GateCHA CAPTCHA

FAQ

What is GateCHA?

GateCHA is a self-hosted CAPTCHA management service that wraps the ALTCHA proof-of-work protocol. It provides API key management, multi-site support, and an analytics dashboard. See the GateCHA website for more information.

How does proof-of-work CAPTCHA work?

Instead of asking users to solve image puzzles, the browser solves a small computational challenge in the background. This is invisible to legitimate users but expensive for bots trying to submit forms at scale.

Is my API key secure?

The API key is used in the browser to fetch challenges, similar to how reCAPTCHA and hCaptcha use site keys. You can restrict your API key to specific domains in your GateCHA dashboard for additional security.

Does this plugin send data to external services?

Only to the GateCHA server you configure: your own instance, or GateCHA Cloud if you choose it. Nothing is sent to Google, Cloudflare or any other third party. See the External Services section below.

What is GateCHA Cloud?

An optional paid service for businesses (companies, freelancers, agencies) that runs the GateCHA server for you, hosted in France, with a free 30-day trial and no card needed. The plugin offers it on Settings → GateCHA only while no server is configured, next to the free self-hosted option, and contacts it only when you click Use GateCHA Cloud. Nothing in the plugin is locked behind it: a self-hosted GateCHA gives you every feature.

What are interaction signals?

Proof-of-work proves a browser did the work. It does not prove a human filled the form in, and a headless browser solving the challenge passes it exactly like a visitor does. Interaction signals describe how the form was filled: how long the page was open, whether the pointer moved and how far, how many scrolls, touches and keystrokes there were, and how irregular the typing rhythm was. Your GateCHA instance turns those eight numbers into a score between 0 and 1, where higher means more likely automated.

Only aggregates leave the browser. Never what was typed, never where the pointer was, never an IP address. Turn it on under Settings → GateCHA → Interaction Signals.

Does enabling interaction signals block anyone?

Not by itself. Collection only records scores, which you can watch on your GateCHA dashboard under HIS Monitor. Rejecting flagged submissions is a second, separate setting.

Turn that second one on only once you have watched your own traffic, because a false positive is invisible: the visitor cannot submit and will not tell you. To see the scores in your own logs first, hook the gatecha_his_result action:

add_action( 'gatecha_his_result', function ( $score, $suspected ) { error_log( "GateCHA HIS $score" ); }, 10, 2 );

What happens when my GateCHA server is down?

It depends on Settings → GateCHA → Failure Mode.

• Fail closed (the default): protected forms cannot be sent until the server is back. Safer against spam, but visitors are blocked during the outage.
• Fail open: forms keep working. If the visitor’s browser cannot reach GateCHA (server down or not answering for 15 seconds, or API key disabled), the CAPTCHA is replaced by a short note and the form can be sent. Before accepting it, your WordPress server checks GateCHA itself; a submission without a solved CAPTCHA is only accepted when GateCHA really is unavailable, so a bot that skips the CAPTCHA while your server is up is still refused.

Either way, an administrator notice reports the outage in wp-admin.

Can I see my CAPTCHA statistics in WordPress?

Yes, with GateCHA 0.12.0 or later. On your GateCHA dashboard, open the key this site uses and click Generate next to Stats token, then paste the token (it starts with gs_) in Settings → GateCHA → Stats Token. A GateCHA CAPTCHA widget then appears on the WordPress dashboard with today’s verified and failed submissions, the last 30 days and the top countries, and the full view sits at the top of the settings page.

The token is read-only and only opens this key’s statistics. It never leaves your WordPress server: the numbers are fetched server-side and kept for 10 minutes. Leave the field empty and no statistics request is made.

Can I use this with a custom form?

Yes, use the [gatecha] shortcode to place the widget anywhere. Then verify the altcha POST field server-side.

How do I bypass the CAPTCHA for automated testing (e.g. Playwright)?

Define a bypass token in your wp-config.php:

define( 'GATECHA_BYPASS_TOKEN', 'your-secret-test-token' );

Then in your tests, set the altcha hidden input to this token before submitting the form:

document.querySelector('input[name="altcha"]').value = 'your-secret-test-token';

The plugin will accept the token as a valid verification without contacting the GateCHA server. Never define this constant in production.