Test-drive a self-contained node module (viewUtils.js here), and then use it as a CouchDB CommonJS module. Sample schema installation and update scripts included.

couchModuleText.js

(function (undefined) {
    "use strict";

    var _ = require("underscore");

    module.exports = function (nodeModule, dependencyNameToPathMap) {
        return _.map(dependencyNameToPathMap, function (path, name) {
            return ["var ", name, " = require(\"", path, "\");"].join("");
        }).concat(
            _.isFunction(nodeModule) ?
            ["module.exports = ", nodeModule.toString(), ";"].join("") :

            _.map(nodeModule, function (method, methodName) {
                return ["exports.", methodName, " = ", method.toString(), ";"].join("");
            })
        ).join("\n");
    };
}());

couchSchemaExample.js

(function (undefined) {
    "use strict";
    
    var couchModuleText = require("./couchModuleText"),
        viewUtils = require("./viewUtils"),
        
        viewMapWhatever = function (doc) {
            emit(
                require("views/lib/utils").bar(doc._id),
                doc
            );
        };
    
    module.exports = {
        views: {
            lib: { utils: couchModuleText(viewUtils) },
            whatever: { map: viewMapWhatever }
        }
    };
}());

installSchema.js

(function (undefined) {
    "use strict";

    var cradle = require("cradle"),
        async = require("async"),
        mainSchema = require("./couchSchemaExample"),
        db = new (cradle.Connection)().database("awesome");

    async.waterfall([
        function (callback) {
            db.exists(callback);
        },

        function (exists, callback) {
            if (exists) {
                callback({error: "DB already exists. Won't touch."});
            }
            else {
                callback(undefined);
            }
        },

        function (callback) {
            db.create(callback);
        },

        function (creationResult, callback) {
            db.save("_design/main", mainSchema, callback);
        }
    ], function (err, res) {
        console.info(err || res);
    });
}());

updateSchema.js

(function (undefined) {
    "use strict";

    var cradle = require("cradle"),
        db = new (cradle.Connection)().database("awesome"),
        async = require("async"),
        mainSchema = require("./couchSchemaExample"),

        updateDesignDoc = function (id, newDocVersion, callback) {
            async.waterfall([
                function (callback) {
                    db.get(id, callback);
                },

                function (designDoc, callback) {
                    db.save(id, designDoc._rev, newDocVersion, callback);
                }
            ], callback);
        };
    
    updateDesignDoc("_design/main", mainSchema, function (err, res) {
        console.info(err || res);
    });
}());

viewUtils.js

(function (undefined) {
    "use strict";

    exports.foo = function (x) {
        return exports.bar(x);
    };

    exports.bar = function (x) {
        return "Bar for " + x;
    };
}());