diff --git a/brozzler/cli.py b/brozzler/cli.py
index 26efaa9..8724e0f 100644
--- a/brozzler/cli.py
+++ b/brozzler/cli.py
@@ -58,13 +58,21 @@ def _add_common_options(arg_parser):
 
 def _add_rethinkdb_options(arg_parser):
     arg_parser.add_argument(
-            '--rethinkdb-servers', dest='rethinkdb_servers',
-            default='localhost', help=(
+            '--rethinkdb-servers', dest='rethinkdb_servers', help=(
                 'rethinkdb servers, e.g. '
-                'db0.foo.org,db0.foo.org:38015,db1.foo.org'))
+                'db0.foo.org,db0.foo.org:38015,db1.foo.org (takes precedence '
+                'over environment variable BROZZLER_RETHINKDB_SERVERS)'))
     arg_parser.add_argument(
-            '--rethinkdb-db', dest='rethinkdb_db', default='brozzler',
-            help='rethinkdb database name')
+            '--rethinkdb-db', dest='rethinkdb_db', help=(
+                'rethinkdb database name (takes precedence over '
+                'environment variable BROZZLER_RETHINKDB_DB)'))
+
+def rethinker(args):
+    servers = args.rethinkdb_servers or os.environ.get(
+            'BROZZLER_RETHINKDB_SERVERS') or 'localhost'
+    db = args.rethinkdb_db or os.environ.get(
+            'BROZZLER_RETHINKDB_DB') or 'brozzler'
+    return rethinkstuff.Rethinker(servers.split(','), db)
 
 def _add_proxy_options(arg_parser):
     arg_parser.add_argument(
@@ -197,8 +205,7 @@ def brozzler_new_job():
     args = arg_parser.parse_args(args=sys.argv[1:])
     _configure_logging(args)
 
-    r = rethinkstuff.Rethinker(
-            args.rethinkdb_servers.split(','), args.rethinkdb_db)
+    r = rethinker(args)
     frontier = brozzler.RethinkDbFrontier(r)
     try:
         brozzler.job.new_job_file(frontier, args.job_conf_file)
@@ -260,8 +267,7 @@ def brozzler_new_site():
                 args.behavior_parameters) if args.behavior_parameters else None,
             username=args.username, password=args.password)
 
-    r = rethinkstuff.Rethinker(
-            args.rethinkdb_servers.split(","), args.rethinkdb_db)
+    r = rethinker()
     frontier = brozzler.RethinkDbFrontier(r)
     brozzler.new_site(frontier, site)
 
@@ -316,8 +322,7 @@ def brozzler_worker():
     signal.signal(signal.SIGTERM, sigterm)
     signal.signal(signal.SIGINT, sigint)
 
-    r = rethinkstuff.Rethinker(
-            args.rethinkdb_servers.split(','), args.rethinkdb_db)
+    r = rethinker(args)
     frontier = brozzler.RethinkDbFrontier(r)
     service_registry = rethinkstuff.ServiceRegistry(r)
     worker = brozzler.worker.BrozzlerWorker(
@@ -345,8 +350,7 @@ def brozzler_ensure_tables():
     args = arg_parser.parse_args(args=sys.argv[1:])
     _configure_logging(args)
 
-    r = rethinkstuff.Rethinker(
-            args.rethinkdb_servers.split(','), args.rethinkdb_db)
+    r = rethinker(args)
 
     # services table
     rethinkstuff.ServiceRegistry(r)
@@ -376,8 +380,7 @@ def brozzler_list_jobs():
     args = arg_parser.parse_args(args=sys.argv[1:])
     _configure_logging(args)
 
-    r = rethinkstuff.Rethinker(
-            args.rethinkdb_servers.split(','), args.rethinkdb_db)
+    r = rethinker(args)
     reql = r.table('jobs').order_by('id')
     if not args.all:
         reql = reql.filter({'status': 'ACTIVE'})
@@ -406,8 +409,7 @@ def brozzler_list_sites():
     args = arg_parser.parse_args(args=sys.argv[1:])
     _configure_logging(args)
 
-    r = rethinkstuff.Rethinker(
-            args.rethinkdb_servers.split(','), args.rethinkdb_db)
+    r = rethinker(args)
 
     reql = r.table('sites')
     if args.job:
@@ -453,8 +455,7 @@ def brozzler_list_pages():
     args = arg_parser.parse_args(args=sys.argv[1:])
     _configure_logging(args)
 
-    r = rethinkstuff.Rethinker(
-            args.rethinkdb_servers.split(','), args.rethinkdb_db)
+    r = rethinker(args)
     if args.job:
         try:
             job_id = int(args.job)
@@ -516,8 +517,7 @@ def brozzler_list_captures():
     args = arg_parser.parse_args(args=sys.argv[1:])
     _configure_logging(args)
 
-    r = rethinkstuff.Rethinker(
-            args.rethinkdb_servers.split(','), args.rethinkdb_db)
+    r = rethinker(args)
 
     if args.url_or_sha1[:5] == 'sha1:':
         if args.prefix:
diff --git a/brozzler/dashboard/__init__.py b/brozzler/dashboard/__init__.py
index 3abe8f8..a1adc9b 100644
--- a/brozzler/dashboard/__init__.py
+++ b/brozzler/dashboard/__init__.py
@@ -52,8 +52,8 @@ app.logger.setLevel(logging.INFO)
 # configure with environment variables
 SETTINGS = {
     'RETHINKDB_SERVERS': os.environ.get(
-        'RETHINKDB_SERVERS', 'localhost').split(','),
-    'RETHINKDB_DB': os.environ.get('RETHINKDB_DB', 'brozzler'),
+        'BROZZLER_RETHINKDB_SERVERS', 'localhost').split(','),
+    'RETHINKDB_DB': os.environ.get('BROZZLER_RETHINKDB_DB', 'brozzler'),
     'WAYBACK_BASEURL': os.environ.get(
         'WAYBACK_BASEURL', 'http://localhost:8091/brozzler'),
 }
@@ -246,10 +246,11 @@ def main():
             epilog=(
                 'brozzler-dashboard has no command line options, but can be '
                 'configured using the following environment variables:\n\n'
-                '  RETHINKDB_SERVERS   rethinkdb servers, e.g. db0.foo.org,'
-                'db0.foo.org:38015,db1.foo.org (default: localhost)\n'
-                '  RETHINKDB_DB        rethinkdb database name (default: '
-                'brozzler)\n'
+                '  BROZZLER_RETHINKDB_SERVERS   rethinkdb servers, e.g. '
+                'db0.foo.org,db0.foo.org:38015,db1.foo.org (default: '
+                'localhost)\n'
+                '  BROZZLER_RETHINKDB_DB        rethinkdb database name '
+                '(default: brozzler)\n'
                 '  WAYBACK_BASEURL     base url for constructing wayback '
                 'links (default http://localhost:8091/brozzler)'))
     args = arg_parser.parse_args(args=sys.argv[1:])
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 7c6720d..9b57433 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ def find_package_data(package):
 
 setuptools.setup(
         name='brozzler',
-        version='1.1b9.dev168',
+        version='1.1b9.dev169',
         description='Distributed web crawling with browsers',
         url='https://github.com/internetarchive/brozzler',
         author='Noah Levitt',