# reCAPTCHA image clicking with Selenium

> Use Python, Selenium 4 and ReCaptchaV2Classification to click through reCAPTCHA v2 image challenges in a real browser. Trigger the captcha, read the question and image, call the API, click the tiles and submit; complete example code.

Source: https://docs.yescaptcha.com/en/guides/recaptcha-click-selenium/ · Last verified: 2026-10-15

This guide opens Google’s reCAPTCHA demo page with Selenium 4 and completes the image challenge in a real browser: it reads the question and image, asks [reCAPTCHA v2 image recognition](https://docs.yescaptcha.com/en/tasks/recaptcha-classification/) (`ReCaptchaV2Classification`) which tiles to click, and clicks them. Unlike the token approach, the check is completed in the browser itself, which helps on sites where tokens rarely pass.

Without code, the [browser extension](https://docs.yescaptcha.com/en/extension/) does the same thing using the same API.

## Setup

```bash
pip install requests selenium pillow
export YESCAPTCHA_CLIENT_KEY=your_client_key
```

Chrome must be installed. Selenium 4 downloads a matching chromedriver automatically.

## Steps

1.  **Click the checkbox.** It is inside the iframe titled “reCAPTCHA”; switch into it and click `#recaptcha-anchor`.
2.  **Switch to the challenge iframe.** The challenge is in another iframe whose title contains “challenge”.
3.  **Read the question.** The bold text in `.rc-imageselect-desc-wrapper strong` is the target, for example “traffic lights”. The API needs the question ID, so map the name to an ID (`/m/015qff`) using the table in [Question IDs](https://docs.yescaptcha.com/en/tasks/recaptcha-classification/#question-ids). An English browser UI makes the mapping easiest.
4.  **Get the image.** The tiles are slices of one large image; download the `src` of `td.rc-imageselect-tile img`. Scale 9-tile (3x3) images to 300×300 and 16-tile (4x4) images to 450×450, then Base64-encode.
5.  **Recognize.** Call `createTask` with type `ReCaptchaV2Classification`, `image` and `question`. Adding `"confidence": 0.5` makes 3x3 images return every matching tile at once, so you don’t need to handle the 1x1 tiles that fade in after clicking.
6.  **Click.** `objects` lists tile indexes from 0, left to right and top to bottom; click the matching `td` elements.
7.  **Verify.** Click `#recaptcha-verify-button`. If a new round appears, go back to step 3; when the challenge window closes, you have passed.
8.  **Submit the form** on the main page.

