diff --git a/api/api.go b/api/api.go
index 8dcefa24..66a1db09 100644
--- a/api/api.go
+++ b/api/api.go
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ package api
 
 import (
 	"errors"
+	"strings"
 
 	config "github.com/go-skynet/LocalAI/api/config"
 	"github.com/go-skynet/LocalAI/api/localai"
@@ -89,6 +90,32 @@ func App(opts ...options.AppOption) (*fiber.App, error) {
 	// Default middleware config
 	app.Use(recover.New())
 
+	// Auth middleware checking if API key is valid. If no API key is set, no auth is required.
+	auth := func(c *fiber.Ctx) error {
+		if len(options.ApiKeys) > 0 {
+			authHeader := c.Get("Authorization")
+			if authHeader == "" {
+				return c.Status(fiber.StatusUnauthorized).JSON(fiber.Map{"message": "Authorization header missing"})
+			}
+			authHeaderParts := strings.Split(authHeader, " ")
+			if len(authHeaderParts) != 2 || authHeaderParts[0] != "Bearer" {
+				return c.Status(fiber.StatusUnauthorized).JSON(fiber.Map{"message": "Invalid Authorization header format"})
+			}
+
+			apiKey := authHeaderParts[1]
+			validApiKey := false
+			for _, key := range options.ApiKeys {
+				if apiKey == key {
+					validApiKey = true
+				}
+			}
+			if !validApiKey {
+				return c.Status(fiber.StatusUnauthorized).JSON(fiber.Map{"message": "Invalid API key"})
+			}
+		}
+		return c.Next()
+	}
+
 	if options.PreloadJSONModels != "" {
 		if err := localai.ApplyGalleryFromString(options.Loader.ModelPath, options.PreloadJSONModels, cm, options.Galleries); err != nil {
 			return nil, err
@@ -116,42 +143,42 @@ func App(opts ...options.AppOption) (*fiber.App, error) {
 	galleryService := localai.NewGalleryService(options.Loader.ModelPath)
 	galleryService.Start(options.Context, cm)
 
-	app.Get("/version", func(c *fiber.Ctx) error {
+	app.Get("/version", auth, func(c *fiber.Ctx) error {
 		return c.JSON(struct {
 			Version string `json:"version"`
 		}{Version: internal.PrintableVersion()})
 	})
 
-	app.Post("/models/apply", localai.ApplyModelGalleryEndpoint(options.Loader.ModelPath, cm, galleryService.C, options.Galleries))
-	app.Get("/models/available", localai.ListModelFromGalleryEndpoint(options.Galleries, options.Loader.ModelPath))
-	app.Get("/models/jobs/:uuid", localai.GetOpStatusEndpoint(galleryService))
+	app.Post("/models/apply", auth, localai.ApplyModelGalleryEndpoint(options.Loader.ModelPath, cm, galleryService.C, options.Galleries))
+	app.Get("/models/available", auth, localai.ListModelFromGalleryEndpoint(options.Galleries, options.Loader.ModelPath))
+	app.Get("/models/jobs/:uuid", auth, localai.GetOpStatusEndpoint(galleryService))
 
 	// openAI compatible API endpoint
 
 	// chat
-	app.Post("/v1/chat/completions", openai.ChatEndpoint(cm, options))
-	app.Post("/chat/completions", openai.ChatEndpoint(cm, options))
+	app.Post("/v1/chat/completions", auth, openai.ChatEndpoint(cm, options))
+	app.Post("/chat/completions", auth, openai.ChatEndpoint(cm, options))
 
 	// edit
-	app.Post("/v1/edits", openai.EditEndpoint(cm, options))
-	app.Post("/edits", openai.EditEndpoint(cm, options))
+	app.Post("/v1/edits", auth, openai.EditEndpoint(cm, options))
+	app.Post("/edits", auth, openai.EditEndpoint(cm, options))
 
