diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 5f29986..4a0baa9 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
 .github/
 .vs/
 TestResults
+.vscode/
diff --git a/gex/Controllers/Api/UserApiController.cs b/gex/Controllers/Api/UserApiController.cs
index 5b8dd1c..8c1aa69 100644
--- a/gex/Controllers/Api/UserApiController.cs
+++ b/gex/Controllers/Api/UserApiController.cs
@@ -318,6 +318,72 @@ public async Task<ApiResponse<List<UserSearchResult>>> Search(string search,
             return ApiOk(users);
         }
 
+        /// <summary>
+        ///     get multiple users by usernames. A max of 50 usernames can be looked up at once.
+        ///     This endpoint performs case-sensitive username matching.
+        /// </summary>
+        /// <param name="usernames">list of usernames to find</param>
+        /// <param name="includeSkill">if <see cref="ApiBarUser.Skill"/> will be populated. defaults to false</param>
+        /// <param name="includePreviousNames">will previous names be searched against as well? defaults to false</param>
+        /// <param name="cancel">cancellation token</param>
+        /// <response code="200">
+        ///     the response will contain a list of <see cref="ApiBarUser"/>s that match any of the usernames
+        /// </response>
+        /// <response code="400">
+        ///     one or more usernames are empty, or no usernames provided
+        /// </response>
+        [HttpPost("batch")]
+        public async Task<ApiResponse<List<ApiBarUser>>> GetUsersByUsernames(
+            [FromBody] List<string> usernames,
+            [FromQuery] bool includeSkill = false,
+            [FromQuery] bool includePreviousNames = false,
+            CancellationToken cancel = default
+        ) {
+
+            if (usernames == null || usernames.Count == 0) {
+                return ApiBadRequest<List<ApiBarUser>>($"usernames list cannot be empty");
+            }
+
+            if (usernames.Count >= 50) {
+                return ApiBadRequest<List<ApiBarUser>>($"usernames list cannot contain more than 50 items");
+            }
+
+            foreach (string username in usernames) {
+                if (string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(username)) {
+                    return ApiBadRequest<List<ApiBarUser>>($"all usernames must be non-empty, found empty or whitespace-only username");
+                }
+            }
+
+            List<ApiBarUser> apiUsers = await _UserRepository.GetByUsernames(usernames, includePreviousNames, cancel);
+            _Logger.LogInformation($"Found {apiUsers.Count} users matching usernames");
+
+            // Get unique users by UserID (in case there are duplicates from previous name searches)
+            apiUsers = apiUsers
+                .GroupBy(u => u.UserID)
+                .Select(g => g.First())
+                .ToList();
+
+            // Fetch skills if requested
+            if (includeSkill == true && apiUsers.Count > 0) {
+                List<long> userIds = apiUsers.Select(u => u.UserID).ToList();
+                Dictionary<long, List<BarUserSkill>> skillsDict = await _SkillDb.GetByUserIDs(userIds, cancel);
+                
+                // Populate skills for each user
+                foreach (ApiBarUser user in apiUsers) {
+                    user.Skill = skillsDict.GetValueOrDefault(user.UserID) ?? new List<BarUserSkill>();
+                }
+            }
+
+            // Fetch previous names if requested
+            if (includePreviousNames == true && apiUsers.Count > 0) {
+                foreach (ApiBarUser user in apiUsers) {
+                    user.PreviousNames = await _UserRepository.GetUserNames(user.UserID, cancel);
+                }
+            }
+
+            return ApiOk(apiUsers);
+        }
+
         /// <summary>
         ///     get the start spots of a user on a specific map, either by map name or map filename
         /// </summary>
diff --git a/gex/Services/Db/UserStats/BarUserDb.cs b/gex/Services/Db/UserStats/BarUserDb.cs
index ceaaa7d..6f25375 100644
--- a/gex/Services/Db/UserStats/BarUserDb.cs
+++ b/gex/Services/Db/UserStats/BarUserDb.cs
@@ -101,6 +101,34 @@ WHERE lower(u.username) LIKE lower(@Search) OR lower(p.user_name) LIKE lower(@Se
             );
         }
 
