diff --git a/ui/apiserver/apiserver.go b/ui/apiserver/apiserver.go
index aa78196..9c0fec0 100644
--- a/ui/apiserver/apiserver.go
+++ b/ui/apiserver/apiserver.go
@@ -25,10 +25,11 @@ const (
 	redisQueueArchive  = "archived"
 )
 
-const PreCheckEndpointURL = "https://merlinite-7b-vllm-openai.apps.fmaas-backend.fmaas.res.ibm.com/v1"
+const PreCheckEndpointURL = "http://cmb-staging.asgharlabs.io:8505/v1"
 const InstructLabBotUrl = "http://bot:8081"
 
 type ApiServer struct {
+	apiKey              string
 	router              *gin.Engine
 	logger              *zap.SugaredLogger
 	redis               *redis.Client
@@ -342,6 +343,9 @@ func (api *ApiServer) runIlabChatCommand(question, context string) (string, erro
 			return "failed to retrieve the model name", err
 		}
 		commandStr += fmt.Sprintf(" --endpoint-url %s --model %s", api.preCheckEndpointURL, modelName)
+		if api.apiKey != "" {
+			commandStr += fmt.Sprintf(" --api-key %s", api.apiKey)
+		}
 		cmdArgs := strings.Fields(commandStr)
 		cmd = exec.Command("ilab", cmdArgs...)
 		api.logger.Infof("Running in production mode with model name %s: %s", modelName, commandStr)
@@ -457,6 +461,7 @@ func main() {
 	testMode := pflag.Bool("test-mode", false, "Don't run ilab commands, just echo back the ilab command to the chat response")
 	listenAddress := pflag.String("listen-address", "localhost:3000", "Address to listen on")
 	redisAddress := pflag.String("redis-server", "localhost:6379", "Redis server address")
+	apiKey := pflag.String("api-key", "", "API key for the given `precheck-endpoint`")
 	apiUser := pflag.String("api-user", "", "API username")
 	apiPass := pflag.String("api-pass", "", "API password")
 	preCheckEndpointURL := pflag.String("precheck-endpoint", PreCheckEndpointURL, "Precheck endpoint URL")
@@ -476,6 +481,7 @@ func main() {
 
 	router := gin.Default()
 	svr := ApiServer{
+		apiKey:              *apiKey,
 		router:              router,
 		logger:              logger,
 		redis:               rdb,
diff --git a/worker/cmd/generate.go b/worker/cmd/generate.go
index 4fcc650..45f08a2 100644
--- a/worker/cmd/generate.go
+++ b/worker/cmd/generate.go
@@ -46,6 +46,7 @@ var (
 	TlsClientCertPath   string
 	TlsClientKeyPath    string
 	TlsServerCaCertPath string
+	APIKey              string
 	TlsInsecure         bool
 	MaxSeed             int
 	TaxonomyFolders     = []string{"compositional_skills", "knowledge"}
@@ -79,6 +80,7 @@ type Worker struct {
 	logger              *zap.SugaredLogger
 	job                 string
 	precheckEndpoint    string
+	apiKey              string
 	sdgEndpoint         string
 	jobStart            time.Time
 	tlsClientCertPath   string
@@ -88,7 +90,7 @@ type Worker struct {
 	cmdRun              string
 }
 
-func NewJobProcessor(ctx context.Context, pool *redis.Pool, svc *s3.Client, logger *zap.SugaredLogger, job, precheckEndpoint, sdgEndpoint, tlsClientCertPath, tlsClientKeyPath, tlsServerCaCertPath string, maxSeed int) *Worker {
+func NewJobProcessor(ctx context.Context, pool *redis.Pool, svc *s3.Client, logger *zap.SugaredLogger, job, precheckEndpoint, apiKey, sdgEndpoint, tlsClientCertPath, tlsClientKeyPath, tlsServerCaCertPath string, maxSeed int) *Worker {
 	return &Worker{
 		ctx:                 ctx,
 		pool:                pool,
@@ -96,6 +98,7 @@ func NewJobProcessor(ctx context.Context, pool *redis.Pool, svc *s3.Client, logg
 		logger:              logger,
 		job:                 job,
 		precheckEndpoint:    precheckEndpoint,
+		apiKey:              apiKey,
 		sdgEndpoint:         sdgEndpoint,
 		jobStart:            time.Now(),
 		tlsClientCertPath:   tlsClientCertPath,
@@ -115,6 +118,7 @@ func init() {
 	generateCmd.Flags().StringVarP(&WorkDir, "work-dir", "w", "", "Directory to work in")
 	generateCmd.Flags().StringVarP(&VenvDir, "venv-dir", "v", "", "The virtual environment directory")
 	generateCmd.Flags().StringVarP(&PreCheckEndpointURL, "precheck-endpoint-url", "e", "", "Endpoint hosting the model API. Default, it assumes the model is served locally.")
+	generateCmd.Flags().StringVarP(&APIKey, "api-key", "", "", "The APIKey for the precheck-endpoint-url.")
 	generateCmd.Flags().StringVarP(&SdgEndpointURL, "sdg-endpoint-url", "", "http://localhost:8000/v1", "Endpoint hosting the model API. Default, it assumes the model is served locally.")
 	generateCmd.Flags().IntVarP(&NumInstructions, "num-instructions", "n", 10, "The number of instructions to generate")
 	generateCmd.Flags().StringVarP(&GitRemote, "git-remote", "", "https://github.com/instructlab/taxonomy", "The git remote for the taxonomy repo")
@@ -201,6 +205,7 @@ var generateCmd = &cobra.Command{
 					}
 					NewJobProcessor(ctx, pool, svc, sugar, job,
 						PreCheckEndpointURL,
+						APIKey,
 						SdgEndpointURL,
 						TlsClientCertPath,
 						TlsClientKeyPath,
@@ -432,6 +437,10 @@ func (w *Worker) runPrecheck(lab, outputDir, modelName string) error {
 			if PreCheckEndpointURL != localEndpoint && modelName != "unknown" {
 				commandStr += fmt.Sprintf(" --endpoint-url %s --model %s", PreCheckEndpointURL, modelName)
 			}
+			if APIKey != "" {
+				commandStr += fmt.Sprintf(" --api-key %s", APIKey)
+			}
+
 			cmdArgs := strings.Fields(commandStr)
 			cmd := exec.Command(lab, cmdArgs...)
 			// Register the command for reporting/logging
diff --git a/worker/cmd/generate_test.go b/worker/cmd/generate_test.go
index 6102c18..46118d9 100644
--- a/worker/cmd/generate_test.go
+++ b/worker/cmd/generate_test.go
@@ -153,6 +153,7 @@ func TestFetchModelName(t *testing.T) {
 		zap.NewExample().Sugar(),
 		"job-id",
 		mockServer.URL,
+		"api-key",
 		"http://sdg-example.com",
 		"dummy-client-cert-path.pem",
 		"dummy-client-key-path.pem",
@@ -214,6 +215,7 @@ func TestFetchModelNameWithInvalidObject(t *testing.T) {
 		zap.NewExample().Sugar(),
 		"job-id",
 		mockServer.URL,
+		"api-key",
 		"http://sdg-example.com",
 		"dummy-client-cert-path.pem",
 		"dummy-client-key-path.pem",