diff --git a/internal/base/middleware/recovery.go b/internal/base/middleware/recovery.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..02b1cbde7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/internal/base/middleware/recovery.go
@@ -0,0 +1,62 @@
+/*
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+ * or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
+ * distributed with this work for additional information
+ * regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
+ * to you under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the
+ * "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance
+ * with the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *   http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing,
+ * software distributed under the License is distributed on an
+ * "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY
+ * KIND, either express or implied.  See the License for the
+ * specific language governing permissions and limitations
+ * under the License.
+ */
+
+package middleware
+
+import (
+	"net/http"
+	"runtime/debug"
+	"strings"
+
+	"github.com/apache/answer/internal/base/handler"
+	"github.com/apache/answer/internal/base/reason"
+	"github.com/gin-gonic/gin"
+	"github.com/segmentfault/pacman/log"
+)
+
+func Recovery(apiPrefixes ...string) gin.HandlerFunc {
+	return func(ctx *gin.Context) {
+		defer func() {
+			if err := recover(); err != nil {
+				log.Errorf("panic recovered: %v\n%s", err, debug.Stack())
+
+				// Headers/body already flushed (SSE or any streamed response).
+				// We can no longer rewrite the response cleanly; just stop the chain.
+				if ctx.Writer.Written() {
+					ctx.Abort()
+					return
+				}
+
+				path := ctx.Request.URL.Path
+				for _, p := range apiPrefixes {
+					if strings.HasPrefix(path, p) {
+						ctx.AbortWithStatusJSON(http.StatusInternalServerError,
+							handler.NewRespBody(http.StatusInternalServerError, reason.UnknownError).
+								TrMsg(handler.GetLangByCtx(ctx)),
+						)
+						return
+					}
+				}
+
+				ctx.AbortWithStatus(http.StatusInternalServerError)
+			}
+		}()
+		ctx.Next()
+	}
+}
diff --git a/internal/base/middleware/recovery_test.go b/internal/base/middleware/recovery_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..58dbfdb0b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/internal/base/middleware/recovery_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,120 @@
+/*
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+ * or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
+ * distributed with this work for additional information
+ * regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
+ * to you under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the
+ * "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance
+ * with the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *   http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing,
+ * software distributed under the License is distributed on an
+ * "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY
+ * KIND, either express or implied.  See the License for the
+ * specific language governing permissions and limitations
+ * under the License.
+ */
+
+package middleware
+
+import (
+	"encoding/json"
+	"net/http"
+	"net/http/httptest"
+	"testing"
+
+	"github.com/gin-gonic/gin"
+)
+
+// Panic on an API path returns the project's unified JSON 500.
+func TestRecovery_APIPathPanic(t *testing.T) {
+	gin.SetMode(gin.TestMode)
+	r := gin.New()
+	r.Use(Recovery("/api"))
+	r.GET("/api/panic", func(ctx *gin.Context) {
+		panic("test panic")
+	})
+
+	w := httptest.NewRecorder()
+	req, _ := http.NewRequest(http.MethodGet, "/api/panic", nil)
+	r.ServeHTTP(w, req)
+
+	if w.Code != http.StatusInternalServerError {
+		t.Errorf("expected 500, got %d", w.Code)
+	}
+
+	var body map[string]any
+	if err := json.Unmarshal(w.Body.Bytes(), &body); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("response is not valid JSON: %v", err)
+	}
+	if body["reason"] != "base.unknown" {
+		t.Errorf("unexpected reason: %v", body["reason"])
+	}
+}
+
+// Panic on a non-API path returns a bare 500 with no body, so the browser can
+// render its own error page instead of showing raw JSON.
+func TestRecovery_NonAPIPathPanic(t *testing.T) {
+	gin.SetMode(gin.TestMode)
+	r := gin.New()
+	r.Use(Recovery("/api"))
+	r.GET("/page", func(ctx *gin.Context) {
+		panic("test panic")
+	})
+
+	w := httptest.NewRecorder()
+	req, _ := http.NewRequest(http.MethodGet, "/page", nil)
+	r.ServeHTTP(w, req)
+
+	if w.Code != http.StatusInternalServerError {
+		t.Errorf("expected 500, got %d", w.Code)
+	}
+	if w.Body.Len() != 0 {
+		t.Errorf("expected empty body for non-API path, got: %q", w.Body.String())
+	}
+}
+
+// Panic after the response has already started writing (SSE / streamed
+// responses). The middleware must not touch the response — status and body
+// already on the wire stay untouched, no JSON gets appended.
+func TestRecovery_PanicAfterResponseStarted(t *testing.T) {
+	gin.SetMode(gin.TestMode)
+	r := gin.New()
+	r.Use(Recovery("/api"))
+	r.GET("/api/stream", func(ctx *gin.Context) {
+		ctx.Writer.WriteHeader(http.StatusOK)
+		_, _ = ctx.Writer.Write([]byte("partial data"))
+		panic("test panic after write")
+	})
+
+	w := httptest.NewRecorder()
+	req, _ := http.NewRequest(http.MethodGet, "/api/stream", nil)
+	r.ServeHTTP(w, req)
+
+	if w.Code != http.StatusOK {
+		t.Errorf("expected status to remain 200 (already flushed), got %d", w.Code)
+	}
+	if w.Body.String() != "partial data" {
+		t.Errorf("expected body to remain 'partial data' (no error JSON appended), got: %q", w.Body.String())
+	}
+}
+
+// Normal requests pass through unaffected.
+func TestRecovery_NoPanic(t *testing.T) {
+	gin.SetMode(gin.TestMode)
+	r := gin.New()
+	r.Use(Recovery("/api"))
+	r.GET("/api/ok", func(ctx *gin.Context) {
+		ctx.String(http.StatusOK, "ok")
+	})
+
+	w := httptest.NewRecorder()
+	req, _ := http.NewRequest(http.MethodGet, "/api/ok", nil)
+	r.ServeHTTP(w, req)
+
+	if w.Code != http.StatusOK {
+		t.Errorf("expected 200, got %d", w.Code)
+	}
+}
diff --git a/internal/base/server/http.go b/internal/base/server/http.go
index 765cbf6be..8db557440 100644
--- a/internal/base/server/http.go
+++ b/internal/base/server/http.go
@@ -52,6 +52,10 @@ func NewHTTPServer(debug bool,
 		gin.SetMode(gin.ReleaseMode)
 	}
 	r := gin.New()
+	r.Use(middleware.Recovery(
+		uiConf.APIBaseURL+"/answer/api/v1",
+		uiConf.APIBaseURL+"/answer/admin/api",
+	))
 	r.Use(func(ctx *gin.Context) {
 		if strings.Contains(ctx.Request.URL.Path, "/chat/completions") {
 			return