## Complete code

recaptcha_click_selenium.py

```python
"""Click through a reCAPTCHA v2 image challenge with Selenium 4 and ReCaptchaV2Classification.

Flow: open the page -> click the checkbox -> read the target name and the grid image ->
ask YesCaptcha which tiles to click -> click them -> press Verify. Repeat if a new challenge appears.

Run:  pip install requests selenium pillow
      export YESCAPTCHA_CLIENT_KEY=your_client_key
      python recaptcha_click_selenium.py
Each recognized image is charged (see the price list). reCAPTCHA's page structure can change;
adjust the selectors below if a step stops working.
"""
import base64
import io
import os
import time

import requests
from PIL import Image
from selenium import webdriver
from selenium.webdriver.common.by import By
from selenium.webdriver.support import expected_conditions as EC
from selenium.webdriver.support.wait import WebDriverWait

CLIENT_KEY = os.environ["YESCAPTCHA_CLIENT_KEY"]
PAGE_URL = "https://www.google.com/recaptcha/api2/demo"

# Target names shown in the challenge (English UI) -> question IDs.
# Full list: https://docs.yescaptcha.com/en/tasks/recaptcha-classification/
QUESTION_IDS = {
    "taxis": "/m/0pg52", "bus": "/m/01bjv", "buses": "/m/01bjv", "motorcycles": "/m/04_sv",
    "tractors": "/m/013xlm", "chimneys": "/m/01jk_4", "crosswalks": "/m/014xcs",
    "traffic lights": "/m/015qff", "bicycles": "/m/0199g", "parking meters": "/m/015qbp",
    "cars": "/m/0k4j", "bridges": "/m/015kr", "boats": "/m/019jd", "palm trees": "/m/0cdl1",
    "mountains or hills": "/m/09d_r", "fire hydrants": "/m/01pns0", "a fire hydrant": "/m/01pns0",
    "stairs": "/m/01lynh",
}

def classify(image_b64, question):
    task = {"type": "ReCaptchaV2Classification", "image": image_b64, "question": question, "confidence": 0.5}
    data = requests.post(
        "https://api.yescaptcha.com/createTask",
        json={"clientKey": CLIENT_KEY, "task": task},
        timeout=30,
    ).json()
    if data.get("errorId"):
        raise RuntimeError(f"{data.get('errorCode')}: {data.get('errorDescription')}")
    return data["solution"]  # synchronous: the solution comes back right away

def grid_image_b64(url, size):
    """Download the challenge image and scale it to the standard size (300 for 3x3, 450 for 4x4)."""
    img = Image.open(io.BytesIO(requests.get(url, timeout=30).content)).convert("RGB")
    img = img.resize((size, size))
    buf = io.BytesIO()
    img.save(buf, format="JPEG")
    return base64.b64encode(buf.getvalue()).decode()

driver = webdriver.Chrome()
wait = WebDriverWait(driver, 15)
try:
    driver.get(PAGE_URL)

    # 1. Click the checkbox (inside the "reCAPTCHA" iframe)
    wait.until(EC.frame_to_be_available_and_switch_to_it((By.CSS_SELECTOR, 'iframe[title="reCAPTCHA"]')))
    wait.until(EC.element_to_be_clickable((By.ID, "recaptcha-anchor"))).click()
    driver.switch_to.default_content()

    # 2. Switch to the challenge iframe and solve rounds until it closes
    wait.until(EC.frame_to_be_available_and_switch_to_it(
        (By.XPATH, '//iframe[contains(@title, "challenge")]')))
    for _ in range(5):
        target = wait.until(EC.presence_of_element_located(
            (By.CSS_SELECTOR, ".rc-imageselect-desc-wrapper strong"))).text.strip().lower()
        question = QUESTION_IDS.get(target)
        if not question:
            print("unsupported target, reloading:", target)
            driver.find_element(By.ID, "recaptcha-reload-button").click()
            time.sleep(2)
            continue
        tiles = driver.find_elements(By.CSS_SELECTOR, "td.rc-imageselect-tile")
        size = 450 if len(tiles) == 16 else 300
        url = driver.find_element(By.CSS_SELECTOR, "td.rc-imageselect-tile img").get_attribute("src")
        solution = classify(grid_image_b64(url, size), question)
        for index in solution.get("objects", []):
            tiles[index].click()
            time.sleep(0.3)
        time.sleep(1)
        driver.find_element(By.ID, "recaptcha-verify-button").click()
        time.sleep(3)
        driver.switch_to.default_content()
        frame = driver.find_element(By.XPATH, '//iframe[contains(@title, "challenge")]')
        if not frame.is_displayed():  # challenge closed: passed
            break
        driver.switch_to.frame(frame)

    driver.switch_to.default_content()
    driver.find_element(By.ID, "recaptcha-demo-submit").click()
    time.sleep(2)
    print("passed" if "Verification Success" in driver.page_source else "not passed")
finally:
    driver.quit()
```

## Notes

-   reCAPTCHA’s page structure changes over time; adjust the selectors if a step stops working.
-   Every recognized image is charged (prices on [reCAPTCHA v2 image recognition](https://docs.yescaptcha.com/en/tasks/recaptcha-classification/)). Tasks whose clicks were rejected can be [reported](https://docs.yescaptcha.com/en/api/report/) within 1 hour for a refund.
-   If a target isn’t in the mapping table, click the reload button for another challenge, or ask support to add it.