---
stage: Create
group: Ecosystem
info: To determine the technical writer assigned to the Stage/Group associated with this page, see https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/engineering/ux/technical-writing/#assignments
---

# reCAPTCHA **(FREE)**

GitLab leverages [Google's reCAPTCHA](https://www.google.com/recaptcha/about/)
to protect against spam and abuse. GitLab displays the CAPTCHA form on the sign-up page
to confirm that a real user, not a bot, is attempting to create an account.

## Configuration

To use reCAPTCHA, first you must create a site and private key.

1. Go to the [Google reCAPTCHA page](https://www.google.com/recaptcha/admin).
1. Fill out the form necessary to obtain reCAPTCHA v2 keys.
1. Log in to your GitLab server, with administrator credentials.
1. Go to Reporting Applications Settings in the Admin Area (`admin/application_settings/reporting`).
1. Fill all reCAPTCHA fields with keys from previous steps.
1. Check the `Enable reCAPTCHA` checkbox.
1. Save the configuration.
1. Change the first line of the `#execute` method in `app/services/spam/spam_verdict_service.rb`
   to `return CONDITONAL_ALLOW` so that the spam check short-circuits and triggers the response to
   return `recaptcha_html`.

NOTE:
Make sure you are viewing an issuable in a project that is public. If you're working with an issue, the issue is public.

## Enabling reCAPTCHA for user logins via passwords

By default, reCAPTCHA is only enabled for user registrations. To enable it for
user logins via passwords, the `X-GitLab-Show-Login-Captcha` HTTP header must
be set. For example, in NGINX, this can be done via the `proxy_set_header`
configuration variable:

```nginx
proxy_set_header X-GitLab-Show-Login-Captcha 1;
```

In Omnibus GitLab, this can be configured via `/etc/gitlab/gitlab.rb`:

```ruby
nginx['proxy_set_headers'] = { 'X-GitLab-Show-Login-Captcha' => '1' }
```