diff --git a/advanced/Scripts/api.sh b/advanced/Scripts/api.sh
index afd88671..449f146f 100755
--- a/advanced/Scripts/api.sh
+++ b/advanced/Scripts/api.sh
@@ -82,10 +82,25 @@ DeleteSession() {
 }
 
 GetFTLData() {
-  local data
+  local data response status
   # get the data from querying the API as well as the http status code
-  data=$(curl -s -X GET "http://localhost:${PORT}/api$1" -H "Accept: application/json" -H "sid: ${SID}" )
-  echo "${data}"
+  response=$(curl -s -w "%{http_code}" -X GET "http://localhost:${PORT}/api$1" -H "Accept: application/json" -H "sid: ${SID}" )
+
+  # status are the last 3 characters
+  status=$(printf %s "${response#"${response%???}"}")
+  # data is everything from response without the last 3 characters
+  data=$(printf %s "${response%???}")
+
+  if [ "${status}" = 200 ]; then
+    # response OK
+    echo "${data}"
+  elif [ "${status}" = 000 ]; then
+    # connection lost
+    echo "000"
+  elif [ "${status}" = 401 ]; then
+    # unauthorized
+    echo "401"
+  fi
 }
 
 secretRead() {
diff --git a/advanced/Scripts/query.sh b/advanced/Scripts/query.sh
index 8407d3f6..a26d249c 100755
--- a/advanced/Scripts/query.sh
+++ b/advanced/Scripts/query.sh
@@ -118,10 +118,21 @@ Main(){
 
     # Test if the authentication endpoint is available
     TestAPIAvailability
-    # Authenticate with the FTL server
-    Authenthication
+
+    # Users can configure FTL in a way, that for accessing a) all endpoints (webserver.api.localAPIauth)
+    # or b) for the /search endpoint (webserver.api.searchAPIauth) no authentication is required.
+    # Therefore, we try to query directly without authentication but do authenticat if 401 is returned
 
     data=$(GetFTLData "/search/${domain}?N=${max_results}&partial=${partial}")
+
+    if [ "${data}" = 401 ]; then
+        # Unauthenticated, so authenticate with the FTL server required
+        Authenthication
+
+        # send query again
+        data=$(GetFTLData "/search/${domain}?N=${max_results}&partial=${partial}")
+    fi
+
     GenerateOutput "${data}"
     DeleteSession
 }