diff --git a/src/app/(public)/links/route.ts b/src/app/(public)/links/route.ts
index 3396a1a..6ab95b0 100644
--- a/src/app/(public)/links/route.ts
+++ b/src/app/(public)/links/route.ts
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ import { checkIfUrlIsValid } from '@/lib/helper';
 import { checkSlugExists, generateRandomSlug } from '@/lib/helper-server';
 import { NEXT_PUBLIC_URL } from '@/lib/env';
 import { linkSchema } from '@/app/schema';
+import type { Link } from '@/app/schema';
 import type { APIResponse } from '@/lib/types/api';
 import type { LinkMeta } from '@/lib/types/meta';
 
@@ -12,7 +13,9 @@ export async function POST(
   request: Request
 ): Promise<NextResponse<APIResponse<LinkMeta>>> {
   try {
-    const body = (await request.json()) as unknown;
+    const body = (await request.json().catch(() => null)) as Link | null;
+
+    if (!body) throw new Error('Invalid request body');
 
     const { url, slug } = linkSchema.parse(body);
 
diff --git a/src/lib/rate-limit.ts b/src/lib/rate-limit.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ab23eab
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/lib/rate-limit.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,49 @@
+import { LRUCache } from 'lru-cache';
+
+type Options = {
+  interval?: number;
+  uniqueTokenPerInterval?: number;
+};
+
+/**
+ * Rate limit helper.
+ *
+ * @param {Options} [options] Options
+ * @param {number} [options.interval=60000] Interval in milliseconds
+ * @param {number} [options.uniqueTokenPerInterval=500] Max unique tokens per interval
+ */
+export function rateLimit({
+  interval = 60 * 1000,
+  uniqueTokenPerInterval = 500
+}: Options = {}): {
+  check: (options: {
+    limit: number;
+    token: string;
+    headers: Headers;
+  }) => Promise<void>;
+} {
+  const tokenCache = new LRUCache({
+    ttl: interval,
+    max: uniqueTokenPerInterval
+  });
+
+  return {
+    check: ({ headers, limit, token }) =>
+      new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
+        const tokenCount = (tokenCache.get(token) as number[]) || [0];
+
+        if (tokenCount[0] === 0) tokenCache.set(token, tokenCount);
+
+        tokenCount[0] += 1;
+
+        const currentUsage = tokenCount[0];
+        const isRateLimited = currentUsage >= limit;
+        const limitRemaining = isRateLimited ? 0 : limit - currentUsage;
+
+        headers.set('X-RateLimit-Limit', limit.toString());
+        headers.set('X-RateLimit-Remaining', limitRemaining.toString());
+
+        return isRateLimited ? reject() : resolve();
+      })
+  };
+}
diff --git a/src/lib/types/api.ts b/src/lib/types/api.ts
index 25ba623..d430ef6 100644
--- a/src/lib/types/api.ts
+++ b/src/lib/types/api.ts
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
 export type APIResponse<T = void> = {
-  data?: T;
   message: string;
+  data?: T;
 };
diff --git a/src/middleware.ts b/src/middleware.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..97adf75
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/middleware.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,34 @@
+import { NextResponse } from 'next/server';
+import { rateLimit } from './lib/rate-limit';
+
+const limiter = rateLimit({
+  interval: 60 * 1000, // 1 minute
+  uniqueTokenPerInterval: 500 // Max 500 users per minute
+});
+
+export async function middleware(request: Request): Promise<NextResponse> {
+  const headers = new Headers(request.headers);
+
+  try {
+    await limiter.check({
+      limit: 10,
+      token: 'CACHE_TOKEN',
+      headers: headers
+    });
+  } catch {
+    return NextResponse.json(
+      { message: 'Too many requests' },
+      { status: 429, headers: headers }
+    );
+  }
+
+  return NextResponse.next({ headers });
+}
+
+type Config = {
+  matcher: string;
+};
+
+export const config: Config = {
+  matcher: '/links'
+};