synapse/docs/CAPTCHA_SETUP.md

Overview

A captcha can be enabled on your homeserver to help prevent bots from registering accounts. Synapse currently uses Google's reCAPTCHA service which requires API keys from Google.

Getting API keys

1. Create a new site at https://www.google.com/recaptcha/admin/create
2. Set the label to anything you want
3. Set the type to reCAPTCHA v2 using the "I'm not a robot" Checkbox option. This is the only type of captcha that works with Synapse.
4. Add the public hostname for your server, as set in public_baseurl in homeserver.yaml, to the list of authorized domains. If you have not set public_baseurl, use server_name.
5. Agree to the terms of service and submit.

6. Copy your site key and secret key and add them to your homeserver.yaml configuration file

   recaptcha_public_key: YOUR_SITE_KEY
   recaptcha_private_key: YOUR_SECRET_KEY
   

7. Enable the CAPTCHA for new registrations

   enable_registration_captcha: true
   

8. Go to the settings page for the CAPTCHA you just created

9. Uncheck the "Verify the origin of reCAPTCHA solutions" checkbox so that the captcha can be displayed in any client. If you do not disable this option then you must specify the domains of every client that is allowed to display the CAPTCHA.

Configuring IP used for auth

The reCAPTCHA API requires that the IP address of the user who solved the CAPTCHA is sent. If the client is connecting through a proxy or load balancer, it may be required to use the X-Forwarded-For (XFF) header instead of the origin IP address. This can be configured using the x_forwarded directive in the listeners section of the homeserver.yaml configuration file.