diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 8f471af7..2d40914d 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -11,8 +11,9 @@ To generate config you can use `rails generate couchbase_orm:config`:
 
 It will generate this `config/couchbase.yml` for you:
 
+```yaml
     common: &common
-      hosts: localhost
+      connection_string: couchbase://localhost
       username: dev_user
       password: dev_password
 
@@ -26,10 +27,23 @@ It will generate this `config/couchbase.yml` for you:
 
     # set these environment variables on your production server
     production:
-    hosts: <%= ENV['COUCHBASE_HOST'] || ENV['COUCHBASE_HOSTS'] %>
-    bucket: <%= ENV['COUCHBASE_BUCKET'] %>
-    username: <%= ENV['COUCHBASE_USER'] %>
-    password: <%= ENV['COUCHBASE_PASSWORD'] %>
+      connection_string: <%= ENV['COUCHBASE_CONNECTION_STRING'] %>
+      bucket: <%= ENV['COUCHBASE_BUCKET'] %>
+      username: <%= ENV['COUCHBASE_USER'] %>
+      password: <%= ENV['COUCHBASE_PASSWORD'] %>
+```
+
+## Setup without Rails
+If you are not using Rails, you can configure couchbase-orm with an initializer:
+```ruby
+# config/initializers/couchbase_orm.rb
+CouchbaseOrm::Connection.config = {
+  connection_string: "couchbase://localhost"
+  username: "dev_user"
+  password: "dev_password"
+  bucket: "dev_bucket"
+}
+```
 
 Views are generated on application load if they don't exist or mismatch.
 This works fine in production however by default in development models are lazy loaded.
diff --git a/lib/couchbase-orm/connection.rb b/lib/couchbase-orm/connection.rb
index 9886c640..c959393e 100644
--- a/lib/couchbase-orm/connection.rb
+++ b/lib/couchbase-orm/connection.rb
@@ -1,23 +1,31 @@
-
 require 'couchbase'
 
 module CouchbaseOrm
     class Connection
-        @options = {}
-        class << self
-            attr_accessor :options
+
+        def self.config
+            @@config || raise('Missing CouchbaseOrm connection config')
+        end
+
+        def self.config=(config)
+            @@config = config
         end
 
         def self.cluster
             @cluster ||= begin
-                options = Couchbase::Cluster::ClusterOptions.new
-                options.authenticate(ENV["COUCHBASE_USER"], ENV["COUCHBASE_PASSWORD"])
-                cluster = Couchbase::Cluster.connect('couchbase://127.0.0.1', options) 
-            end
+                 cb_config = Couchbase::Configuration.new
+                 cb_config.connection_string = config[:connection_string] || raise('Missing CouchbaseOrm connection string')
+                 cb_config.username = config[:username] || raise('Missing CouchbaseOrm username')
+                 cb_config.password = config[:password] || raise('Missing CouchbaseOrm password')
+                 Couchbase::Cluster.connect(cb_config)
+              end
         end
 
         def self.bucket
-            @bucket ||= cluster.bucket(ENV["COUCHBASE_BUCKET"])
+            @bucket ||= begin
+                            bucket_name = config[:bucket] || raise('Missing CouchbaseOrm bucket name')
+                            cluster.bucket(bucket_name)
+                        end
         end
     end
-end
+end
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/lib/couchbase-orm/railtie.rb b/lib/couchbase-orm/railtie.rb
index 70a0cbe1..391512e9 100644
--- a/lib/couchbase-orm/railtie.rb
+++ b/lib/couchbase-orm/railtie.rb
@@ -24,8 +24,8 @@ module Rails #:nodoc:
     module Couchbase #:nodoc:
         class Railtie < Rails::Railtie #:nodoc:
 
-            config.couchbase2 = ActiveSupport::OrderedOptions.new
-            config.couchbase2.ensure_design_documents = true
+            config.couchbase_orm = ActiveSupport::OrderedOptions.new
+            config.couchbase_orm.ensure_design_documents = true
 
             # Maping of rescued exceptions to HTTP responses
             #
@@ -44,14 +44,8 @@ def self.rescue_responses
                 config.action_dispatch.rescue_responses.merge!(rescue_responses)
             end
 
-            # Initialize Couchbase Mode. This will look for a couchbase.yml in the
-            # config directory and configure Couchbase connection appropriately.
-            initializer 'couchbase.setup_connection' do
-                config_file = Rails.root.join('config', 'couchbase.yml')
-                if config_file.file? &&
-                    config = YAML.load(ERB.new(File.read(config_file)).result)[Rails.env]
-                    ::CouchbaseOrm::Connection.options = config.deep_symbolize_keys
-                end
+            initializer 'couchbase_orm.setup_connection_config' do
+                CouchbaseOrm::Connection.config = Rails.application.config_for(:couchbase)
             end
 
             # After initialization we will warn the user if we can't find a couchbase.yml and
@@ -79,7 +73,7 @@ def self.rescue_responses
 
             # Check (and upgrade if needed) all design documents
             config.after_initialize do |app|
-                if config.couchbase2.ensure_design_documents
+                if config.couchbase_orm.ensure_design_documents
                     begin
                         ::CouchbaseOrm::Base.descendants.each do |model|
                             model.ensure_design_document!
diff --git a/lib/rails/generators/couchbase_orm/config/templates/couchbase.yml b/lib/rails/generators/couchbase_orm/config/templates/couchbase.yml
index fefc7479..52821e1c 100644
--- a/lib/rails/generators/couchbase_orm/config/templates/couchbase.yml
+++ b/lib/rails/generators/couchbase_orm/config/templates/couchbase.yml
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 common: &common
-  hosts: localhost
+  connection_string: couchbase://localhost
+  bucket: <%= bucket_name || app_name %>
   username: <%= username || bucket_name || app_name %>
   password: <%= password %>
 
@@ -13,7 +14,7 @@ test:
 
 # set these environment variables on your production server
 production:
-  hosts: <%%= ENV['COUCHBASE_HOST'] || ENV['COUCHBASE_HOSTS'] %>
+  connection_string: <%%= ENV['COUCHBASE_CONNECTION_STRING'] %>
   bucket: <%%= ENV['COUCHBASE_BUCKET'] %>
   username: <%%= ENV['COUCHBASE_USER'] %>
   password: <%%= ENV['COUCHBASE_PASSWORD'] %>