OpenTelemetry Tracing for CAPTCHA Solving Pipelines

OpenTelemetry (OTel) gives you vendor-neutral distributed tracing. Instrument your CAPTCHA solving pipeline once, export traces to Jaeger, Zipkin, Datadog, or any OTel-compatible backend. See exactly where time is spent — API submission, polling, network latency.

Trace Structure

[Scrape Page]
  └── [Solve CAPTCHA]                    ← Parent span
        ├── [Submit Task]                ← HTTP POST to in.php
        ├── [Poll Result]               ← Repeated GET to res.php
        │     ├── [Poll Attempt 1]       ← CAPCHA_NOT_READY
        │     ├── [Poll Attempt 2]       ← CAPCHA_NOT_READY
        │     └── [Poll Attempt 3]       ← OK (solution)
        └── [Apply Token]               ← Inject into form

Python — OpenTelemetry Instrumentation

Setup

pip install opentelemetry-api opentelemetry-sdk \
    opentelemetry-exporter-otlp \
    opentelemetry-instrumentation-requests

Implementation

import os
import time
import requests
from opentelemetry import trace
from opentelemetry.sdk.trace import TracerProvider
from opentelemetry.sdk.trace.export import BatchSpanProcessor
from opentelemetry.exporter.otlp.proto.grpc.trace_exporter import (
    OTLPSpanExporter,
)
from opentelemetry.sdk.resources import Resource
from opentelemetry.instrumentation.requests import RequestsInstrumentor
from opentelemetry.trace import StatusCode

# Configure provider
resource = Resource.create({"service.name": "captcha-pipeline"})
provider = TracerProvider(resource=resource)

# Export to OTel Collector (or Jaeger/Zipkin directly)
exporter = OTLPSpanExporter(
    endpoint=os.environ.get("OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_ENDPOINT",
                            "http://localhost:4317")
)
provider.add_span_processor(BatchSpanProcessor(exporter))
trace.set_tracer_provider(provider)

# Auto-instrument requests library
RequestsInstrumentor().instrument()

tracer = trace.get_tracer("captchaai.solver")
API_KEY = os.environ["CAPTCHAAI_API_KEY"]
session = requests.Session()


def solve_captcha(sitekey, pageurl, captcha_type="recaptcha_v2"):
    """Solve a CAPTCHA with full OpenTelemetry tracing."""
    with tracer.start_as_current_span(
        "captcha.solve",
        attributes={
            "captcha.type": captcha_type,
            "captcha.target_url": pageurl,
        }
    ) as solve_span:

        # Submit phase
        with tracer.start_as_current_span("captcha.submit") as submit_span:
            resp = session.post("https://ocr.captchaai.com/in.php", data={
                "key": API_KEY,
                "method": "userrecaptcha",
                "googlekey": sitekey,
                "pageurl": pageurl,
                "json": 1
            })
            data = resp.json()
            submit_span.set_attribute("http.status_code", resp.status_code)

            if data.get("status") != 1:
                error = data.get("request", "UNKNOWN")
                submit_span.set_status(StatusCode.ERROR, error)
                submit_span.set_attribute("captcha.error", error)
                solve_span.set_status(StatusCode.ERROR, error)
                return {"error": error}

            captcha_id = data["request"]
            submit_span.set_attribute("captcha.id", captcha_id)
            solve_span.set_attribute("captcha.id", captcha_id)

        # Poll phase
        with tracer.start_as_current_span("captcha.poll") as poll_span:
            poll_count = 0
            poll_start = time.time()

            for _ in range(60):
                time.sleep(5)
                poll_count += 1

                with tracer.start_as_current_span(
                    f"captcha.poll.attempt",
                    attributes={"captcha.poll.number": poll_count}
                ) as attempt_span:
                    result = session.get(
                        "https://ocr.captchaai.com/res.php",
                        params={
                            "key": API_KEY,
                            "action": "get",
                            "id": captcha_id,
                            "json": 1
                        }
                    ).json()

                    if result.get("status") == 1:
                        attempt_span.set_attribute("captcha.poll.ready", True)
                        elapsed = time.time() - poll_start
                        poll_span.set_attribute("captcha.poll.count", poll_count)
                        poll_span.set_attribute(
                            "captcha.poll.duration_s", round(elapsed, 2)
                        )
                        solve_span.set_attribute(
                            "captcha.solve_time_s", round(elapsed, 2)
                        )
                        solve_span.set_status(StatusCode.OK)
                        return {
                            "solution": result["request"],
                            "elapsed": elapsed,
                            "polls": poll_count
                        }

                    if result.get("request") != "CAPCHA_NOT_READY":
                        error = result.get("request", "UNKNOWN")
                        attempt_span.set_status(StatusCode.ERROR, error)
                        poll_span.set_status(StatusCode.ERROR, error)
                        solve_span.set_status(StatusCode.ERROR, error)
                        return {"error": error}

                    attempt_span.set_attribute("captcha.poll.ready", False)

            poll_span.set_attribute("captcha.poll.count", poll_count)
            poll_span.set_status(StatusCode.ERROR, "TIMEOUT")
            solve_span.set_status(StatusCode.ERROR, "TIMEOUT")
            return {"error": "TIMEOUT"}

