diff --git a/docs/README.md b/docs/README.md
index 3c47057..24ab827 100644
--- a/docs/README.md
+++ b/docs/README.md
@@ -32,16 +32,39 @@ LOAD httpserver;
 ```
 
 ### 🔌 Usage
-Start the HTTP server providing the `host` and `port` parameters
+Start the HTTP server providing the `host`, `port` and `auth` parameters.<br>
+> If you want no authhentication, just pass an empty string.
+
+#### Basic Auth
 ```sql
-D SELECT httpserve_start('0.0.0.0',9999);
-┌─────────────────────────────────────┐
-│  httpserve_start('0.0.0.0', 9999)   │
-│               varchar               │
-├─────────────────────────────────────┤
-│ HTTP server started on 0.0.0.0:9999 │
-└─────────────────────────────────────┘
+D SELECT httpserve_start('localhost', 9999, 'user:pass');
+
+┌───────────────────────────────────────────────┐
+│ httpserve_start('0.0.0.0', 9999, 'user:pass') │
+│                    varchar                    │
+├───────────────────────────────────────────────┤
+│ HTTP server started on 0.0.0.0:9999           │
+└───────────────────────────────────────────────┘
 ```
+```bash
+curl -X POST -d "SELECT 'hello', version()" "http://user:pass@localhost:9999/"
+```
+
+#### Token Auth
+```sql
+SELECT httpserve_start('localhost', 9999, 'supersecretkey');
+
+┌───────────────────────────────────────────────┐
+│ httpserve_start('0.0.0.0', 9999, 'secretkey') │
+│                    varchar                    │
+├───────────────────────────────────────────────┤
+│ HTTP server started on 0.0.0.0:9999           │
+└───────────────────────────────────────────────┘
+```
+```
+curl -X POST --header "X-API-Key: supersecretkey" -d "SELECT 'hello', version()" "http://localhost:9999/"
+```
+
 
 #### 👉 QUERY UI
 Browse to your endpoint and use the built-in quackplay interface _(experimental)_
diff --git a/src/httpserver_extension.cpp b/src/httpserver_extension.cpp
index 613398f..770bb0b 100644
--- a/src/httpserver_extension.cpp
+++ b/src/httpserver_extension.cpp
@@ -31,6 +31,7 @@ struct HttpServerState {
     std::atomic<bool> is_running;
     DatabaseInstance* db_instance;
     unique_ptr<Allocator> allocator;
+    std::string auth_token;
 
     HttpServerState() : is_running(false), db_instance(nullptr) {}
 };
@@ -129,6 +130,51 @@ static std::string ConvertResultToJSON(MaterializedQueryResult &result, ReqStats
     return json_output;
 }
 
+// New: Base64 decoding function
+std::string base64_decode(const std::string &in) {
+    std::string out;
+    std::vector<int> T(256, -1);
+    for (int i = 0; i < 64; i++)
+        T["ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0123456789+/"[i]] = i;
+
+    int val = 0, valb = -8;
+    for (unsigned char c : in) {
+        if (T[c] == -1) break;
+        val = (val << 6) + T[c];
+        valb += 6;
+        if (valb >= 0) {
+            out.push_back(char((val >> valb) & 0xFF));
+            valb -= 8;
+        }
+    }
+    return out;
+}
+
+// Auth Check
+bool IsAuthenticated(const duckdb_httplib_openssl::Request& req) {
+    if (global_state.auth_token.empty()) {
+        return true; // No authentication required if no token is set
+    }
+
+    // Check for X-API-Key header
+    auto api_key = req.get_header_value("X-API-Key");
+    if (!api_key.empty() && api_key == global_state.auth_token) {
+        return true;
+    }
+
+    // Check for Basic Auth
+    auto auth = req.get_header_value("Authorization");
+    if (!auth.empty() && auth.compare(0, 6, "Basic ") == 0) {
+        std::string decoded_auth = base64_decode(auth.substr(6));
+        if (decoded_auth == global_state.auth_token) {
+            return true;
+        }
+    }
+
+    return false;
+}
+
+
 // Convert the query result to NDJSON (JSONEachRow) format
 static std::string ConvertResultToNDJSON(MaterializedQueryResult &result) {
     std::string ndjson_output;
@@ -208,6 +254,13 @@ static void HandleQuery(const string& query, duckdb_httplib_openssl::Response& r
 void HandleHttpRequest(const duckdb_httplib_openssl::Request& req, duckdb_httplib_openssl::Response& res) {
     std::string query;
 
+    // Check authentication
+    if (!IsAuthenticated(req)) {
+        res.status = 401;
+        res.set_content("Unauthorized", "text/plain");
+        return;
+    }
+
     // CORS allow
     res.set_header("Access-Control-Allow-Origin", "*");
     res.set_header("Access-Control-Allow-Methods", "GET, POST, OPTIONS, PUT");
@@ -295,7 +348,7 @@ void HandleHttpRequest(const duckdb_httplib_openssl::Request& req, duckdb_httpli
     }
 }
 
-void HttpServerStart(DatabaseInstance& db, string_t host, int32_t port) {
+void HttpServerStart(DatabaseInstance& db, string_t host, int32_t port, string_t auth = string_t()) {
     if (global_state.is_running) {
         throw IOException("HTTP server is already running");
     }
@@ -303,6 +356,7 @@ void HttpServerStart(DatabaseInstance& db, string_t host, int32_t port) {
     global_state.db_instance = &db;
     global_state.server = make_uniq<duckdb_httplib_openssl::Server>();
     global_state.is_running = true;
+    global_state.auth_token = auth.GetString();
 
     // CORS Preflight
     global_state.server->Options("/",
@@ -359,17 +413,19 @@ static void HttpServerCleanup() {
 
 static void LoadInternal(DatabaseInstance &instance) {
     auto httpserve_start = ScalarFunction("httpserve_start",
-                                        {LogicalType::VARCHAR, LogicalType::INTEGER},
+                                        {LogicalType::VARCHAR, LogicalType::INTEGER, LogicalType::VARCHAR},
                                         LogicalType::VARCHAR,
                                         [&](DataChunk &args, ExpressionState &state, Vector &result) {
         auto &host_vector = args.data[0];
         auto &port_vector = args.data[1];
+        auto &auth_vector = args.data[2];
 
         UnaryExecutor::Execute<string_t, string_t>(
             host_vector, result, args.size(),
             [&](string_t host) {
                 auto port = ((int32_t*)port_vector.GetData())[0];
-                HttpServerStart(instance, host, port);
+                auto auth = ((string_t*)auth_vector.GetData())[0];
+                HttpServerStart(instance, host, port, auth);
                 return StringVector::AddString(result, "HTTP server started on " + host.GetString() + ":" + std::to_string(port));
             });
     });