diff --git a/packages/backend-core/src/db/utils.js b/packages/backend-core/src/db/utils.js
index abcd1dd75c..4b64473907 100644
--- a/packages/backend-core/src/db/utils.js
+++ b/packages/backend-core/src/db/utils.js
@@ -30,6 +30,7 @@ const UNICODE_MAX = "\ufff0"
 
 exports.ViewNames = {
   USER_BY_EMAIL: "by_email",
+  BY_API_KEY: "by_api_key",
 }
 
 exports.StaticDatabases = StaticDatabases
diff --git a/packages/backend-core/src/db/views.js b/packages/backend-core/src/db/views.js
index fd004ca0c2..e5be8e6b40 100644
--- a/packages/backend-core/src/db/views.js
+++ b/packages/backend-core/src/db/views.js
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 const { DocumentTypes, ViewNames } = require("./utils")
+const { getGlobalDB } = require("../tenancy")
 
 function DesignDoc() {
   return {
@@ -9,7 +10,8 @@ function DesignDoc() {
   }
 }
 
-exports.createUserEmailView = async db => {
+exports.createUserEmailView = async () => {
+  const db = getGlobalDB()
   let designDoc
   try {
     designDoc = await db.get("_design/database")
@@ -31,3 +33,51 @@ exports.createUserEmailView = async db => {
   }
   await db.put(designDoc)
 }
+
+exports.createApiKeyView = async () => {
+  const db = getGlobalDB()
+  let designDoc
+  try {
+    designDoc = await db.get("_design/database")
+  } catch (err) {
+    designDoc = DesignDoc()
+  }
+  const view = {
+    map: `function(doc) {
+      if (doc._id.startsWith("${DocumentTypes.DEV_INFO}") && doc.apiKey) {
+        emit(doc.apiKey, doc.userId)
+      }
+    }`,
+  }
+  designDoc.views = {
+    ...designDoc.views,
+    [ViewNames.BY_API_KEY]: view,
+  }
+  await db.put(designDoc)
+}
+
+exports.queryGlobalView = async (viewName, params, db = null) => {
+  const CreateFuncByName = {
+    [ViewNames.USER_BY_EMAIL]: exports.createUserEmailView,
+    [ViewNames.BY_API_KEY]: exports.createApiKeyView,
+  }
+  // can pass DB in if working with something specific
+  if (!db) {
+    db = getGlobalDB()
+  }
+  try {
+    let response = (await db.query(`database/${viewName}`, params)).rows
+    response = response.map(resp =>
+      params.include_docs ? resp.doc : resp.value
+    )
+    return response.length <= 1 ? response[0] : response
+  } catch (err) {
+    if (err != null && err.name === "not_found") {
+      const createFunc = CreateFuncByName[viewName]
+      await createFunc()
+      return exports.queryGlobalView(viewName, params)
+    } else {
+      throw err
+    }
+  }
+}
diff --git a/packages/backend-core/src/middleware/authenticated.js b/packages/backend-core/src/middleware/authenticated.js
index 4978f7b9dc..2d24f7fb21 100644
--- a/packages/backend-core/src/middleware/authenticated.js
+++ b/packages/backend-core/src/middleware/authenticated.js
@@ -4,6 +4,8 @@ const { getUser } = require("../cache/user")
 const { getSession, updateSessionTTL } = require("../security/sessions")
 const { buildMatcherRegex, matches } = require("./matchers")
 const env = require("../environment")
+const { SEPARATOR, ViewNames, queryGlobalView } = require("../../db")
+const { getGlobalDB } = require("../tenancy")
 
 function finalise(
   ctx,
@@ -16,6 +18,26 @@ function finalise(
   ctx.version = version
 }
 
