diff --git a/packages/server/src/api/controllers/deploy/awsDeploy.js b/packages/server/src/api/controllers/deploy/awsDeploy.js
index 433913644a..26b3ea2b21 100644
--- a/packages/server/src/api/controllers/deploy/awsDeploy.js
+++ b/packages/server/src/api/controllers/deploy/awsDeploy.js
@@ -1,7 +1,9 @@
 const AWS = require("aws-sdk")
 const fetch = require("node-fetch")
 const env = require("../../../environment")
-const { deployToObjectStore } = require("./utils")
+const { deployToObjectStore, performReplication } = require("./utils")
+const CouchDB = require("pouchdb")
+const PouchDB = require("../../../db")
 
 /**
  * Verifies the users API key and
@@ -83,3 +85,17 @@ exports.deploy = async function(deployment) {
   })
   await deployToObjectStore(appId, s3Client, metadata)
 }
+
+exports.replicateDb = async function(deployment) {
+  const appId = deployment.getAppId()
+  const { session } = deployment.getVerification()
+  const localDb = new PouchDB(appId)
+  const remoteDb = new CouchDB(`${env.DEPLOYMENT_DB_URL}/${appId}`, {
+    fetch: function(url, opts) {
+      opts.headers.set("Cookie", `${session};`)
+      return CouchDB.fetch(url, opts)
+    },
+  })
+
+  return performReplication(localDb, remoteDb)
+}
diff --git a/packages/server/src/api/controllers/deploy/index.js b/packages/server/src/api/controllers/deploy/index.js
index a37fad62a0..b0cc8f1133 100644
--- a/packages/server/src/api/controllers/deploy/index.js
+++ b/packages/server/src/api/controllers/deploy/index.js
@@ -1,11 +1,10 @@
-const CouchDB = require("pouchdb")
 const PouchDB = require("../../../db")
 
 const env = require("../../../environment")
 const deployment = env.SELF_HOSTED
   ? require("./selfDeploy")
   : require("./awsDeploy")
-const { deploy, preDeployment, postDeployment } = deployment
+const { deploy, preDeployment, postDeployment, replicateDb } = deployment
 const Deployment = require("./Deployment")
 
 // the max time we can wait for an invalidation to complete before considering it failed
@@ -34,29 +33,6 @@ async function checkAllDeployments(deployments) {
   return { updated, deployments }
 }
 
-function replicate(local, remote) {
-  return new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
-    const replication = local.sync(remote)
-
-    replication.on("complete", () => resolve())
-    replication.on("error", err => reject(err))
-  })
-}
-
-async function replicateCouch(deployment) {
-  const appId = deployment.getAppId()
-  const { session } = deployment.getVerification()
-  const localDb = new PouchDB(appId)
-  const remoteDb = new CouchDB(`${env.DEPLOYMENT_DB_URL}/${appId}`, {
-    fetch: function(url, opts) {
-      opts.headers.set("Cookie", `${session};`)
-      return CouchDB.fetch(url, opts)
-    },
-  })
-
-  return replicate(localDb, remoteDb)
-}
-
 async function storeLocalDeploymentHistory(deployment) {
   const appId = deployment.getAppId()
   const deploymentJSON = deployment.getJSON()
@@ -96,9 +72,9 @@ async function deployApp(deployment) {
 
     await deploy(deployment)
 
-    // replicate the DB to the couchDB cluster in prod
-    console.log("Replicating local PouchDB to remote..")
-    await replicateCouch(deployment)
+    // replicate the DB to the main couchDB cluster
+    console.log("Replicating local PouchDB to CouchDB..")
+    await replicateDb(deployment)
 
     await postDeployment(deployment)
 
diff --git a/packages/server/src/api/controllers/deploy/selfDeploy.js b/packages/server/src/api/controllers/deploy/selfDeploy.js
index a18736a5f4..0b26af4e36 100644
--- a/packages/server/src/api/controllers/deploy/selfDeploy.js
+++ b/packages/server/src/api/controllers/deploy/selfDeploy.js
@@ -1,6 +1,8 @@
 const env = require("../../../environment")
 const AWS = require("aws-sdk")
-const { deployToObjectStore } = require("./utils")
+const { deployToObjectStore, performReplication } = require("./utils")
+const CouchDB = require("pouchdb")
+const PouchDB = require("../../../db")
 
 const APP_BUCKET = "app-assets"
 
@@ -25,7 +27,25 @@ exports.deploy = async function(deployment) {
       Bucket: APP_BUCKET,
     },
   })
+  // checking the bucket exists
+  try {
+    await objClient.headBucket({ Bucket: APP_BUCKET }).promise()
+  } catch (err) {
+    // bucket doesn't exist create it
+    if (err.statusCode === 404) {
+      await objClient.createBucket({ Bucket: APP_BUCKET }).promise()
+    } else {
+      throw err
+    }
+  }
   // no metadata, aws has account ID in metadata
   const metadata = {}
   await deployToObjectStore(appId, objClient, metadata)
 }
+
+exports.replicateDb = async function(deployment) {
+  const appId = deployment.getAppId()
+  const localDb = new PouchDB(appId)
+  const remoteDb = new CouchDB(`${env.COUCH_DB_URL}/${appId}`)
+  return performReplication(localDb, remoteDb)
+}
diff --git a/packages/server/src/api/controllers/deploy/utils.js b/packages/server/src/api/controllers/deploy/utils.js
index f0a4b44e1d..4ee1f3a3f2 100644
--- a/packages/server/src/api/controllers/deploy/utils.js
+++ b/packages/server/src/api/controllers/deploy/utils.js
@@ -91,3 +91,12 @@ exports.deployToObjectStore = async function(appId, objectClient, metadata) {
     throw err
   }
 }
+
+exports.performReplication = (local, remote) => {
+  return new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
+    const replication = local.sync(remote)
+
+    replication.on("complete", () => resolve())
+    replication.on("error", err => reject(err))
+  })
+}
diff --git a/packages/server/src/environment.js b/packages/server/src/environment.js
index 578645ec66..0c67f8c747 100644
--- a/packages/server/src/environment.js
+++ b/packages/server/src/environment.js
@@ -36,6 +36,7 @@ module.exports = {
   ENABLE_ANALYTICS: process.env.ENABLE_ANALYTICS,
   DEPLOYMENT_DB_URL: process.env.DEPLOYMENT_DB_URL,
   LOCAL_TEMPLATES: process.env.LOCAL_TEMPLATES,
+  // self hosting features
   MINIO_ACCESS_KEY: process.env.MINIO_ACCESS_KEY,
   MINIO_SECRET_KEY: process.env.MINIO_SECRET_KEY,
   _set(key, value) {