These files are used for Travis tests to test admin and user permissions: couchdb.yml.admin: when activated, leap_web has admin permissions (e.g. ability to create databases, upload design docs). couchdb.yml.user: when activited, leap_web has normal permissions (e.g. can modify all the records). The term 'user' here is misleading. It is really two different types of admin permissions. Rails or rake must be run with 'test' environment for these configs to be used.