diff --git a/docs/containers.md b/docs/containers.md
index 303c966..b15a862 100644
--- a/docs/containers.md
+++ b/docs/containers.md
@@ -129,3 +129,24 @@ make to the application.
 
 Alternatively, if you use the hosted versions you can request an API key that allows for higher rate limits
 by sponsoring this project! (if you self-host you can generate your own keys too!).
+
+# Disabling the client validation
+If you run the container and navigate to it in your browser
+you might come across the following message:
+```json
+{"message":"The X-Super-Client and X-Super-Contact headers are required"}
+```
+
+This is because by default the API will validate all requests send `X-Super-Client` and `X-Super-Contact`
+headers along. You can disable this behaviour by setting the following flag:
+```json
+{
+  "Helldivers": {
+    "API": {
+      "ValidateClients": false
+    }
+  }
+}
+```
+Or through environment flags with `-e Helldivers__API__ValidateClients`
+
diff --git a/src/Helldivers-2-API/Configuration/ApiConfiguration.cs b/src/Helldivers-2-API/Configuration/ApiConfiguration.cs
index 1dadb48..69a338f 100644
--- a/src/Helldivers-2-API/Configuration/ApiConfiguration.cs
+++ b/src/Helldivers-2-API/Configuration/ApiConfiguration.cs
@@ -20,6 +20,11 @@ public sealed class ApiConfiguration
     /// </summary>
     public string Blacklist { get; set; } = string.Empty;
 
+    /// <summary>
+    /// Whether X-Super-Client and X-Super-Contact headers are validated.
+    /// </summary>
+    public bool ValidateClients { get; set; } = true;
+
     /// <summary>
     /// Contains the <see cref="AuthenticationConfiguration" /> for the API.
     /// </summary>
diff --git a/src/Helldivers-2-API/Middlewares/RateLimitMiddleware.cs b/src/Helldivers-2-API/Middlewares/RateLimitMiddleware.cs
index 6c2db5c..7e4f820 100644
--- a/src/Helldivers-2-API/Middlewares/RateLimitMiddleware.cs
+++ b/src/Helldivers-2-API/Middlewares/RateLimitMiddleware.cs
@@ -2,8 +2,11 @@
 using Helldivers.API.Extensions;
 using Microsoft.Extensions.Caching.Memory;
 using Microsoft.Extensions.Options;
+using Microsoft.Net.Http.Headers;
 using System.Net;
 using System.Security.Claims;
+using System.Text;
+using System.Text.Json;
 using System.Threading.RateLimiting;
 
 namespace Helldivers.API.Middlewares;
@@ -26,6 +29,12 @@ IMemoryCache cache
     /// <inheritdoc />
     public async Task InvokeAsync(HttpContext context, RequestDelegate next)
     {
+        if (IsValidRequest(context) is false)
+        {
+            await RejectRequest(context);
+            return;
+        }
+        
         var limiter = GetRateLimiter(context);
         using var lease = await limiter.AcquireAsync(permitCount: 1, context.RequestAborted);
         if (limiter.GetStatistics() is { } statistics)
@@ -45,6 +54,18 @@ public async Task InvokeAsync(HttpContext context, RequestDelegate next)
         await next(context);
     }
 
+    /// <summary>
+    /// Checks if the request is "valid" (contains the correct X-Super-* headers).
+    /// </summary>
+    private bool IsValidRequest(HttpContext context)
+    {
+        if (options.Value.ValidateClients is false)
+            return true;
+
+        return context.Request.Headers.ContainsKey(Constants.CLIENT_HEADER_NAME)
+            && context.Request.Headers.ContainsKey(Constants.CONTACT_HEADER_NAME);
+    }
+
     private RateLimiter GetRateLimiter(HttpContext http)
     {
         if (http.User.Identity?.IsAuthenticated ?? false)
@@ -86,4 +107,19 @@ private RateLimiter GetRateLimiterForUser(ClaimsPrincipal user)
             });
         }) ?? throw new InvalidOperationException($"Creating rate limiter failed for {name}");
     }
+
+    private async Task RejectRequest(HttpContext context)
+    {
+        context.Response.StatusCode = StatusCodes.Status400BadRequest;
+        context.Response.Headers.WWWAuthenticate = "X-Super-Client";
+        context.Response.ContentType = "application/json";
+
+        var writer = new Utf8JsonWriter(context.Response.Body);
+        writer.WriteStartObject();
+        writer.WritePropertyName("message");
+        writer.WriteStringValue("The X-Super-Client and X-Super-Contact headers are required");
+        writer.WriteEndObject();
+        
+        await writer.FlushAsync(context.RequestAborted);
+    }
 }
diff --git a/src/Helldivers-2-API/appsettings.Development.json b/src/Helldivers-2-API/appsettings.Development.json
index 3bc86a6..ebc03f0 100644
--- a/src/Helldivers-2-API/appsettings.Development.json
+++ b/src/Helldivers-2-API/appsettings.Development.json
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@
   },
   "Helldivers": {
     "API": {
+      "ValidateClients": false,
       "Authentication": {
         "SigningKey": "I4eGmsXbDXfxlRo5N+w0ToRGN8aWSIaYWbZ2zMFqqnI="
       }