diff --git a/examples/server/server.cpp b/examples/server/server.cpp
index 2cc8025fe..4286682d4 100644
--- a/examples/server/server.cpp
+++ b/examples/server/server.cpp
@@ -2282,6 +2282,7 @@ struct server_context {
             {"size",        llama_model_size    (model)},
         };
     }
+
 };
 
 static void server_print_usage(const char * argv0, const gpt_params & params, const server_params & sparams) {
@@ -3114,37 +3115,13 @@ int main(int argc, char ** argv) {
         return false;
     };
 
-    // register server middlewares
-    svr->set_pre_routing_handler([&middleware_validate_api_key](const httplib::Request & req, httplib::Response & res) {
-        if (!middleware_validate_api_key(req, res)) {
-            return httplib::Server::HandlerResponse::Handled;
-        }
-        return httplib::Server::HandlerResponse::Unhandled;
-    });
-
     auto middleware_model_loading = [&sparams, &res_error](const httplib::Request & req, httplib::Response & res, server_state current_state) {
-        static const std::set<std::string> invalid_endpoints = {
-            "/slots",
-            "/metrics",
-            "/props",
-            "/v1/models",
-            "/completion",
-            "/completions",
-            "/v1/completions",
-            "/chat/completions",
-            "/v1/chat/completions",
-            "/infill",
-            "/tokenize",
-            "/detokenize",
-            "/embedding",
-            "/embeddings",
-            "/v1/embeddings",
-        };
 
-        // If path is not in invalid_endpoints list, skip validation
-        if (invalid_endpoints.find(req.path) == invalid_endpoints.end()) {
+        // If path is not an health check skip validation
+        if (req.path == "/health" || req.path == "/v1/health") {
             return true;
         }
+
         switch (current_state) {
             case SERVER_STATE_LOADING_MODEL:
                 {
@@ -3160,9 +3137,10 @@ int main(int argc, char ** argv) {
         return true;
     };
 
-    svr->set_pre_routing_handler([&state, &middleware_model_loading](const httplib::Request & req, httplib::Response & res) {
+    // register server middlewares
+    svr->set_pre_routing_handler([&middleware_validate_api_key, &state, &middleware_model_loading](const httplib::Request & req, httplib::Response & res) {
         server_state current_state = state.load();
-        if (!middleware_model_loading(req, res, current_state)) {
+        if (!middleware_model_loading(req, res, current_state) || !middleware_validate_api_key(req, res)) {
             return httplib::Server::HandlerResponse::Handled;
         }
         return httplib::Server::HandlerResponse::Unhandled;
@@ -3705,7 +3683,7 @@ int main(int argc, char ** argv) {
         return res.set_content(root.dump(), "application/json; charset=utf-8");
     };
     
-    const auto handle_models = [&](const httplib::Request & req, httplib::Response & res) {
+    const auto handle_models = [&params, &ctx_server](const httplib::Request & req, httplib::Response & res) {
         res.set_header("Access-Control-Allow-Origin", req.get_header_value("Origin"));
 
         json model_meta = ctx_server.model_meta();
@@ -3728,6 +3706,7 @@ int main(int argc, char ** argv) {
 
     // register API routes
     svr->Get ("/health",              handle_health);
+    svr->Get ("/v1/health",           handle_health);
     svr->Get ("/slots",               handle_slots);
     svr->Get ("/metrics",             handle_metrics);
     svr->Get ("/props",               handle_props);
@@ -3756,11 +3735,6 @@ int main(int argc, char ** argv) {
         };
     };
 
-    //
-    // Router
-    //
-
-    // register static assets routes
     if (!sparams.public_path.empty()) {
         // Set the base directory for serving static files
         svr->set_base_dir(sparams.public_path);
@@ -3794,12 +3768,7 @@ int main(int argc, char ** argv) {
 
         return 0;
     });
-
-    if (state.load() == SERVER_STATE_ERROR) {
-        // HTTP Server could not bind the port
-        return 1;
-    }
-    
+   
     // load the model
     if (!ctx_server.load_model(params)) {
         state.store(SERVER_STATE_ERROR);
@@ -3811,8 +3780,6 @@ int main(int argc, char ** argv) {
 
     LOG_INFO("model loaded", {});
 
-    const auto model_meta = ctx_server.model_meta();
-
     // if a custom chat template is not supplied, we will use the one that comes with the model (if any)
     if (sparams.chat_template.empty()) {
         if (!ctx_server.validate_model_chat_template()) {