Circuit Breaker Pattern for CAPTCHA API Calls

When the CAPTCHA solving API is slow or returning errors, continuing to send requests wastes time and money. The circuit breaker pattern stops calling a failing API, waits for recovery, and resumes automatically — preventing cascading failures in your pipeline.

How circuit breakers work

Three states:

Closed — Normal operation. Requests go through. Failures are counted.
Open — Too many failures. All requests are rejected immediately without calling the API.
Half-Open — After a cooldown period, one test request is allowed through. If it succeeds, the circuit closes. If it fails, the circuit opens again.

Python implementation

import time
import threading
import requests

SUBMIT_URL = "https://ocr.captchaai.com/in.php"
RESULT_URL = "https://ocr.captchaai.com/res.php"
API_KEY = "YOUR_API_KEY"


class CircuitBreaker:
    def __init__(self, failure_threshold=5, recovery_timeout=60):
        self.failure_threshold = failure_threshold
        self.recovery_timeout = recovery_timeout
        self.failure_count = 0
        self.last_failure_time = 0
        self.state = "closed"  # closed, open, half-open
        self._lock = threading.Lock()

    def call(self, func, *args, **kwargs):
        with self._lock:
            if self.state == "open":
                if time.time() - self.last_failure_time > self.recovery_timeout:
                    self.state = "half-open"
                    print("[circuit] State: half-open — testing one request")
                else:
                    remaining = self.recovery_timeout - (
                        time.time() - self.last_failure_time
                    )
                    raise CircuitOpenError(
                        f"Circuit open — retry in {remaining:.0f}s"
                    )

        try:
            result = func(*args, **kwargs)
            with self._lock:
                self.failure_count = 0
                if self.state == "half-open":
                    print("[circuit] State: closed — API recovered")
                self.state = "closed"
            return result
        except Exception as e:
            with self._lock:
                self.failure_count += 1
                self.last_failure_time = time.time()
                if self.failure_count >= self.failure_threshold:
                    self.state = "open"
                    print(
                        f"[circuit] State: open — "
                        f"{self.failure_count} failures"
                    )
            raise


class CircuitOpenError(Exception):
    pass


def solve_captcha(sitekey, page_url):
    resp = requests.post(SUBMIT_URL, data={
        "key": API_KEY,
        "method": "userrecaptcha",
        "googlekey": sitekey,
        "pageurl": page_url,
        "json": "1",
    }, timeout=15)
    data = resp.json()
    if data["status"] != 1:
        raise Exception(f"Submit error: {data['request']}")

    task_id = data["request"]
    for _ in range(24):
        time.sleep(5)
        poll = requests.get(RESULT_URL, params={
            "key": API_KEY,
            "action": "get",
            "id": task_id,
            "json": "1",
        }, timeout=15).json()
        if poll["status"] == 1:
            return poll["request"]
        if poll["request"] != "CAPCHA_NOT_READY":
            raise Exception(f"Poll error: {poll['request']}")
    raise TimeoutError(f"Task {task_id} timed out")


# Usage
breaker = CircuitBreaker(failure_threshold=3, recovery_timeout=30)

for i in range(10):
    try:
        token = breaker.call(
            solve_captcha, "6Le-SITEKEY", "https://example.com"
        )
        print(f"[task-{i}] Solved: {token[:40]}...")
    except CircuitOpenError as e:
        print(f"[task-{i}] Skipped: {e}")
    except Exception as e:
        print(f"[task-{i}] Failed: {e}")

Expected output:

[task-0] Solved: 03AGdBq26ZfPxL...
[task-1] Solved: 03AGdBq27AbCdE...
[task-2] Failed: Submit error: ERROR_NO_SLOT_AVAILABLE
[task-3] Failed: Submit error: ERROR_NO_SLOT_AVAILABLE
[task-4] Failed: Submit error: ERROR_NO_SLOT_AVAILABLE
[circuit] State: open — 3 failures
[task-5] Skipped: Circuit open — retry in 28s
[task-6] Skipped: Circuit open — retry in 25s
...
[circuit] State: half-open — testing one request
[task-8] Solved: 03AGdBq28FgHiJ...
[circuit] State: closed — API recovered

