main())

More examples: examples/

Selenium, Playwright and Scrapy

The SDK hands back a token; your existing browser tooling does the driving. The shape is the same whichever you use:

1. Read the sitekey off the page (data-sitekey, or the widget's config object).
2. Call the matching solve method with that sitekey and the page URL.
3. Write the token into the response field and submit.

Selenium

sitekey = driver.find_element(By.CSS_SELECTOR, "[data-sitekey]").get_attribute("data-sitekey")
token = solver.recaptcha(sitekey=sitekey, url=driver.current_url)["code"]

driver.execute_script(
    "document.getElementById('g-recaptcha-response').value = arguments[0];", token
)
driver.find_element(By.CSS_SELECTOR, "form").submit()

Playwright

from capskip import AsyncCapSkip

solver = AsyncCapSkip()
sitekey = await page.get_attribute("[data-sitekey]", "data-sitekey")
result = await solver.recaptcha(sitekey=sitekey, url=page.url)

await page.evaluate(
    "t => document.getElementById('g-recaptcha-response').value = t", result["code"]
)

Scrapy and plain requests work the same way — solve first, then send the token as whatever form field the site expects. Longer walkthroughs: Selenium and Playwright.

Return value

Every solve method returns:

{
    "captchaId": "12345",   # internal ID from CapSkip
    "code": "TOKEN_OR_TEXT" # solution — text for image, token for reCAPTCHA/Turnstile
    "userAgent": "..."      # Turnstile only — use when submitting challenge-page tokens
}

GeeTest additionally expands its answer into challenge, validate, and seccode, while code keeps the raw JSON string. ALTCHA adds token (the same string as code) and number, the counter that solved it.

Error handling

from capskip import CapSkip, ValidationException, NetworkException, ApiException, TimeoutException

try:
    result = solver.recaptcha(sitekey="...", url="...")
except ValidationException:
    pass  # invalid parameters
except NetworkException:
    pass  # CapSkip not running, or captcha not ready (manual polling)
except ApiException:
    pass  # API returned an error code
except TimeoutException:
    pass  # polling timeout exceeded

FAQ

How do I solve a captcha in Python?

Install the CapSkip desktop app, pip install capskip, then call the method that matches the widget — recaptcha(), turnstile(), geetest(), altcha() or normal(). Each one polls until CapSkip has an answer, then returns a token, or the recognized text in the case of an image captcha.

Is this a free captcha solver?

The SDK itself is MIT-licensed and free. Solving needs the CapSkip app, which is bought once rather than metered per captcha, so your cost stops scaling with volume.

Which captchas can it solve?

reCAPTCHA v2 (checkbox and invisible), reCAPTCHA v3, reCAPTCHA Enterprise, Cloudflare Turnstile, GeeTest v3, ALTCHA, and image/text captchas. Not hCaptcha, and not FunCaptcha/Arkose.

Does it work with Selenium and Playwright?

Yes — see above. The SDK never touches a browser itself, so it drops into whatever stack you already have, Scrapy and plain requests included.

Why is my reCAPTCHA v3 score low?

Google derives v3 scores from IP reputation, cookies and browsing history. A solver returns a valid token, but it cannot change how Google grades that token — score= is forwarded as the target you want, not a guarantee. If a site enforces a high threshold, solve through a cleaner IP using the proxy argument.

Can I use it as a 2captcha alternative?

Yes. CapSkip serves the same endpoints, so you can either move to this SDK or repoint an existing 2captcha client at 127.0.0.1:8080.

Does the captcha have to be on a public page?

For widget captchas, yes — CapSkip loads the URL you pass it. Image captchas only need the image, and that can be a local file.

Is asyncio supported?

AsyncCapSkip is a full async client. Use it with asyncio.gather to run several solves at once.

Development

git clone https://github.com/capskip/capskip-python.git
cd capskip-python
python -m venv .venv

# Windows
.venv\Scripts\activate

# Linux / macOS
source .venv/bin/activate

pip install -e ".[dev]"
pytest

See CONTRIBUTING.md for the full development workflow.

Links

• CapSkip — local captcha solver · download the app
• Captcha demo pages — live reCAPTCHA, Turnstile, GeeTest and image widgets
• Python captcha solver guide
• HTTP API docs
• Other clients: Node.js · PHP · .NET · MCP server for AI agents
• PyPI package · report an issue

License

MIT — see LICENSE.