JavaScript — OpenTelemetry Instrumentation

Setup

npm install @opentelemetry/api @opentelemetry/sdk-node \
    @opentelemetry/sdk-trace-node \
    @opentelemetry/exporter-trace-otlp-grpc \
    @opentelemetry/instrumentation-http

Implementation

const { NodeSDK } = require("@opentelemetry/sdk-node");
const { OTLPTraceExporter } = require("@opentelemetry/exporter-trace-otlp-grpc");
const { HttpInstrumentation } = require("@opentelemetry/instrumentation-http");
const { trace, SpanStatusCode } = require("@opentelemetry/api");
const axios = require("axios");

// Initialize SDK
const sdk = new NodeSDK({
  serviceName: "captcha-pipeline",
  traceExporter: new OTLPTraceExporter({
    url: process.env.OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_ENDPOINT || "http://localhost:4317",
  }),
  instrumentations: [new HttpInstrumentation()],
});
sdk.start();

const tracer = trace.getTracer("captchaai.solver");
const API_KEY = process.env.CAPTCHAAI_API_KEY;

async function solveCaptchaWithTracing(sitekey, pageurl, captchaType = "recaptcha_v2") {
  return tracer.startActiveSpan("captcha.solve", {
    attributes: { "captcha.type": captchaType, "captcha.target_url": pageurl },
  }, async (solveSpan) => {
    try {
      // Submit
      const captchaId = await tracer.startActiveSpan(
        "captcha.submit",
        async (submitSpan) => {
          try {
            const resp = await axios.post("https://ocr.captchaai.com/in.php", null, {
              params: {
                key: API_KEY, method: "userrecaptcha",
                googlekey: sitekey, pageurl, json: 1,
              },
            });

            if (resp.data.status !== 1) {
              submitSpan.setStatus({ code: SpanStatusCode.ERROR, message: resp.data.request });
              throw new Error(resp.data.request);
            }

            submitSpan.setAttribute("captcha.id", resp.data.request);
            return resp.data.request;
          } finally {
            submitSpan.end();
          }
        }
      );

      solveSpan.setAttribute("captcha.id", captchaId);

      // Poll
      return await tracer.startActiveSpan("captcha.poll", async (pollSpan) => {
        try {
          let pollCount = 0;
          const pollStart = Date.now();

          for (let i = 0; i < 60; i++) {
            await new Promise((r) => setTimeout(r, 5000));
            pollCount++;

            const result = await tracer.startActiveSpan(
              "captcha.poll.attempt",
              { attributes: { "captcha.poll.number": pollCount } },
              async (attemptSpan) => {
                try {
                  const resp = await axios.get("https://ocr.captchaai.com/res.php", {
                    params: { key: API_KEY, action: "get", id: captchaId, json: 1 },
                  });
                  attemptSpan.setAttribute("captcha.poll.ready", resp.data.status === 1);
                  return resp.data;
                } finally {
                  attemptSpan.end();
                }
              }
            );

            if (result.status === 1) {
              const elapsed = (Date.now() - pollStart) / 1000;
              pollSpan.setAttribute("captcha.poll.count", pollCount);
              solveSpan.setAttribute("captcha.solve_time_s", elapsed);
              solveSpan.setStatus({ code: SpanStatusCode.OK });
              return { solution: result.request, elapsed, polls: pollCount };
            }

            if (result.request !== "CAPCHA_NOT_READY") {
              throw new Error(result.request);
            }
          }
          throw new Error("TIMEOUT");
        } catch (err) {
          pollSpan.setStatus({ code: SpanStatusCode.ERROR, message: err.message });
          throw err;
        } finally {
          pollSpan.end();
        }
      });
    } catch (err) {
      solveSpan.setStatus({ code: SpanStatusCode.ERROR, message: err.message });
      return { error: err.message };
    } finally {
      solveSpan.end();
    }
  });
}

module.exports = { solveCaptchaWithTracing };

OTel Collector Configuration

# otel-collector-config.yaml
receivers:
  otlp:
    protocols:
      grpc:
        endpoint: 0.0.0.0:4317

processors:
  batch:
    timeout: 5s

exporters:
  jaeger:
    endpoint: jaeger:14250
    tls:
      insecure: true
  # Or export to Datadog, New Relic, etc.

service:
  pipelines:
    traces:
      receivers: [otlp]
      processors: [batch]
      exporters: [jaeger]

What You'll See in Traces

Troubleshooting

FAQ

OpenTelemetry vs vendor-specific agents?

OTel is vendor-neutral — instrument once, export anywhere. Use OTel if you might switch observability platforms, or if you use multiple backends (Jaeger for traces, Prometheus for metrics).

Does tracing add overhead?

Minimal. OTel uses asynchronous batch export and sampling. A sampled trace adds microseconds per span. For CAPTCHA solving (5–120 seconds per task), it's unmeasurable.

Should I trace every CAPTCHA solve?

In development, yes. In production, use sampling (e.g., 10% of traces) to reduce storage costs while keeping statistical visibility. Always trace errors at 100%.

Next Steps

Get distributed traces for your CAPTCHA pipeline — start with a CaptchaAI API key and add OpenTelemetry instrumentation.

Related guides:

• Datadog Monitoring
• New Relic APM
• Prometheus and Grafana