Set up a new user to be a reader

configure user

Add the user to _users:

$ curl -X POST 'http://admin:admin_pass@127.0.0.1:5984/_users/' -H 'Content-Type: application/json' -d @user.json

new_couchdb_user_reader_setup.rb

# do this in irb
require 'digest/sha1'

salt = "0719688397f634f5e6f0139593000a76" # from curl 'http://localhost:5984/_uuids'
pass = "mypassword"

Digest::SHA1.hexdigest("#{salt}#{pass}")

security.json

// If you're using soca, a simple `soca push` will push this to your design doc
{ 
    "readers": {
        "names": ["epic_user"],
        "roles": ["whatever"]
    }
}

user.json

{
  "_id"          : "org.couchdb.user:epic_user",
  "type"         : "user",
  "name"         : "epic_user",
  "roles"        : ["whatever"],
  "password_sha" : "e97a410886400880705cdf17bbefd4e4deeaf802", // computed from the irb session above
  "salt"         : "0719688397f634f5e6f0139593000a76" // from curl 'http://localhost:5984/_uuids'
}