diff --git a/src/components/user/User.tsx b/src/components/user/User.tsx
index 8d602a6..5d9c2cc 100644
--- a/src/components/user/User.tsx
+++ b/src/components/user/User.tsx
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ import { adminCredentials } from '../credentials';
 import { put } from '~/lib/put';
 import { del } from '~/lib/del';
 import { isFunction } from 'lodash';
+import { userId } from '~/lib/user-id';
 
 interface Props {
   values?: () => any;
@@ -33,7 +34,7 @@ const User: Component<Props> = (props) => {
       values,
       context,
     });
-    const id = getValues()?._id ?? `user:${uuid()}`;
+    const id = getValues()?._id ?? userId(values.username, values.database);
     await put(id, values, isNew());
     const couchUserId = `org.couchdb.user:${values.username}`;
     const userDoc = {
diff --git a/src/lib/user-id.ts b/src/lib/user-id.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6032204
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/lib/user-id.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+export const userId = (username: string, database: string) => {
+  const dbUrl = new URL(database);
+  return `@${username}>${dbUrl.hostname}`;
+};
+
+export const parseUserId = (id: string) => {
+  const matches = id.match(/^@([^>]+)>(.+)$/);
+  if (!matches) {
+    return null;
+  }
+  return { username: matches[1], hostname: matches[2] };
+};