cURL + CaptchaAI: CLI CAPTCHA Solving

No SDK needed. Solve CAPTCHAs directly from your terminal with cURL and the CaptchaAI REST API. Perfect for quick testing, CI/CD pipelines, and shell scripts.

Requirements

Basic Commands

Check Balance

curl -s "https://ocr.captchaai.com/res.php?key=YOUR_API_KEY&action=getbalance"

Output: 1.234

Submit reCAPTCHA v2

curl -s "https://ocr.captchaai.com/in.php?key=YOUR_API_KEY&method=userrecaptcha&googlekey=6Le-wvkS...&pageurl=https://example.com"

Output: OK|73548291

Poll for Result

curl -s "https://ocr.captchaai.com/res.php?key=YOUR_API_KEY&action=get&id=73548291"

Output: OK|03AGdBq24PBCbw... or CAPCHA_NOT_READY

Bash Solver Script

Create solve_captcha.sh:

#!/bin/bash
set -euo pipefail

API_KEY="${CAPTCHAAI_API_KEY:?Set CAPTCHAAI_API_KEY environment variable}"
BASE_URL="https://ocr.captchaai.com"

solve_recaptcha() {
    local site_key="$1"
    local page_url="$2"
    local timeout="${3:-300}"

    # Submit
    local response
    response=$(curl -s "${BASE_URL}/in.php?key=${API_KEY}&method=userrecaptcha&googlekey=${site_key}&pageurl=${page_url}")

    if [[ ! "$response" == OK|* ]]; then
        echo "ERROR: Submit failed: $response" >&2
        return 1
    fi

    local task_id="${response#OK|}"
    echo "Submitted task: $task_id" >&2

    # Poll
    local deadline=$((SECONDS + timeout))
    while (( SECONDS < deadline )); do
        sleep 5
        local result
        result=$(curl -s "${BASE_URL}/res.php?key=${API_KEY}&action=get&id=${task_id}")

        if [[ "$result" == "CAPCHA_NOT_READY" ]]; then
            echo "Waiting..." >&2
            continue
        fi

        if [[ "$result" == OK|* ]]; then
            echo "${result#OK|}"
            return 0
        fi

        echo "ERROR: Solve failed: $result" >&2
        return 1
    done

    echo "ERROR: Timeout after ${timeout}s" >&2
    return 1
}

# Usage: ./solve_captcha.sh SITE_KEY PAGE_URL
if [[ $# -ge 2 ]]; then
    solve_recaptcha "$1" "$2"
fi

Make it executable:

chmod +x solve_captcha.sh

Run:

export CAPTCHAAI_API_KEY="your_key_here"
./solve_captcha.sh "6Le-wvkS..." "https://example.com"

Solve Cloudflare Turnstile

curl -s "https://ocr.captchaai.com/in.php?key=${CAPTCHAAI_API_KEY}&method=turnstile&sitekey=0x4AAAAA...&pageurl=https://example.com"

Solve Image CAPTCHA

# Encode image to base64
IMAGE_B64=$(base64 -w 0 captcha.png)

# Submit
curl -s "https://ocr.captchaai.com/in.php?key=${CAPTCHAAI_API_KEY}&method=base64&body=${IMAGE_B64}"

For large images, use POST:

curl -s -X POST "https://ocr.captchaai.com/in.php" \
  -F "key=${CAPTCHAAI_API_KEY}" \
  -F "method=post" \
  -F "file=@captcha.png"

Solve and Use Token in One Pipeline

#!/bin/bash
# Solve CAPTCHA and submit form in one pipeline

API_KEY="${CAPTCHAAI_API_KEY}"
SITE_KEY="6Le-wvkS..."
TARGET_URL="https://example.com/login"

# Solve
TOKEN=$(./solve_captcha.sh "$SITE_KEY" "$TARGET_URL")

if [[ -z "$TOKEN" ]]; then
    echo "Failed to solve CAPTCHA"
    exit 1
fi

# Submit form with token
curl -s -X POST "$TARGET_URL" \
  -d "username=user" \
  -d "password=pass" \
  -d "g-recaptcha-response=${TOKEN}"

Batch Processing

Solve multiple CAPTCHAs from a file:

#!/bin/bash
# Input file: urls.txt (one URL per line)

while IFS= read -r url; do
    echo "Processing: $url"
    TOKEN=$(./solve_captcha.sh "6Le-wvkS..." "$url")
    if [[ -n "$TOKEN" ]]; then
        echo "$url,$TOKEN" >> results.csv
        echo "  Solved ✓"
    else
        echo "  Failed ✗"
    fi
done < urls.txt

PowerShell (Windows)

$ApiKey = $env:CAPTCHAAI_API_KEY
$BaseUrl = "https://ocr.captchaai.com"

# Submit
$response = Invoke-RestMethod "${BaseUrl}/in.php?key=${ApiKey}&method=userrecaptcha&googlekey=6Le-wvkS...&pageurl=https://example.com"

if ($response -match '^OK\|(.+)$') {
    $taskId = $Matches[1]
    Write-Host "Task: $taskId"
} else {
    Write-Error "Submit failed: $response"
    exit 1
}

# Poll
do {
    Start-Sleep -Seconds 5
    $result = Invoke-RestMethod "${BaseUrl}/res.php?key=${ApiKey}&action=get&id=${taskId}"
} while ($result -eq 'CAPCHA_NOT_READY')

if ($result -match '^OK\|(.+)$') {
    $token = $Matches[1]
    Write-Host "Token: $token"
} else {
    Write-Error "Solve failed: $result"
}

Troubleshooting

FAQ

Can I use this in CI/CD pipelines?

Yes. Set CAPTCHAAI_API_KEY as a CI secret, and call the script in your pipeline. Works with GitHub Actions, GitLab CI, Jenkins, etc.

Is cURL slower than using an SDK?

The HTTP overhead is identical. cURL adds no latency compared to Python or Node.js HTTP clients. The CAPTCHA solve time dominates.

How do I handle special characters in URLs?

URL-encode parameters: use --data-urlencode with cURL POST, or curl -G --data-urlencode "pageurl=...".

Related Guides

• Axios + CaptchaAI (No Browser)
• API Key Setup and Authentication
• API Response Formats