diff --git a/build.sbt b/build.sbt
index 49971a19594..bcc9df96b82 100644
--- a/build.sbt
+++ b/build.sbt
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ libraryDependencies ++= Seq(
   "org.json4s"                  %% "json4s-jackson"     % "3.2.10",
   "io.backchat.inflector"       %% "scala-inflector"    % "1.3.5",
   "commons-io"                   % "commons-io"         % "2.3",
+  "net.iharder"                  % "base64"             % "2.3.8",
   "ch.qos.logback"               % "logback-classic"    % "1.0.13" % "provided",
   "org.rogach"                  %% "scallop"            % "0.9.5",
   "junit"                        % "junit"              % "4.11" % "test",
diff --git a/project/build.properties b/project/build.properties
index 8cbb5226c45..507528966aa 100644
--- a/project/build.properties
+++ b/project/build.properties
@@ -1 +1 @@
-sbt.version=0.13.0
\ No newline at end of file
+sbt.version=0.13.5
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/main/scala/com/wordnik/swagger/codegen/BasicGenerator.scala b/src/main/scala/com/wordnik/swagger/codegen/BasicGenerator.scala
index 38a84d862b3..254fda3fb48 100644
--- a/src/main/scala/com/wordnik/swagger/codegen/BasicGenerator.scala
+++ b/src/main/scala/com/wordnik/swagger/codegen/BasicGenerator.scala
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@ import com.wordnik.swagger.util.ValidationException
 
 import java.io.{ File, FileWriter }
 
+import net.iharder.Base64
 import org.json4s.jackson.JsonMethods._
 import org.json4s.jackson.Serialization.write
 
@@ -187,18 +188,20 @@ abstract class BasicGenerator extends CodegenConfig with PathUtil {
   }
 
   def authenticate(apiKey: Option[String]): Option[ApiKeyValue] = {
-    Option(System.getProperty("header")) match {
-      case Some(e) => {
-        // this is ugly and will be replaced with proper arg parsing like in ScalaAsyncClientGenerator soon
-        val authInfo = e.split(":")
-        Some(ApiKeyValue(authInfo(0), "header", authInfo(1)))
-      }
-      case _ => {
-        apiKey.map{ key =>
-          Some(ApiKeyValue("api_key", "query", key))
-        }.getOrElse(None)
-      }
+    val headerAuth = sys.props.get("header") map { e =>
+      // this is ugly and will be replaced with proper arg parsing like in ScalaAsyncClientGenerator soon
+      val authInfo = e.split(":")
+      ApiKeyValue(authInfo(0), "header", authInfo(1))
     }
+    val basicAuth = sys.props.get("auth.basic") map { e =>
+      val creds = if (e.contains(":")) Base64.encodeBytes(e.getBytes) else e
+      ApiKeyValue("Authorization", "header", s"Basic $creds")
+    }
+    val apiKeyAuth = apiKey  map { key =>
+      ApiKeyValue("api_key", "query", key)
+    }
+
+    headerAuth orElse basicAuth orElse apiKeyAuth
   }
 
   def extractApiOperations(apiListings: List[ApiListing], allModels: HashMap[String, Model] )(implicit basePath:String) = {
diff --git a/src/main/scala/com/wordnik/swagger/codegen/model/AuthorizationModels.scala b/src/main/scala/com/wordnik/swagger/codegen/model/AuthorizationModels.scala
index 2249557bcd7..9cc369d8239 100644
--- a/src/main/scala/com/wordnik/swagger/codegen/model/AuthorizationModels.scala
+++ b/src/main/scala/com/wordnik/swagger/codegen/model/AuthorizationModels.scala
@@ -44,3 +44,4 @@ case class AuthorizationCodeGrant(
 
 trait AuthorizationValue
 case class ApiKeyValue(keyName: String, passAs: String, value: String) extends AuthorizationValue
+