FlareSolverr — Cloudflare Bypass Proxy for Scraping Tools

Introduction

FlareSolverr is a proxy server that starts a headless browser to solve Cloudflare and similar anti-bot challenges. It integrates with tools like Prowlarr, Jackett, and custom scrapers by providing a simple REST API that returns the HTML content and cookies after the challenge is solved.

What FlareSolverr Does

• Solves Cloudflare JavaScript challenges and CAPTCHAs automatically
• Handles DDoS-GUARD and similar browser-verification protections
• Exposes a REST API for requesting challenge-solved page content
• Returns cookies and user-agent strings for reuse in subsequent requests
• Runs as a Docker container or standalone service with minimal configuration

Architecture Overview

FlareSolverr runs a headless Chromium browser via Selenium or Playwright behind a lightweight HTTP server. When a request arrives, it navigates the browser to the target URL, waits for any challenge to resolve, then returns the final page source, cookies, and headers. Sessions can be persisted to reuse browser contexts across multiple requests, reducing solve times.

Self-Hosting & Configuration

• Deploy via Docker with a single container image from GitHub Container Registry
• Set the LOG_LEVEL environment variable to control verbosity (info, debug, warn)
• Configure CAPTCHA_SOLVER to use external CAPTCHA-solving services if needed
• Adjust BROWSER_TIMEOUT and TZ environment variables for your use case
• Integrate with Prowlarr or Jackett by setting the FlareSolverr URL in their indexer settings

Key Features

• Drop-in integration with popular *arr stack indexers and download managers
• Session management for reusing browser instances across requests
• Proxy support for routing browser traffic through upstream proxies
• Cross-platform Docker image with ARM64 and AMD64 builds
• Minimal resource footprint when idle with on-demand browser spawning

Comparison with Similar Tools

• Cloudflare Workers — a Cloudflare product, not a bypass tool; different purpose entirely
• Puppeteer/Playwright — general browser automation; FlareSolverr wraps these with a challenge-solving API
• ScrapeOps — commercial proxy rotation service; FlareSolverr is self-hosted and free
• Bright Data — enterprise web scraping infrastructure; FlareSolverr is a lightweight open-source alternative
• Selenium Grid — general browser grid; FlareSolverr is purpose-built for challenge solving

FAQ

Q: Does FlareSolverr solve all types of Cloudflare challenges? A: It handles most JavaScript challenges. Managed challenges and interactive CAPTCHAs may require an external solver.

Q: How much RAM does FlareSolverr need? A: Approximately 200-500 MB per active browser session. Idle usage is minimal.

Q: Can I run multiple concurrent sessions? A: Yes. Each session spawns its own browser context. Adjust container resources based on concurrency needs.

Q: Is FlareSolverr legal to use? A: It is a tool; legality depends on your use case and the terms of service of the sites you access.

Sources

• https://github.com/FlareSolverr/FlareSolverr
• https://github.com/FlareSolverr/FlareSolverr/wiki