 	// completion
-	app.Post("/v1/completions", openai.CompletionEndpoint(cm, options))
-	app.Post("/completions", openai.CompletionEndpoint(cm, options))
-	app.Post("/v1/engines/:model/completions", openai.CompletionEndpoint(cm, options))
+	app.Post("/v1/completions", auth, openai.CompletionEndpoint(cm, options))
+	app.Post("/completions", auth, openai.CompletionEndpoint(cm, options))
+	app.Post("/v1/engines/:model/completions", auth, openai.CompletionEndpoint(cm, options))
 
 	// embeddings
-	app.Post("/v1/embeddings", openai.EmbeddingsEndpoint(cm, options))
-	app.Post("/embeddings", openai.EmbeddingsEndpoint(cm, options))
-	app.Post("/v1/engines/:model/embeddings", openai.EmbeddingsEndpoint(cm, options))
+	app.Post("/v1/embeddings", auth, openai.EmbeddingsEndpoint(cm, options))
+	app.Post("/embeddings", auth, openai.EmbeddingsEndpoint(cm, options))
+	app.Post("/v1/engines/:model/embeddings", auth, openai.EmbeddingsEndpoint(cm, options))
 
 	// audio
-	app.Post("/v1/audio/transcriptions", openai.TranscriptEndpoint(cm, options))
-	app.Post("/tts", localai.TTSEndpoint(cm, options))
+	app.Post("/v1/audio/transcriptions", auth, openai.TranscriptEndpoint(cm, options))
+	app.Post("/tts", auth, localai.TTSEndpoint(cm, options))
 
 	// images
-	app.Post("/v1/images/generations", openai.ImageEndpoint(cm, options))
+	app.Post("/v1/images/generations", auth, openai.ImageEndpoint(cm, options))
 
 	if options.ImageDir != "" {
 		app.Static("/generated-images", options.ImageDir)
@@ -170,8 +197,8 @@ func App(opts ...options.AppOption) (*fiber.App, error) {
 	app.Get("/readyz", ok)
 
 	// models
-	app.Get("/v1/models", openai.ListModelsEndpoint(options.Loader, cm))
-	app.Get("/models", openai.ListModelsEndpoint(options.Loader, cm))
+	app.Get("/v1/models", auth, openai.ListModelsEndpoint(options.Loader, cm))
+	app.Get("/models", auth, openai.ListModelsEndpoint(options.Loader, cm))
 
 	// turn off any process that was started by GRPC if the context is canceled
 	go func() {
diff --git a/api/options/options.go b/api/options/options.go
index b3269470..ada95d3f 100644
--- a/api/options/options.go
+++ b/api/options/options.go
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@ type Option struct {
 	PreloadJSONModels                   string
 	PreloadModelsFromPath               string
 	CORSAllowOrigins                    string
+	ApiKeys                             []string
 
 	Galleries []gallery.Gallery
 
@@ -184,3 +185,9 @@ func WithImageDir(imageDir string) AppOption {
 		o.ImageDir = imageDir
 	}
 }
+
+func WithApiKeys(apiKeys []string) AppOption {
+	return func(o *Option) {
+		o.ApiKeys = apiKeys
+	}
+}
diff --git a/main.go b/main.go
index 2cb86271..4f4b824c 100644
--- a/main.go
+++ b/main.go
@@ -130,6 +130,11 @@ func main() {
 				EnvVars: []string{"UPLOAD_LIMIT"},
 				Value:   15,
 			},
+			&cli.StringSliceFlag{
+				Name:    "api-keys",
+				Usage:   "List of API Keys to enable API authentication. When this is set, all the requests must be authenticated with one of these API keys.",
+				EnvVars: []string{"API_KEY"},
+			},
 		},
 		Description: `
 LocalAI is a drop-in replacement OpenAI API which runs inference locally.
@@ -167,6 +172,7 @@ For a list of compatible model, check out: https://localai.io/model-compatibilit
 				options.WithBackendAssets(backendAssets),
 				options.WithBackendAssetsOutput(ctx.String("backend-assets-path")),
 				options.WithUploadLimitMB(ctx.Int("upload-limit")),
+				options.WithApiKeys(ctx.StringSlice("api-keys")),
 			}
 
 			externalgRPC := ctx.StringSlice("external-grpc-backends")