diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 613e45a8..61dd1002 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -135,6 +135,7 @@
     "csurf": "^1.2.2",
     "dataloader": "^2.2.3",
     "express": "^5.2.1",
+    "express-openapi-validator": "^5.3.9",
     "express-session": "^1.19.0",
     "fast-xml-parser": "^5.2.5",
     "fluent-ffmpeg": "^2.1.3",
diff --git a/src/app.controller.ts b/src/app.controller.ts
index 8ed9f082..e28dab99 100644
--- a/src/app.controller.ts
+++ b/src/app.controller.ts
@@ -19,6 +19,10 @@ export class AppController {
     },
   })
   getStatus() {
-    return { message: 'TeachLink API is running', timestamp: new Date().toISOString() };
+    return {
+      success: true,
+      message: 'TeachLink API is running',
+      data: { timestamp: new Date().toISOString() },
+    };
   }
 }
diff --git a/src/main.ts b/src/main.ts
index ad3bdec5..b13d7f0e 100644
--- a/src/main.ts
+++ b/src/main.ts
@@ -9,6 +9,8 @@ import { RedisStore } from 'connect-redis';
 import Redis from 'ioredis';
 
 import { AppModule } from './app.module';
+import * as OpenApiValidator from 'express-openapi-validator';
+import { join } from 'path';
 import './tracing/opentelemetry';
 
 import { CorrelationIdMiddleware } from './middleware/correlation-id';
@@ -311,6 +313,45 @@ async function bootstrapWorker(): Promise<void> {
   // =========================
   app.useGlobalInterceptors(new LocaleInterceptor(), new PaginationInterceptor());
 
+  // =========================
+  // OPENAPI VALIDATION
+  // =========================
+  const apiSpecPath = join(process.cwd(), 'docs/api/openapi-spec.json');
+  app.use(
+    OpenApiValidator.middleware({
+      apiSpec: apiSpecPath,
+      validateRequests: true,
+      validateResponses: process.env.NODE_ENV !== 'production',
+      ignorePaths: /.*\/api\/docs.*/, // ignore swagger docs
+    }),
+  );
+
+  app.use((err: any, req: Request, res: Response, next: NextFunction) => {
+    if (err.status === 400 && err.errors) {
+      return res.status(400).json({
+        success: false,
+        message: 'Validation failed',
+        errors: err.errors.map((e: any) => ({
+          field: e.path,
+          message: e.message,
+        })),
+      });
+    }
+    if (
+      err.status === 500 &&
+      err.errors &&
+      typeof err.message === 'string' &&
+      err.message.toLowerCase().includes('response')
+    ) {
+      logger.warn(`Response validation deviation: ${JSON.stringify(err.errors)}`);
+      return res.status(500).json({
+        success: false,
+        message: 'Internal server error',
+      });
+    }
+    next(err);
+  });
+
   // =========================
   // SWAGGER
   // =========================
diff --git a/src/workers/base/base.worker.ts b/src/workers/base/base.worker.ts
index e4f58cec..70f16101 100644
--- a/src/workers/base/base.worker.ts
+++ b/src/workers/base/base.worker.ts
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-import { Logger, Inject } from '@nestjs/common';
+import { Logger } from '@nestjs/common';
 import { Job } from 'bull';
 import Redis from 'ioredis';
 import { getSharedRedisClient } from '../../config/cache.config';
diff --git a/src/workers/orchestration/worker-orchestration.service.ts b/src/workers/orchestration/worker-orchestration.service.ts
index 91275f5d..59eb3c13 100644
--- a/src/workers/orchestration/worker-orchestration.service.ts
+++ b/src/workers/orchestration/worker-orchestration.service.ts
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-import { Injectable, Logger, OnModuleInit, OnModuleDestroy, Inject } from '@nestjs/common';
+import { Injectable, Logger, OnModuleInit, OnModuleDestroy } from '@nestjs/common';
 import { EventEmitter2 } from '@nestjs/event-emitter';
 import { Job } from 'bull';
 import { BaseWorker } from '../base/base.worker';