diff --git a/memgpt/server/rest_api/app.py b/memgpt/server/rest_api/app.py
index ed48232b8b..f53ad27abe 100644
--- a/memgpt/server/rest_api/app.py
+++ b/memgpt/server/rest_api/app.py
@@ -6,7 +6,8 @@
 
 import typer
 import uvicorn
-from fastapi import FastAPI
+from fastapi import FastAPI, Request
+from fastapi.responses import JSONResponse
 from starlette.middleware.cors import CORSMiddleware
 
 from memgpt.server.constants import REST_DEFAULT_PORT
@@ -38,8 +39,6 @@
 # TODO(ethan)
 # NOTE(charles): @ethan I had to add this to get the global as the bottom to work
 interface: StreamingServerInterface = StreamingServerInterface
-# global server
-# server: SyncServer = None
 server = SyncServer(default_interface_factory=lambda: interface())
 
 # TODO(ethan): eventuall remove
@@ -77,6 +76,21 @@ def create_application() -> "FastAPI":
         allow_headers=["*"],
     )
 
+    @app.middleware("http")
+    async def set_current_user_middleware(request: Request, call_next):
+        user_id = request.headers.get("user_id")
+        if user_id:
+            try:
+                server.set_current_user(user_id)
+            except ValueError as e:
+                # Return an HTTP 401 Unauthorized response
+                # raise HTTPException(status_code=401, detail=str(e))
+                return JSONResponse(status_code=401, content={"detail": str(e)})
+        else:
+            server.set_current_user(None)
+        response = await call_next(request)
+        return response
+
     for route in v1_routes:
         app.include_router(route, prefix=API_PREFIX)
         # this gives undocumented routes for "latest" and bare api calls.
diff --git a/memgpt/server/server.py b/memgpt/server/server.py
index 4eb80d8893..834117d046 100644
--- a/memgpt/server/server.py
+++ b/memgpt/server/server.py
@@ -1771,6 +1771,20 @@ def retry_agent_message(self, agent_id: str) -> List[Message]:
         memgpt_agent = self._get_or_load_agent(agent_id=agent_id)
         return memgpt_agent.retry_message()
 
+    def set_current_user(self, user_id: Optional[str]):
+        """Very hacky way to set the current user for the server, to be replaced once server becomes stateless
+
+        NOTE: clearly not thread-safe, only exists to provide basic user_id support for REST API for now
+        """
+
+        # Make sure the user_id actually exists
+        if user_id is not None:
+            user_obj = self.get_user(user_id)
+            if not user_obj:
+                raise ValueError(f"User with id {user_id} not found")
+
+        self._current_user = user_id
+
     # TODO(ethan) wire back to real method in future ORM PR
     def get_current_user(self) -> User:
         """Returns the currently authed user.
@@ -1778,6 +1792,15 @@ def get_current_user(self) -> User:
         Since server is the core gateway this needs to pass through server as the
         first touchpoint.
         """
+
+        # Check if _current_user is set and if it's non-null:
+        if hasattr(self, "_current_user") and self._current_user is not None:
+            current_user = self.get_user(self._current_user)
+            if not current_user:
+                warnings.warn(f"Provided user '{self._current_user}' not found, using default user")
+            else:
+                return current_user
+
         # NOTE: same code as local client to get the default user
         config = MemGPTConfig.load()
         user_id = config.anon_clientid