diff --git a/server/app.js b/server/app.js
index dbc77ab..2d3299a 100644
--- a/server/app.js
+++ b/server/app.js
@@ -1,23 +1,47 @@
 import express from 'express';
 import cors from "cors";
-import cookieParser from "cookie-parser";
+import rateLimit from "express-rate-limit";
 import errorHandler from "./middlewares/errorHandler.js";
 import authRoutes from "./modules/auth/routes.js";
 import userRoutes from "./modules/user/routes.js";
 import codeforcesRoutes from "./modules/codeforces/routes.js";
 import aiRoutes from "./modules/ai/routes.js";
 import githubRoutes from "./modules/github/routes.js";
-import { globalLimiter, apiLimiter } from "./middlewares/rateLimiter.js";
 
 const app = express();
 
+// Security Headers Middleware
+app.use((req, res, next) => {
+  res.setHeader("X-Content-Type-Options", "nosniff");
+  res.setHeader("X-Frame-Options", "DENY");
+  res.setHeader("X-XSS-Protection", "1; mode=block");
+  res.setHeader("Referrer-Policy", "strict-origin-when-cross-origin");
+  res.setHeader("Content-Security-Policy", "default-src 'self'; script-src 'self' 'unsafe-inline'; style-src 'self' 'unsafe-inline';");
+  res.removeHeader("X-Powered-By");
+  next();
+});
+
+// Rate Limiting configuration
+const apiLimiter = rateLimit({
+  windowMs: 15 * 60 * 1000, // 15 minutes
+  max: 200, // Limit each IP to 200 requests per window
+  message: {
+    success: false,
+    message: "Too many requests from this IP, please try again after 15 minutes"
+  },
+  standardHeaders: true,
+  legacyHeaders: false,
+});
+
+app.use("/api", apiLimiter);
+
 const allowedOrigins = [
   process.env.CLIENT_URL,
   process.env.CLIENT_URI,
-  ...(process.env.NODE_ENV !== "production" ? ["http://localhost:5173"] : [])
+  "http://localhost:5173"
 ].filter(Boolean);
 
-const corsOptions = {
+const corsOptions ={
   origin: function (origin, callback) {
     if (!origin || allowedOrigins.includes(origin)) {
       callback(null, true);
@@ -26,38 +50,31 @@ const corsOptions = {
     }
   },
   methods: ["GET", "POST", "PUT", "DELETE", "PATCH", "OPTIONS"],
-  credentials: true,             // Required for cookies to be sent cross-origin
+  credentials: true,
   allowedHeaders: ["Content-Type", "Authorization"]
-};
+}
 
 app.use(cors(corsOptions));
-app.use(express.json());
 
-// Apply global rate limiter to all requests
-app.use(globalLimiter);
-
-// ── Cookie Parser ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
-// Must come BEFORE routes so req.cookies is populated
-app.use(cookieParser());
+app.use(express.json());
 
 app.get('/api/health', (req, res) => {
   res.status(200).json({ status: 'ok', message: 'CodeLens API is running' });
 });
 
-// ── Routes ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
-app.use("/api", apiLimiter); // Apply API limiter to all /api routes
-app.use("/api/auth",       authRoutes);
-app.use("/api/user",       userRoutes);
+// Mount routes
+app.use("/api/auth", authRoutes);
+app.use("/api/user", userRoutes);
 app.use("/api/codeforces", codeforcesRoutes);
-app.use("/api/ai",         aiRoutes);
-app.use("/api/github",     githubRoutes);
+app.use("/api/ai", aiRoutes);
+app.use("/api/github", githubRoutes);
 
-// ── 404 catch-all ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
+// 404 catch-all route
 app.use((req, res) => {
   res.status(404).json({ success: false, message: "Route not found" });
 });
 
-// ── Global error handler ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────
+// Global error handler middleware
 app.use(errorHandler);
 
 export default app;