diff --git a/api/pom.xml b/api/pom.xml
index fac019ab5..0c44d462e 100644
--- a/api/pom.xml
+++ b/api/pom.xml
@@ -29,6 +29,10 @@
             <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
             <artifactId>spring-boot-starter-security</artifactId>
         </dependency>
+        <dependency>
+            <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
+            <artifactId>spring-boot-starter-validation</artifactId>
+        </dependency>
         <dependency>
             <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
             <artifactId>spring-boot-actuator</artifactId>
diff --git a/api/src/main/java/io/kafbat/ui/config/ClustersProperties.java b/api/src/main/java/io/kafbat/ui/config/ClustersProperties.java
index 5931602b2..e73029c4f 100644
--- a/api/src/main/java/io/kafbat/ui/config/ClustersProperties.java
+++ b/api/src/main/java/io/kafbat/ui/config/ClustersProperties.java
@@ -2,6 +2,9 @@
 
 import io.kafbat.ui.model.MetricsConfig;
 import jakarta.annotation.PostConstruct;
+import jakarta.validation.Valid;
+import jakarta.validation.constraints.NotBlank;
+import jakarta.validation.constraints.NotNull;
 import java.util.ArrayList;
 import java.util.HashMap;
 import java.util.HashSet;
@@ -17,13 +20,15 @@
 import org.springframework.boot.context.properties.ConfigurationProperties;
 import org.springframework.context.annotation.Configuration;
 import org.springframework.util.StringUtils;
+import org.springframework.validation.annotation.Validated;
 
 @Configuration
 @ConfigurationProperties("kafka")
 @Data
+@Validated
 public class ClustersProperties {
 
-  List<Cluster> clusters = new ArrayList<>();
+  List<@Valid Cluster> clusters = new ArrayList<>();
 
   String internalTopicPrefix;
 
@@ -33,7 +38,9 @@ public class ClustersProperties {
 
   @Data
   public static class Cluster {
+    @NotBlank(message = "field name for for cluster could not be blank")
     String name;
+    @NotBlank(message = "field bootstrapServers for for cluster could not be blank")
     String bootstrapServers;
 
     TruststoreConfig ssl;
@@ -46,9 +53,9 @@ public static class Cluster {
     KsqldbServerAuth ksqldbServerAuth;
     KeystoreConfig ksqldbServerSsl;
 
-    List<ConnectCluster> kafkaConnect;
+    List<@Valid ConnectCluster> kafkaConnect;
 
-    List<SerdeConfig> serde;
+    List<@Valid SerdeConfig> serde;
     String defaultKeySerde;
     String defaultValueSerde;
 
@@ -58,7 +65,7 @@ public static class Cluster {
 
     Long pollingThrottleRate;
 
-    List<Masking> masking;
+    List<@Valid Masking> masking;
 
     AuditProperties audit;
   }
@@ -88,7 +95,9 @@ public static class MetricsConfigData {
   @Builder(toBuilder = true)
   @ToString(exclude = {"password", "keystorePassword"})
   public static class ConnectCluster {
+    @NotBlank
     String name;
+    @NotBlank
     String address;
     String username;
     String password;
@@ -122,6 +131,7 @@ public static class KeystoreConfig {
 
   @Data
   public static class SerdeConfig {
+    @NotBlank
     String name;
     String className;
     String filePath;
@@ -139,6 +149,7 @@ public static class KsqldbServerAuth {
 
   @Data
   public static class Masking {
+    @NotNull
     Type type;
     List<String> fields;
     String fieldsNamePattern;
@@ -160,7 +171,7 @@ public static class AuditProperties {
     Integer auditTopicsPartitions;
     Boolean topicAuditEnabled;
     Boolean consoleAuditEnabled;
-    LogLevel level;
+    LogLevel level = LogLevel.ALTER_ONLY;
     Map<String, String> auditTopicProperties;
 
     public enum LogLevel {