diff --git a/apps/api/src/lib/ssrf.ts b/apps/api/src/lib/ssrf.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..1772e149
--- /dev/null
+++ b/apps/api/src/lib/ssrf.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,90 @@
+import { lookup } from "node:dns/promises";
+import { isIP } from "node:net";
+
+function isPrivateIPv4(ip: string): boolean {
+  const parts = ip.split(".").map(Number);
+  if (parts.length !== 4 || parts.some((p) => Number.isNaN(p))) return false;
+  const [a, b] = parts;
+  if (a === 10) return true;
+  if (a === 172 && b >= 16 && b <= 31) return true;
+  if (a === 192 && b === 168) return true;
+  if (a === 127) return true;
+  if (a === 169 && b === 254) return true;
+  if (a === 0) return true;
+  return false;
+}
+
+function isPrivateIPv6(ip: string): boolean {
+  const normalized = ip.replace(/^\[|]$/g, "");
+  if (normalized === "::1") return true;
+  if (normalized.startsWith("fe80:")) return true;
+  if (normalized.startsWith("fc") || normalized.startsWith("fd")) return true;
+  if (normalized.includes("::ffff:")) {
+    const v4 = normalized.split("::ffff:")[1];
+    if (v4 && isPrivateIPv4(v4)) return true;
+  }
+  return false;
+}
+
+async function resolveAndCheck(hostname: string): Promise<void> {
+  const bare = hostname.replace(/^\[|]$/g, "");
+  if (isIP(bare)) {
+    if (isPrivateIPv4(bare) || isPrivateIPv6(bare)) {
+      throw new Error("URL resolves to a private or reserved IP address");
+    }
+    return;
+  }
+
+  const result = await lookup(hostname, { all: true });
+  const addresses = Array.isArray(result) ? result : [result];
+  for (const entry of addresses) {
+    const addr = entry.address;
+    if (isPrivateIPv4(addr) || isPrivateIPv6(addr)) {
+      throw new Error("URL resolves to a private or reserved IP address");
+    }
+  }
+}
+
+export async function validateFetchUrl(url: string): Promise<void> {
+  let parsed: URL;
+  try {
+    parsed = new URL(url);
+  } catch {
+    throw new Error("Invalid URL");
+  }
+
+  if (parsed.protocol !== "http:" && parsed.protocol !== "https:") {
+    throw new Error("Only HTTP and HTTPS URLs are supported");
+  }
+
+  await resolveAndCheck(parsed.hostname);
+}
+
+export const MAX_REDIRECTS = 5;
+export const FETCH_TIMEOUT_MS = 30_000;
+export const MAX_URL_FETCH_SIZE = 50 * 1024 * 1024;
+export const MAX_URLS_PER_REQUEST = 50;
+export const URL_FETCH_CONCURRENCY = 4;
+
+export async function safeFetch(url: string, signal?: AbortSignal): Promise<Response> {
+  let currentUrl = url;
+  for (let i = 0; i <= MAX_REDIRECTS; i++) {
+    await validateFetchUrl(currentUrl);
+    const res = await fetch(currentUrl, {
+      signal,
+      redirect: "manual",
+      headers: { "User-Agent": "SnapOtter/1.0 (image-fetch)" },
+    });
+
+    if (res.status >= 300 && res.status < 400) {
+      const location = res.headers.get("location");
+      if (!location) throw new Error("Redirect without Location header");
+      currentUrl = new URL(location, currentUrl).href;
+      if (i === MAX_REDIRECTS) throw new Error("Too many redirects");
+      continue;
+    }
+
+    return res;
+  }
+  throw new Error("Too many redirects");
+}
diff --git a/tests/unit/api/ssrf.test.ts b/tests/unit/api/ssrf.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..9ae971ca
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/unit/api/ssrf.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,47 @@
+import { describe, expect, it } from "vitest";
+import { validateFetchUrl } from "../../../apps/api/src/lib/ssrf.js";
+
+describe("validateFetchUrl", () => {
+  it("allows valid public HTTP URL", async () => {
+    await expect(
+      validateFetchUrl("https://images.unsplash.com/photo.jpg"),
+    ).resolves.toBeUndefined();
+  });
+
+  it("allows valid public HTTP URL without TLS", async () => {
+    await expect(validateFetchUrl("http://example.com/image.png")).resolves.toBeUndefined();
+  });
+
+  it("rejects non-HTTP schemes", async () => {
+    await expect(validateFetchUrl("ftp://example.com/image.jpg")).rejects.toThrow(
+      "Only HTTP and HTTPS",
+    );
+    await expect(validateFetchUrl("file:///etc/passwd")).rejects.toThrow("Only HTTP and HTTPS");
+    await expect(validateFetchUrl("data:image/png;base64,abc")).rejects.toThrow(
+      "Only HTTP and HTTPS",
+    );
+  });
+
+  it("rejects localhost and loopback", async () => {
+    await expect(validateFetchUrl("http://127.0.0.1/image.jpg")).rejects.toThrow("private");
+    await expect(validateFetchUrl("http://localhost/image.jpg")).rejects.toThrow("private");
+    await expect(validateFetchUrl("http://[::1]/image.jpg")).rejects.toThrow("private");
+  });
+
+  it("rejects private network ranges", async () => {
+    await expect(validateFetchUrl("http://10.0.0.1/image.jpg")).rejects.toThrow("private");
+    await expect(validateFetchUrl("http://172.16.0.1/image.jpg")).rejects.toThrow("private");
+    await expect(validateFetchUrl("http://192.168.1.1/image.jpg")).rejects.toThrow("private");
+  });
+
+  it("rejects link-local addresses", async () => {
+    await expect(validateFetchUrl("http://169.254.169.254/latest/meta-data/")).rejects.toThrow(
+      "private",
+    );
+  });
+
+  it("rejects invalid URLs", async () => {
+    await expect(validateFetchUrl("not-a-url")).rejects.toThrow();
+    await expect(validateFetchUrl("")).rejects.toThrow();
+  });
+});