How to Generate reCAPTCHA Keys

This guide will walk you through the process of creating reCAPTCHA keys for your Static Forms account. You'll need both a Site Key (for your website) and a Secret Key (for your Static Forms account).

Why You Need reCAPTCHA

reCAPTCHA helps protect your forms from spam and abuse by verifying that submissions are coming from real humans, not bots. This is essential for:

Preventing spam submissions to your email
Protecting your forms from automated attacks
Ensuring the quality of the data you receive
Maintaining the security of your website

Static Forms requires reCAPTCHA integration to ensure all form submissions are legitimate.

Step 1: Access the reCAPTCHA Admin Console

Go to the Google reCAPTCHA Admin Console
Sign in with your Google account. If you don't have one, you'll need to create one.

Note: The reCAPTCHA Admin Console is part of Google's services, so you'll need a Google account to access it.

Step 2: Register a New Site

Once logged in, click the + Add button to register a new site.
Enter a Label for your site (e.g., "My Website Forms")
This is for your reference only and helps you identify this reCAPTCHA configuration later.
Select reCAPTCHA v2 as the type
Specifically, choose "I'm not a robot" Checkbox for the best compatibility with Static Forms.
Add your Domains where the reCAPTCHA will be used
Enter all domains where your forms will be embedded, one per line (e.g., example.com, www.example.com)
For testing locally, you can add "localhost" as a domain.
Accept the Terms of Service and click Submit

Step 3: Get Your reCAPTCHA Keys

After registering your site, you'll be provided with two important keys:

Site Key

This key is used in your HTML form and is visible to users. It looks something like:

6LdQxxxcAAAAABxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The Site Key is used to display the reCAPTCHA widget on your website.

Secret Key

This key must be kept confidential and is used for communication between your server and Google. It looks something like:

6LdQxxxcAAAAAJxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Important: This is the key you'll need to enter in your Static Forms account registration.

Step 4: Add the Secret Key to Your Static Forms Account

During registration on Static Forms, you'll be asked for your reCAPTCHA Secret Key.
Enter the Secret Key you obtained from the reCAPTCHA Admin Console.
Complete your registration to create your Static Forms account.

Go to Registration

Step 5: Implement reCAPTCHA on Your Website

To add reCAPTCHA to your form, you'll need to include the following elements in your HTML:

<form action="https://api.staticforms.xyz/submit" method="POST">
  <input type="hidden" name="apiKey" value="your-api-key" />
  
  <!-- Your form fields -->
  <input type="text" name="name" placeholder="Name" required />
  <input type="email" name="email" placeholder="Email" required />
  <textarea name="message" placeholder="Message" required></textarea>
  
  <!-- reCAPTCHA widget -->
  <div class="g-recaptcha" data-sitekey="YOUR_SITE_KEY"></div>
  
  <button type="submit">Send</button>
  
  <!-- Include reCAPTCHA JavaScript -->
  <script src="https://www.google.com/recaptcha/api.js" async defer></script>
</form>

Replace "YOUR_SITE_KEY" with the Site Key you obtained from the reCAPTCHA Admin Console.

Troubleshooting

reCAPTCHA Not Displaying

If the reCAPTCHA widget isn't appearing on your form:

Verify that you've included the correct Site Key
Check that you've added the reCAPTCHA JavaScript
Ensure your domain is listed in the reCAPTCHA Admin Console

Form Submissions Failing

If your form submissions are being rejected:

Confirm you've entered the correct Secret Key in your Static Forms account
Verify that your form is correctly sending the reCAPTCHA response token
Check that your domain is properly configured in the reCAPTCHA settings

Need More Help?

If you're still having trouble setting up reCAPTCHA, you can:

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