+async function checkApiKey(apiKey, populateUser) {
+  if (apiKey === env.INTERNAL_API_KEY) {
+    return { valid: true }
+  }
+  const tenantId = apiKey.split(SEPARATOR)[0]
+  const db = getGlobalDB(tenantId)
+  const userId = await queryGlobalView(
+    ViewNames.BY_API_KEY,
+    {
+      key: apiKey,
+    },
+    db
+  )
+  if (userId) {
+    return { valid: true, user: await getUser(userId, tenantId, populateUser) }
+  } else {
+    throw "Invalid API key"
+  }
+}
+
 /**
  * This middleware is tenancy aware, so that it does not depend on other middlewares being used.
  * The tenancy modules should not be used here and it should be assumed that the tenancy context
@@ -79,9 +101,19 @@ module.exports = (
       const apiKey = ctx.request.headers[Headers.API_KEY]
       const tenantId = ctx.request.headers[Headers.TENANT_ID]
       // this is an internal request, no user made it
-      if (!authenticated && apiKey && apiKey === env.INTERNAL_API_KEY) {
-        authenticated = true
-        internal = true
+      if (!authenticated && apiKey) {
+        const populateUser = opts.populateUser ? opts.populateUser(ctx) : null
+        const { valid, user: foundUser } = await checkApiKey(
+          apiKey,
+          populateUser
+        )
+        if (valid && foundUser) {
+          authenticated = true
+          user = foundUser
+        } else if (valid) {
+          authenticated = true
+          internal = true
+        }
       }
       if (!user && tenantId) {
         user = { tenantId }
diff --git a/packages/backend-core/src/security/apiKeys.js b/packages/backend-core/src/security/apiKeys.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..e90418abb8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/backend-core/src/security/apiKeys.js
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+exports.lookupApiKey = async () => {}
diff --git a/packages/backend-core/src/utils.js b/packages/backend-core/src/utils.js
index 45fb4acd55..4183fa64d5 100644
--- a/packages/backend-core/src/utils.js
+++ b/packages/backend-core/src/utils.js
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ const {
 } = require("./db/utils")
 const jwt = require("jsonwebtoken")
 const { options } = require("./middleware/passport/jwt")
-const { createUserEmailView } = require("./db/views")
+const { queryGlobalView } = require("./db/views")
 const { Headers, UserStatus, Cookies, MAX_VALID_DATE } = require("./constants")
 const {
   getGlobalDB,
@@ -139,25 +139,11 @@ exports.getGlobalUserByEmail = async email => {
   if (email == null) {
     throw "Must supply an email address to view"
   }
-  const db = getGlobalDB()
 
-  try {
-    let users = (
-      await db.query(`database/${ViewNames.USER_BY_EMAIL}`, {
-        key: email.toLowerCase(),
-        include_docs: true,
-      })
-    ).rows
-    users = users.map(user => user.doc)
-    return users.length <= 1 ? users[0] : users
-  } catch (err) {
-    if (err != null && err.name === "not_found") {
-      await createUserEmailView(db)
-      return exports.getGlobalUserByEmail(email)
-    } else {
-      throw err
-    }
-  }
+  return queryGlobalView(ViewNames.USER_BY_EMAIL, {
+    key: email.toLowerCase(),
+    include_docs: true,
+  })
 }
 
 exports.saveUser = async (
diff --git a/packages/worker/src/api/controllers/global/self.js b/packages/worker/src/api/controllers/global/self.js
index baf9b74e1d..4c2fa961b9 100644
--- a/packages/worker/src/api/controllers/global/self.js
+++ b/packages/worker/src/api/controllers/global/self.js
@@ -1,7 +1,11 @@
-const { getGlobalDB } = require("@budibase/backend-core/tenancy")
-const { generateDevInfoID } = require("@budibase/backend-core/db")
+const { getGlobalDB, getTenantId } = require("@budibase/backend-core/tenancy")
+const { generateDevInfoID, SEPARATOR } = require("@budibase/backend-core/db")
 const { newid } = require("@budibase/backend-core/utils")
 
+function newApiKey() {
+  return `${getTenantId()}${SEPARATOR}${newid()}`
+}
+
 function cleanupDevInfo(info) {
   // user doesn't need to aware of dev doc info
   delete info._id
@@ -16,9 +20,9 @@ exports.generateAPIKey = async ctx => {
   try {
     devInfo = await db.get(id)
   } catch (err) {
-    devInfo = { _id: id }
+    devInfo = { _id: id, userId: ctx.user._id }
   }
-  devInfo.apiKey = newid()
+  devInfo.apiKey = newApiKey()
   await db.put(devInfo)
   ctx.body = cleanupDevInfo(devInfo)
 }
@@ -32,7 +36,8 @@ exports.fetchAPIKey = async ctx => {
   } catch (err) {
     devInfo = {
       _id: id,
-      apiKey: newid(),
+      userId: ctx.user._id,
+      apiKey: newApiKey(),
     }
     await db.put(devInfo)
   }