diff --git a/pylons_app/config/middleware.py b/pylons_app/config/middleware.py
--- a/pylons_app/config/middleware.py
+++ b/pylons_app/config/middleware.py
@@ -8,9 +8,9 @@ from pylons import config
 from pylons.middleware import ErrorHandler, StatusCodeRedirect
 from pylons.wsgiapp import PylonsApp
 from routes.middleware import RoutesMiddleware
-
+from paste.auth.basic import AuthBasicHandler
 from pylons_app.config.environment import load_environment
-
+from pylons_app.lib.auth import authfunc 
 
 def make_app(global_conf, full_stack=True, **app_conf):
     """Create a Pylons WSGI application and return it
@@ -43,7 +43,8 @@ def make_app(global_conf, full_stack=Tru
     app = RoutesMiddleware(app, config['routes.map'])
     app = SessionMiddleware(app, config)
     app = CacheMiddleware(app, config)
-
+    app = AuthBasicHandler(app, config['repos_name'] + ' mercurial repository', authfunc)
+    
     if asbool(full_stack):
         # Handle Python exceptions
         app = ErrorHandler(app, global_conf, **config['pylons.errorware'])
@@ -55,7 +56,7 @@ def make_app(global_conf, full_stack=Tru
             app = StatusCodeRedirect(app, [400, 401, 403, 500])
         else:
             app = StatusCodeRedirect(app, [400, 401, 403, 500])
-
+    
     # Establish the Registry for this application
     app = RegistryManager(app)