Create this in database.js and then in project to var database = require('database'); You can then use database. namespace to access database methods

database.js

/**
 *  database.js
 *  The core database setup file for the project
 */

/**
 *  The couchdb module instance
 */
var cradle = require('cradle');

/**
 *  Load the instance settings
 */
var settings = require('./settings');

/**
 *  The couchdb client instance
 */
 
cradle.setup({
  host: settings.database.host,
  port: settings.database.port,
  auth: {
    user: settings.database.username,
    pass: settings.database.password
  },
  options: {
    cache: false,
    raw: false
  }
});

var client = new(cradle.Connection);

//var client = couchdb.createClient(settings.database.port, settings.database.host, settings.database.username, settings.database.password);

/**
 * Method 1
 */
function methodOne (arg1, arg2) {

  // Function does something
};

/**
 *  The module exports an object to access all database features
 */
module.exports = {
	cradle: cradle,
	client: client,
	methodOne : methodOne 
}