diff --git a/envconfig/config.go b/envconfig/config.go
index b82b773d..74d4102d 100644
--- a/envconfig/config.go
+++ b/envconfig/config.go
@@ -57,6 +57,24 @@ func Host() *url.URL {
 	}
 }
 
+func BasicAuth() (basicAuth map[string]string) {
+	basicAuthString := Var("OLLAMA_BASIC_AUTH")
+	parts := strings.Split(basicAuthString, ":")
+
+	if len(parts) < 2 || parts[0] == "" || parts[1] == "" {
+		// Return a default value if the split result is not as expected
+		basicAuth = map[string]string{
+			"username": "password",
+		}
+	} else {
+		basicAuth = map[string]string{
+			parts[0]: parts[1],
+		}
+	}
+
+	return basicAuth
+}
+
 // Origins returns a list of allowed origins. Origins can be configured via the OLLAMA_ORIGINS environment variable.
 func Origins() (origins []string) {
 	if s := Var("OLLAMA_ORIGINS"); s != "" {
@@ -258,6 +276,7 @@ func AsMap() map[string]EnvVar {
 		"OLLAMA_RUNNERS_DIR":       {"OLLAMA_RUNNERS_DIR", RunnersDir(), "Location for runners"},
 		"OLLAMA_SCHED_SPREAD":      {"OLLAMA_SCHED_SPREAD", SchedSpread(), "Always schedule model across all GPUs"},
 		"OLLAMA_TMPDIR":            {"OLLAMA_TMPDIR", TmpDir(), "Location for temporary files"},
+		"OLLAMA_BASIC_AUTH":        {"OLLAMA_BASIC_AUTH", BasicAuth(), "Basic auth (default username:password, will allow all request if empty)"},
 	}
 	if runtime.GOOS != "darwin" {
 		ret["CUDA_VISIBLE_DEVICES"] = EnvVar{"CUDA_VISIBLE_DEVICES", CudaVisibleDevices(), "Set which NVIDIA devices are visible"}
diff --git a/envconfig/config_test.go b/envconfig/config_test.go
index 92a500f1..2a610e78 100644
--- a/envconfig/config_test.go
+++ b/envconfig/config_test.go
@@ -233,3 +233,29 @@ func TestVar(t *testing.T) {
 		})
 	}
 }
+
+func TestBasicAuth(t *testing.T) {
+	cases := map[string]struct {
+		value          string
+		expectUser     string
+		expectPassword string
+	}{
+		"empty":           {"", "username", "password"},
+		"valid":           {"user1:password1", "user1", "password1"},
+		"missingPassword": {"user2:", "username", "password"},
+		"missingUser":     {":password2", "username", "password"},
+		"noColon":         {"user3password3", "username", "password"},
+	}
+
+	for name, tt := range cases {
+		t.Run(name, func(t *testing.T) {
+			t.Setenv("OLLAMA_BASIC_AUTH", tt.value)
+			basicAuth := BasicAuth()
+
+			password, exists := basicAuth[tt.expectUser]
+			if !exists || password != tt.expectPassword {
+				t.Errorf("%s: expected map[%s:%s], got %v", name, tt.expectUser, tt.expectPassword, basicAuth)
+			}
+		})
+	}
+}
diff --git a/server/routes.go b/server/routes.go
index b9c66b65..9fe5c30b 100644
--- a/server/routes.go
+++ b/server/routes.go
@@ -1064,6 +1064,14 @@ func (s *Server) GenerateRoutes() http.Handler {
 		allowedHostsMiddleware(s.addr),
 	)
 
+	auth := envconfig.BasicAuth()
+	// Check if the auth map contains the default credentials
+	isDefaultAuth := len(auth) == 1 && auth["username"] == "password"
+
+	if !isDefaultAuth {
+		r.Use(gin.BasicAuth(auth))
+	}
+
 	r.POST("/api/pull", s.PullModelHandler)
 	r.POST("/api/generate", s.GenerateHandler)
 	r.POST("/api/chat", s.ChatHandler)
diff --git a/server/routes_test.go b/server/routes_test.go
index ef7248ef..e33002a5 100644
--- a/server/routes_test.go
+++ b/server/routes_test.go
@@ -342,6 +342,31 @@ func Test_Routes(t *testing.T) {
 				}
 			},
 		},
+		{
+			Name:   "Authenticated Route Success",
+			Method: http.MethodGet,
+			Path:   "/api/protected", // replace with your protected route
+			Setup: func(t *testing.T, req *http.Request) {
+				req.SetBasicAuth("username", "password")
+			},
+			Expected: func(t *testing.T, resp *http.Response) {
+				assert.Equal(t, http.StatusOK, resp.StatusCode) // replace with your expected status code
+				_, err := io.ReadAll(resp.Body)
+				require.NoError(t, err)
+				// Add more assertions based on the expected response body
+			},
+		},
+		{
+			Name:   "Authenticated Route Failure",
+			Method: http.MethodGet,
+			Path:   "/api/protected", // replace with your protected route
+			Setup: func(t *testing.T, req *http.Request) {
+				req.SetBasicAuth("wronguser", "wrongpass")
+			},
+			Expected: func(t *testing.T, resp *http.Response) {
+				assert.Equal(t, http.StatusUnauthorized, resp.StatusCode)
+			},
+		},
 	}
 
 	t.Setenv("OLLAMA_MODELS", t.TempDir())