diff --git a/src/main/java/stirling/software/SPDF/config/security/UserService.java b/src/main/java/stirling/software/SPDF/config/security/UserService.java
index 46c5aeff..5708a5fd 100644
--- a/src/main/java/stirling/software/SPDF/config/security/UserService.java
+++ b/src/main/java/stirling/software/SPDF/config/security/UserService.java
@@ -16,11 +16,12 @@ import org.springframework.security.core.userdetails.UsernameNotFoundException;
 import org.springframework.security.crypto.password.PasswordEncoder;
 import org.springframework.stereotype.Service;
 
+import stirling.software.SPDF.controller.api.pipeline.UserServiceInterface;
 import stirling.software.SPDF.model.Authority;
 import stirling.software.SPDF.model.User;
 import stirling.software.SPDF.repository.UserRepository;
 @Service
-public class UserService {
+public class UserService  implements UserServiceInterface{
     
     @Autowired
     private UserRepository userRepository;
diff --git a/src/main/java/stirling/software/SPDF/controller/api/pipeline/PipelineController.java b/src/main/java/stirling/software/SPDF/controller/api/pipeline/PipelineController.java
index 71df9f62..25fa811f 100644
--- a/src/main/java/stirling/software/SPDF/controller/api/pipeline/PipelineController.java
+++ b/src/main/java/stirling/software/SPDF/controller/api/pipeline/PipelineController.java
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@ import java.util.zip.ZipOutputStream;
 import org.slf4j.Logger;
 import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;
 import org.springframework.beans.factory.annotation.Autowired;
+import org.springframework.boot.autoconfigure.condition.ConditionalOnExpression;
 import org.springframework.core.io.ByteArrayResource;
 import org.springframework.core.io.Resource;
 import org.springframework.http.HttpEntity;
@@ -51,6 +52,7 @@ import io.swagger.v3.oas.annotations.tags.Tag;
 import stirling.software.SPDF.model.ApplicationProperties;
 import stirling.software.SPDF.model.PipelineConfig;
 import stirling.software.SPDF.model.PipelineOperation;
+import stirling.software.SPDF.model.Role;
 import stirling.software.SPDF.model.api.HandleDataRequest;
 import stirling.software.SPDF.utils.WebResponseUtils;
 
@@ -98,7 +100,13 @@ public class PipelineController {
 	@Autowired
 	ApplicationProperties applicationProperties;
 	
+	@Autowired
+	private UserServiceInterface userService;
 
+	private String getApiKeyForUser() {
+		return userService.getApiKeyForUser(Role.INTERNAL_API_USER.getRoleId());
+	}
+	
 	private void handleDirectory(Path dir) throws Exception {
 		logger.info("Handling directory: {}", dir);
 		Path jsonFile = dir.resolve(jsonFileName);
@@ -292,6 +300,10 @@ public class PipelineController {
 					}
 
 					HttpHeaders headers = new HttpHeaders();
+					
+					String apiKey = getApiKeyForUser();
+					headers.add("X-API-Key", apiKey);
+					
 					headers.setContentType(MediaType.MULTIPART_FORM_DATA);
 
 					HttpEntity<MultiValueMap<String, Object>> entity = new HttpEntity<>(body, headers);
diff --git a/src/main/java/stirling/software/SPDF/controller/api/pipeline/UserServiceInterface.java b/src/main/java/stirling/software/SPDF/controller/api/pipeline/UserServiceInterface.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..1e66aa08
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/main/java/stirling/software/SPDF/controller/api/pipeline/UserServiceInterface.java
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+package stirling.software.SPDF.controller.api.pipeline;
+public interface UserServiceInterface {
+    // Define methods that you need
+    String getApiKeyForUser(String username);
+}
diff --git a/src/main/java/stirling/software/SPDF/controller/api/pipeline/UserServiceNoOpImpl.java b/src/main/java/stirling/software/SPDF/controller/api/pipeline/UserServiceNoOpImpl.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..82900b6c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/main/java/stirling/software/SPDF/controller/api/pipeline/UserServiceNoOpImpl.java
@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+package stirling.software.SPDF.controller.api.pipeline;
+
+import org.springframework.boot.autoconfigure.condition.ConditionalOnProperty;
+import org.springframework.context.annotation.Profile;
+import org.springframework.stereotype.Service;
+
+@Service
+@ConditionalOnProperty(name = "DOCKER_ENABLE_SECURITY", havingValue = "false")
+public class UserServiceNoOpImpl implements UserServiceInterface {
+    // Implement the methods with no-op
+    @Override
+    public String getApiKeyForUser(String username) {
+        // No-op implementation
+        return "";
+    }
+}