diff --git a/src/middleware/process-payload.ts b/src/middleware/process-payload.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..d767fa5179
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/middleware/process-payload.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,65 @@
+/**
+ * Will check the fields system table for any special operations that need to be done on the field
+ * value, this can include hashing the value or generating a UUID
+ */
+
+import { RequestHandler } from 'express';
+import asyncHandler from 'express-async-handler';
+import { FieldInfo } from '../types/field';
+import bcrypt from 'bcrypt';
+
+type Operation = 'create' | 'update';
+
+/**
+ * @TODO
+ *
+ * This needs a bit of extra thinking.
+ * - There's a difference between update / create payload processing
+ * - Some processing types need the whole payload (slug)
+ * - What happens for fields that aren't in the payload but need to be set on create?
+ */
+
+const processPayload = (operation: Operation) => {
+	const middleware: RequestHandler = asyncHandler(async (req, res, next) => {
+		// Get the fields that have a special operation associated with them
+		const fieldsInPayload = Object.keys(req.body);
+
+		const fieldInfoForFields = await req.loaders.fields.loadMany(
+			fieldsInPayload.map((field) => ({
+				collection: req.collection,
+				field: field,
+			}))
+		);
+
+		const specialFields = fieldInfoForFields.filter((field) => {
+			if (field instanceof Error) return false;
+			return field.special !== null;
+		}) as FieldInfo[];
+
+		for (const field of specialFields) {
+			req.body[field.field] = await processField(req.collection, field, req.body, operation);
+		}
+
+		next();
+	});
+
+	return middleware;
+};
+
+async function processField(
+	collection: string,
+	field: FieldInfo,
+	payload: Record<string, any>,
+	operation: Operation
+) {
+	switch (field.special) {
+		case 'hash':
+			return await hash(payload[field.field]);
+	}
+}
+
+async function hash(value: string | number) {
+	return await bcrypt.hash(value, Number(process.env.SALT_ROUNDS));
+}
+
+export default processPayload;
diff --git a/src/routes/items.ts b/src/routes/items.ts
index 2a4ce6b791..acb041cbdb 100644
--- a/src/routes/items.ts
+++ b/src/routes/items.ts
@@ -2,15 +2,17 @@ import express from 'express';
 import asyncHandler from 'express-async-handler';
 import { createItem, readItems, readItem, updateItem, deleteItem } from '../services/items';
 import sanitizeQuery from '../middleware/sanitize-query';
-import collectionExists from '../middleware/collection-exists';
+import validateCollection from '../middleware/validate-collection';
 import validateQuery from '../middleware/validate-query';
 import * as MetaService from '../services/meta';
+import processPayload from '../middleware/process-payload';
 
 const router = express.Router();
 
 router.post(
 	'/:collection',
-	collectionExists,
+	validateCollection,
+	processPayload('create'),
 	asyncHandler(async (req, res) => {
 		await createItem(req.params.collection, req.body);
 		res.status(200).end();
@@ -19,7 +21,7 @@ router.post(
 
 router.get(
 	'/:collection',
-	collectionExists,
+	validateCollection,
 	sanitizeQuery,
 	validateQuery,
 	asyncHandler(async (req, res) => {
@@ -37,7 +39,7 @@ router.get(
 
 router.get(
 	'/:collection/:pk',
-	collectionExists,
+	validateCollection,
 	asyncHandler(async (req, res) => {
 		const record = await readItem(req.params.collection, req.params.pk);
 
@@ -49,7 +51,7 @@ router.get(
 
 router.patch(
 	'/:collection/:pk',
-	collectionExists,
+	validateCollection,
 	asyncHandler(async (req, res) => {
 		await updateItem(req.params.collection, req.params.pk, req.body);
 		return res.status(200).end();
@@ -58,7 +60,7 @@ router.patch(
 
 router.delete(
 	'/:collection/:pk',
-	collectionExists,
+	validateCollection,
 	asyncHandler(async (req, res) => {
 		await deleteItem(req.params.collection, req.params.pk);
 		return res.status(200).end();