+
+        /// <summary>
+        ///     Get users by username matches, and optionally previous names. Case-sensitive.
+        /// </summary>
+        /// <param name="usernames">List of usernames to find</param>
+        /// <param name="includePreviousNames">If true, previous names will be searched as well</param>
+        /// <param name="cancel">Cancellation token</param>
+        /// <returns>A list of <see cref="BarUser"/>s</returns>
+        public async Task<List<BarUser>> GetByUsernames(List<string> usernames, bool includePreviousNames, CancellationToken cancel) {
+            if (usernames == null || usernames.Count == 0) {
+                return new List<BarUser>();
+            }
+
+            using NpgsqlConnection conn = _DbHelper.Connection(Dbs.MAIN);
+
+            return await conn.QueryListAsync<BarUser>(
+                includePreviousNames == true
+                    ? @"SELECT DISTINCT u.id, u.username, u.last_updated, u.country_code
+                            FROM bar_user u LEFT JOIN bar_match_player p ON p.user_id = u.id
+                            WHERE lower(u.username) = ANY(@Usernames) OR lower(p.user_name) = ANY(@Usernames)"
+                    : @"SELECT id, username, last_updated, country_code 
+                        FROM bar_user 
+                        WHERE username = ANY(@Usernames)",
+                new { Usernames = usernames },
+                cancellationToken: cancel
+            );
+        }
+
         /// <summary>
         ///     get all names that a user has used
         /// </summary>
diff --git a/gex/Services/Db/UserStats/BarUserSkillDb.cs b/gex/Services/Db/UserStats/BarUserSkillDb.cs
index c3cca94..76d594d 100644
--- a/gex/Services/Db/UserStats/BarUserSkillDb.cs
+++ b/gex/Services/Db/UserStats/BarUserSkillDb.cs
@@ -70,5 +70,31 @@ public async Task<List<BarUserSkill>> GetByUserID(long userID, CancellationToken
             ))).ToList();
         }
 
+        /// <summary>
+        ///     get the <see cref="BarUserSkill"/> entries for multiple users
+        /// </summary>
+        /// <param name="userIDs">List of user IDs to get skills for</param>
+        /// <param name="cancel">cancellation token</param>
+        /// <returns>
+        ///     a dictionary mapping user IDs to lists of <see cref="BarUserSkill"/>s
+        /// </returns>
+        public async Task<Dictionary<long, List<BarUserSkill>>> GetByUserIDs(List<long> userIDs, CancellationToken cancel) {
+            if (userIDs == null || userIDs.Count == 0) {
+                return new Dictionary<long, List<BarUserSkill>>();
+            }
+
+            using NpgsqlConnection conn = _DbHelper.Connection(Dbs.MAIN);
+            IEnumerable<BarUserSkill> skills = (await conn.QueryAsync<BarUserSkill>(new CommandDefinition(
+                "SELECT * FROM bar_user_skill WHERE user_id = ANY(@UserIDs)",
+                new { UserIDs = userIDs.ToArray() },
+                cancellationToken: cancel
+            ))).ToList();
+
+            // Group by user ID
+            return skills
+                .GroupBy(s => s.UserID)
+                .ToDictionary(g => g.Key, g => g.ToList());
+        }
+
     }
 }
diff --git a/gex/Services/Repositories/BarUserRepository.cs b/gex/Services/Repositories/BarUserRepository.cs
index 7fe6df5..d883340 100644
--- a/gex/Services/Repositories/BarUserRepository.cs
+++ b/gex/Services/Repositories/BarUserRepository.cs
@@ -1,10 +1,12 @@
-using gex.Models.Db;
+using gex.Models.Api;
+using gex.Models.Db;
 using gex.Models.UserStats;
 using gex.Services.Db.UserStats;
 using Microsoft.Extensions.Caching.Memory;
 using Microsoft.Extensions.Logging;
 using System;
 using System.Collections.Generic;
+using System.Linq;
 using System.Threading;
 using System.Threading.Tasks;
 
@@ -83,6 +85,27 @@ public Task<List<UserSearchResult>> SearchByName(string name, bool includePrevio
             return _UserDb.SearchByName(name, includePreviousNames, cancel);
         }
 
+        /// <summary>
+        ///     get users by username matches, and optionally previous names. case-insensitive
+        /// </summary>
+        /// <param name="usernames">list of usernames to find</param>
+        /// <param name="includePreviousNames">will previous names be searched as well</param>
+        /// <param name="cancel">cancellation token</param>
+        /// <returns>a list of <see cref="ApiBarUser"/>s</returns>
+        public async Task<List<ApiBarUser>> GetByUsernames(List<string> usernames, bool includePreviousNames, CancellationToken cancel) {
+            List<BarUser> dbUsers = await _UserDb.GetByUsernames(usernames, includePreviousNames, cancel);
+            
+            // Convert BarUser to ApiBarUser
+            return dbUsers
+                .Select(u => new ApiBarUser {
+                    UserID = u.UserID,
+                    Username = u.Username,
+                    LastUpdated = u.LastUpdated,
+                    CountryCode = u.CountryCode
+                })
+                .ToList();
+        }
+
         /// <summary>
         ///     get all names that a user has used
         /// </summary>