diff --git a/.changeset/seven-tomatoes-smash.md b/.changeset/seven-tomatoes-smash.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..98ae643738
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changeset/seven-tomatoes-smash.md
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+---
+'@backstage/plugin-techdocs-backend': patch
+---
+
+Add support for API auth in DefaultTechDocsCollator
diff --git a/plugins/techdocs-backend/src/search/DefaultTechDocsCollator.ts b/plugins/techdocs-backend/src/search/DefaultTechDocsCollator.ts
index fa8a1156fe..1d3a3dbc3a 100644
--- a/plugins/techdocs-backend/src/search/DefaultTechDocsCollator.ts
+++ b/plugins/techdocs-backend/src/search/DefaultTechDocsCollator.ts
@@ -123,6 +123,11 @@ export class DefaultTechDocsCollator implements DocumentCollator {
                 techDocsBaseUrl,
                 entityInfo,
               ),
+              {
+                headers: {
+                  Authorization: `Bearer ${token}`,
+                },
+              },
             );
             const searchIndex = await searchIndexResponse.json();