diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index 256e3a8..99d6c32 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -37,13 +37,13 @@
 		<url>https://code-repo.d4science.org/gCubeSystem/common-smartgears</url>
 	</scm>
 	<dependencies>
-		<!-- https://mvnrepository.com/artifact/javax.servlet/javax.servlet-api -->
 		<!--
 		https://mvnrepository.com/artifact/jakarta.servlet/jakarta.servlet-api -->
 		<dependency>
 			<groupId>jakarta.servlet</groupId>
 			<artifactId>jakarta.servlet-api</artifactId>
 			<version>6.0.0</version>
+			<scope>provided</scope>
 		</dependency>
 		<dependency>
 			<groupId>org.reflections</groupId>
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/gcube/smartgears/context/application/ApplicationContext.java b/src/main/java/org/gcube/smartgears/context/application/ApplicationContext.java
index b4a41ed..3ad198e 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/gcube/smartgears/context/application/ApplicationContext.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/gcube/smartgears/context/application/ApplicationContext.java
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 package org.gcube.smartgears.context.application;
 
-import jakarta.servlet.ServletContext;
+import java.nio.file.Path;
 
 import org.gcube.common.events.Hub;
 import org.gcube.smartgears.configuration.application.ApplicationConfiguration;
@@ -10,6 +10,8 @@ import org.gcube.smartgears.lifecycle.application.ApplicationLifecycle;
 import org.gcube.smartgears.persistence.PersistenceWriter;
 import org.gcube.smartgears.security.AuthorizationProvider;
 
+import jakarta.servlet.ServletContext;
+
 /**
  * The management context of an application.
  * 
@@ -83,4 +85,11 @@ public interface ApplicationContext {
 	 **/
 	AuthorizationProvider authorizationProvider(); 
 	
+	/**
+	 * Returns the Path to the configuration Folder for the current app
+	 * 
+	 * @return the Path to the folder , null if the Path is not present
+	 */
+	Path appSpecificConfigurationFolder();
+	
 }
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/gcube/smartgears/context/application/DefaultApplicationContext.java b/src/main/java/org/gcube/smartgears/context/application/DefaultApplicationContext.java
index 4c15c53..766d71c 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/gcube/smartgears/context/application/DefaultApplicationContext.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/gcube/smartgears/context/application/DefaultApplicationContext.java
@@ -5,10 +5,10 @@ import static org.gcube.smartgears.Constants.profile_file_path;
 import java.io.File;
 import java.io.FileInputStream;
 import java.io.ObjectInputStream;
+import java.nio.file.Path;
+import java.nio.file.Paths;
 import java.util.UUID;
 
-import jakarta.servlet.ServletContext;
-
 import org.gcube.common.events.Hub;
 import org.gcube.smartgears.configuration.PersistenceConfiguration;
 import org.gcube.smartgears.configuration.application.ApplicationConfiguration;
@@ -17,9 +17,12 @@ import org.gcube.smartgears.context.container.ContainerContext;
 import org.gcube.smartgears.lifecycle.application.ApplicationLifecycle;
 import org.gcube.smartgears.persistence.PersistenceWriter;
 import org.gcube.smartgears.security.AuthorizationProvider;
+import org.gcube.smartgears.utils.Utils;
 import org.slf4j.Logger;
 import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;
 
+import jakarta.servlet.ServletContext;
+
 /**
  * Default {@link ApplicationContext} implementation.
  * 
@@ -38,6 +41,9 @@ public class DefaultApplicationContext implements ApplicationContext {
 	private final Hub hub;
 	private final PersistenceWriter persistenceWriter;
 	private final String id;
+	private Path appSpecificConfigurationFolder;
+	
+	private final static String APPS_CONFIG__DIR = "config/apps";
 	
 	/**
 	 * Crates an intance with mandatory parameters
@@ -78,6 +84,7 @@ public class DefaultApplicationContext implements ApplicationContext {
 		this.configuration=configuration;
 		this.hub=hub;
 		this.lifecycle = lifecycle;
+		this.appSpecificConfigurationFolder = getApplicationSpecificConfig();
 		this.properties=properties;
 	}
 
@@ -154,4 +161,34 @@ public class DefaultApplicationContext implements ApplicationContext {
 		return container().authorizationProvider();
 	}	
 	
+	@Override
+	public Path appSpecificConfigurationFolder() {
+		return this.appSpecificConfigurationFolder;
+	}
+
+	private Path getApplicationSpecificConfig(){
+		String home = Utils.home();
+
+		
+		File homeDir = new File(home);
+
+		if (!(homeDir.exists() && homeDir.isDirectory() && homeDir.canRead()))
+			throw new IllegalStateException("invalid node configuration: home " + home
+					+ " does not exist or is not a directory or cannot be accessed in read mode");
+
+		String appName = this.configuration.name();
+		
+		Path appSpecificConfigurationPath = Paths.get(home, APPS_CONFIG__DIR, appName);
+		
+		File appSpecificConfiguration = appSpecificConfigurationPath.toFile();
+		
+		if (!(appSpecificConfiguration.exists() && appSpecificConfiguration.isDirectory() && appSpecificConfiguration.canRead())) {
+				log.warn("specific configuration folder for {} not found", appName);
+				return null;
+		}
+	
+		log.info("reading specific app configuration folder @ {} ", appSpecificConfiguration.getAbsolutePath());
+		
+		return appSpecificConfigurationPath;
+	}
 }
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/gcube/smartgears/handlers/application/request/RequestValidator.java b/src/main/java/org/gcube/smartgears/handlers/application/request/RequestValidator.java
index d09af14..042ba4a 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/gcube/smartgears/handlers/application/request/RequestValidator.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/gcube/smartgears/handlers/application/request/RequestValidator.java
@@ -150,7 +150,11 @@ public class RequestValidator extends RequestHandler {
 				RequestError.internal_server_error.fire("error contacting keycloak client", e);
 			}
 		} else if (token!=null && !token.isEmpty()) 
+			try {	
 				secret = new GCubeSecret(token);
+			}catch(Throwable t) {
+				RequestError.request_not_authorized_error.fire("gcube token verification error ("+t.getMessage()+")");
+			}
 		return secret;
 	}
 
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/gcube/smartgears/managers/ApplicationManager.java b/src/main/java/org/gcube/smartgears/managers/ApplicationManager.java
index 09c5afb..b1250c0 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/gcube/smartgears/managers/ApplicationManager.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/gcube/smartgears/managers/ApplicationManager.java
@@ -101,7 +101,8 @@ public class ApplicationManager {
 
 			//adding the context name to the configuration
 			context.configuration().context(application.getContextPath());
-
+			
+			
 			// we're in business
 			context.lifecycle().moveTo(active);