diff --git a/api.py b/api.py
index bcc9f46..957e8d9 100644
--- a/api.py
+++ b/api.py
@@ -1,14 +1,28 @@
 from fastapi import FastAPI, HTTPException
 from fastapi.responses import RedirectResponse, FileResponse
 from fastapi.staticfiles import StaticFiles
+from dotenv import load_dotenv
 import couchdb
+import os
 import uuid
 import validators
 
+load_dotenv()
+
+COUCHDB_USER = os.getenv("COUCHDB_USER")
+COUCHDB_PASSWORD = os.getenv("COUCHDB_PASSWORD")
+COUCHDB_HOST = os.getenv("COUCHDB_HOST")
+COUCHDB_PORT = os.getenv("COUCHDB_PORT")
+
 app = FastAPI()
 app.mount("/static", StaticFiles(directory="static", html=True), name="static")
 
-couch = couchdb.Server("http://admin:password@127.0.0.1:5984")
+couch = couchdb.Server(f"http://{COUCHDB_USER}:{COUCHDB_PASSWORD}@{COUCHDB_HOST}:{COUCHDB_PORT}")
+
+@app.on_event("startup")
+async def startup_event():
+    if 'urls' not in couch:
+        couch.create_database('urls')
 
 @app.get("/")
 async def root():
diff --git a/requirements.txt b/requirements.txt
index c511b6c..e466ed3 100644
--- a/requirements.txt
+++ b/requirements.txt
@@ -3,3 +3,4 @@ uvicorn
 couchdb
 aiofiles
 validators
+python-dotenv