diff --git a/packages/auth/src/db/utils.js b/packages/auth/src/db/utils.js
index a7476b8e9c..dfefd54f97 100644
--- a/packages/auth/src/db/utils.js
+++ b/packages/auth/src/db/utils.js
@@ -166,6 +166,12 @@ exports.getCouchUrl = () => {
 
   const [protocol, ...rest] = env.COUCH_DB_URL.split("://")
 
+  if (!env.COUCH_DB_USERNAME || !env.COUCH_DB_PASSWORD) {
+    throw new Error(
+      "CouchDB configuration invalid. You must provide a fully qualified CouchDB url, or the COUCH_DB_USER and COUCH_DB_PASSWORD environment variables."
+    )
+  }
+
   return `${protocol}://${env.COUCH_DB_USERNAME}:${env.COUCH_DB_PASSWORD}@${rest}`
 }
 
diff --git a/packages/auth/src/environment.js b/packages/auth/src/environment.js
index 6afcb61a1a..4d1453837c 100644
--- a/packages/auth/src/environment.js
+++ b/packages/auth/src/environment.js
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ function isTest() {
 module.exports = {
   JWT_SECRET: process.env.JWT_SECRET,
   COUCH_DB_URL: process.env.COUCH_DB_URL,
-  COUCH_DB_USERNAME: process.env.COUCH_DB_USER || process.env.COUCH_DB_USERNAME,
+  COUCH_DB_USERNAME: process.env.COUCH_DB_USER,
   COUCH_DB_PASSWORD: process.env.COUCH_DB_PASSWORD,
   SALT_ROUNDS: process.env.SALT_ROUNDS,
   REDIS_URL: process.env.REDIS_URL,
diff --git a/packages/server/src/db/client.js b/packages/server/src/db/client.js
index dde857c462..a453ad8561 100644
--- a/packages/server/src/db/client.js
+++ b/packages/server/src/db/client.js
@@ -1,10 +1,11 @@
 const PouchDB = require("pouchdb")
+const { getCouchUrl } = require("@budibase/auth/db")
 const replicationStream = require("pouchdb-replication-stream")
 const allDbs = require("pouchdb-all-dbs")
 const find = require("pouchdb-find")
 const env = require("../environment")
 
-const COUCH_DB_URL = env.COUCH_DB_URL || "http://localhost:10000/db/"
+const COUCH_DB_URL = getCouchUrl() || "http://localhost:10000/db/"
 
 PouchDB.plugin(replicationStream.plugin)
 PouchDB.plugin(find)
@@ -14,13 +15,6 @@ let POUCH_DB_DEFAULTS = {
   prefix: COUCH_DB_URL,
 }
 
-if (env.COUCH_DB_USERNAME && env.COUCH_DB_PASSWORD) {
-  POUCH_DB_DEFAULTS.auth = {
-    username: env.COUCH_DB_USERNAME,
-    password: env.COUCH_DB_PASSWORD,
-  }
-}
-
 if (env.isTest()) {
   PouchDB.plugin(require("pouchdb-adapter-memory"))
   POUCH_DB_DEFAULTS = {
diff --git a/packages/server/src/environment.js b/packages/server/src/environment.js
index 4f02f0f302..9f69664ffb 100644
--- a/packages/server/src/environment.js
+++ b/packages/server/src/environment.js
@@ -24,8 +24,6 @@ module.exports = {
   PORT: process.env.PORT,
   JWT_SECRET: process.env.JWT_SECRET,
   COUCH_DB_URL: process.env.COUCH_DB_URL,
-  COUCH_DB_USERNAME: process.env.COUCH_DB_USER,
-  COUCH_DB_PASSWORD: process.env.COUCH_DB_PASSWORD,
   MINIO_URL: process.env.MINIO_URL,
   WORKER_URL: process.env.WORKER_URL,
   SELF_HOSTED: process.env.SELF_HOSTED,
diff --git a/packages/worker/src/db/index.js b/packages/worker/src/db/index.js
index b9e05a0e0e..632e19280d 100644
--- a/packages/worker/src/db/index.js
+++ b/packages/worker/src/db/index.js
@@ -1,21 +1,15 @@
 const PouchDB = require("pouchdb")
 const allDbs = require("pouchdb-all-dbs")
 const env = require("../environment")
+const { getCouchUrl } = require("@budibase/auth/db")
 
 // level option is purely for testing (development)
-const COUCH_DB_URL = env.COUCH_DB_URL || "http://localhost:10000/db/"
+const COUCH_DB_URL = getCouchUrl() || "http://localhost:10000/db/"
 
 let POUCH_DB_DEFAULTS = {
   prefix: COUCH_DB_URL,
 }
 
-if (env.COUCH_DB_USERNAME && env.COUCH_DB_PASSWORD) {
-  POUCH_DB_DEFAULTS.auth = {
-    username: env.COUCH_DB_USERNAME,
-    password: env.COUCH_DB_PASSWORD,
-  }
-}
-
 if (env.isTest()) {
   PouchDB.plugin(require("pouchdb-adapter-memory"))
   POUCH_DB_DEFAULTS = {