JavaScript implementation

class CircuitBreaker {
  constructor(options = {}) {
    this.failureThreshold = options.failureThreshold || 5;
    this.recoveryTimeout = options.recoveryTimeout || 60000;
    this.failureCount = 0;
    this.lastFailureTime = 0;
    this.state = 'closed';
  }

  async call(fn, ...args) {
    if (this.state === 'open') {
      if (Date.now() - this.lastFailureTime > this.recoveryTimeout) {
        this.state = 'half-open';
        console.log('[circuit] State: half-open');
      } else {
        const remaining = this.recoveryTimeout - (Date.now() - this.lastFailureTime);
        throw new Error(`Circuit open — retry in ${Math.ceil(remaining / 1000)}s`);
      }
    }

    try {
      const result = await fn(...args);
      this.failureCount = 0;
      if (this.state === 'half-open') {
        console.log('[circuit] State: closed — recovered');
      }
      this.state = 'closed';
      return result;
    } catch (error) {
      this.failureCount++;
      this.lastFailureTime = Date.now();
      if (this.failureCount >= this.failureThreshold) {
        this.state = 'open';
        console.log(`[circuit] State: open — ${this.failureCount} failures`);
      }
      throw error;
    }
  }
}

// Usage
const axios = require('axios');

const API_KEY = 'YOUR_API_KEY';
const breaker = new CircuitBreaker({ failureThreshold: 3, recoveryTimeout: 30000 });

async function solveCaptcha(sitekey, pageurl) {
  const submit = await axios.post('https://ocr.captchaai.com/in.php', null, {
    params: { key: API_KEY, method: 'userrecaptcha', googlekey: sitekey, pageurl, json: 1 }
  });

  if (submit.data.status !== 1) throw new Error(submit.data.request);
  const taskId = submit.data.request;

  for (let i = 0; i < 24; i++) {
    await new Promise(r => setTimeout(r, 5000));
    const poll = await axios.get('https://ocr.captchaai.com/res.php', {
      params: { key: API_KEY, action: 'get', id: taskId, json: 1 }
    });
    if (poll.data.status === 1) return poll.data.request;
    if (poll.data.request !== 'CAPCHA_NOT_READY') throw new Error(poll.data.request);
  }
  throw new Error('Timeout');
}

(async () => {
  for (let i = 0; i < 10; i++) {
    try {
      const token = await breaker.call(solveCaptcha, '6Le-SITEKEY', 'https://example.com');
      console.log(`[task-${i}] Solved: ${token.substring(0, 40)}...`);
    } catch (err) {
      console.log(`[task-${i}] ${err.message}`);
    }
  }
})();

Choosing thresholds

Parameter	Low traffic (< 10/min)	High traffic (> 100/min)
`failure_threshold`	3	10
`recovery_timeout`	30s	60s

Set the failure threshold high enough to tolerate intermittent errors (a single timeout shouldn't trip the circuit) but low enough to stop hammering a failing API.

Combining with retry logic

Use retry logic inside the circuit breaker. The circuit breaker counts final failures (after retries are exhausted):

def solve_with_retry(sitekey, page_url, max_retries=2):
    for attempt in range(max_retries + 1):
        try:
            return solve_captcha(sitekey, page_url)
        except Exception:
            if attempt == max_retries:
                raise
            time.sleep(2 ** attempt)

# Circuit breaker wraps the retry function
token = breaker.call(solve_with_retry, "6Le-SITEKEY", "https://example.com")

Troubleshooting

Problem	Cause	Fix
Circuit opens too quickly	Threshold too low	Increase `failure_threshold`
Circuit never recovers	`recovery_timeout` too long	Reduce to 30-60 seconds
Race condition in multi-threaded use	No lock on state	Use `threading.Lock` (Python) or atomic operations
All requests blocked during partial outage	Single breaker for all endpoints	Use separate breakers for submit and poll endpoints

FAQ

Should I use separate circuit breakers for submit and poll?

Yes, for large-scale systems. The submit endpoint might fail while polling still works (or vice versa). Separate breakers give you finer-grained control.