diff --git a/api/zhttp_request.api b/api/zhttp_request.api
index a70c7eb84..9bc39eff1 100644
--- a/api/zhttp_request.api
+++ b/api/zhttp_request.api
@@ -112,6 +112,16 @@
         Set the content to NULL
     </method>
 
+    <method name = "set username">
+        Set the request username
+        <argument name = "username" type = "string" />
+    </method>
+
+    <method name = "set password">
+        Set the request password
+        <argument name = "password" type = "string" />
+    </method>
+
     <method name = "match">
         Match the path of the request.
         Support wildcards with '%s' symbol inside the match string.
diff --git a/include/zhttp_request.h b/include/zhttp_request.h
index e76803677..8affd216a 100644
--- a/include/zhttp_request.h
+++ b/include/zhttp_request.h
@@ -124,6 +124,16 @@ CZMQ_EXPORT void
 CZMQ_EXPORT void
     zhttp_request_reset_content (zhttp_request_t *self);
 
+//  *** Draft method, for development use, may change without warning ***
+//  Set the request username
+CZMQ_EXPORT void
+    zhttp_request_set_username (zhttp_request_t *self, const char *username);
+
+//  *** Draft method, for development use, may change without warning ***
+//  Set the request password
+CZMQ_EXPORT void
+    zhttp_request_set_password (zhttp_request_t *self, const char *password);
+
 //  *** Draft method, for development use, may change without warning ***
 //  Match the path of the request.
 //  Support wildcards with '%s' symbol inside the match string.
diff --git a/src/zhttp_client.c b/src/zhttp_client.c
index 0164e8989..add0553f1 100644
--- a/src/zhttp_client.c
+++ b/src/zhttp_client.c
@@ -183,10 +183,12 @@ static void zhttp_client_actor (zsock_t *pipe, void *args) {
                 char *url;
                 zhash_t *headers;
                 byte free_content;
-                char* content;
+                char *content;
+                char *username;
+                char *password;
 
-                int rc = zsock_brecv (pipe, "4ppSp1p", &timeout, &arg, &arg2,
-                        &url, &headers, &free_content, &content);
+                int rc = zsock_brecv (pipe, "4ppSp1pss", &timeout, &arg, &arg2,
+                        &url, &headers, &free_content, &content, &username, &password);
                 assert (rc == 0);
 
                 struct curl_slist *curl_headers = zhash_to_slist (headers);
@@ -216,6 +218,12 @@ static void zhttp_client_actor (zsock_t *pipe, void *args) {
                 curl_easy_setopt (curl, CURLOPT_HEADERDATA, request);
                 curl_easy_setopt (curl, CURLOPT_PRIVATE, request);
 
+                if (*username)
+                    curl_easy_setopt (curl, CURLOPT_USERNAME, username);
+
+                if (*password)
+                    curl_easy_setopt (curl, CURLOPT_PASSWORD, password);
+
                 if (streq (command, "POST") || streq (command, "PUT") ||
                       streq (command, "PATCH")) {
                     curl_easy_setopt (curl, CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS, content);
diff --git a/src/zhttp_request.c b/src/zhttp_request.c
index e511c674b..2cac96319 100644
--- a/src/zhttp_request.c
+++ b/src/zhttp_request.c
@@ -26,8 +26,10 @@ struct _zhttp_request_t {
     char *url;
     char method[256];
     zhash_t *headers;
-    char* content;
+    char *content;
     bool free_content;
+    char *username;
+    char *password;
 };
 
 
@@ -46,6 +48,8 @@ zhttp_request_new (void)
     strcpy (self->method, "GET");
     self->content = NULL;
     self->free_content = false;
+    self->username = NULL;
+    self->password = NULL;
 
     return self;
 }
@@ -70,6 +74,9 @@ zhttp_request_destroy (zhttp_request_t **self_p)
         self->content = NULL;
         self->free_content = false;
 
+        zstr_free (&self->username);
+        zstr_free (&self->password);
+
         //  Free object itself
         free (self);
         *self_p = NULL;
@@ -118,8 +125,9 @@ zhttp_request_send (zhttp_request_t *self, zhttp_client_t *client, int timeout,
     if (rc == -1)
         return -1;
 
-    zsock_bsend (client, "4ppSp1p", timeout, arg, arg2, self->url,
-            self->headers, self->free_content ? (byte)1 : (byte)0, self->content);
+    zsock_bsend (client, "4ppSp1pss", timeout, arg, arg2, self->url,
+            self->headers, self->free_content ? (byte)1 : (byte)0, self->content,
+            self->username, self->password);
 
     self->headers = zhash_new ();
     zhash_autofree (self->headers);
@@ -256,6 +264,23 @@ zhttp_request_reset_content (zhttp_request_t *self) {
     self->content = NULL;
 }
 
+
+void
+zhttp_request_set_username (zhttp_request_t *self, const char *username) {
+    assert (self);
+    zstr_free (&self->username);
+    self->username = strdup (username);
+}
+
+
+void
+zhttp_request_set_password (zhttp_request_t *self, const char *password) {
+    assert (self);
+    zstr_free (&self->password);
+    self->password = strdup (password);
+}
+
+
 bool
 zhttp_request_match (zhttp_request_t *self, const char *method, const char *match, ...) {
     if (strneq (method, self->method))
@@ -387,4 +412,4 @@ zhttp_request_test (bool verbose) {
     zhttp_request_destroy (&request);
 
     printf ("OK\n");
-}
\ No newline at end of file
+}