diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index ef1b7327c5..e812ce7eab 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -461,7 +461,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "tar",
  "tokio",
  "tokio-postgres",
- "urlencoding",
+ "url",
  "workspace_hack",
 ]
 
@@ -3685,12 +3685,6 @@ dependencies = [
  "percent-encoding",
 ]
 
-[[package]]
-name = "urlencoding"
-version = "2.1.0"
-source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "68b90931029ab9b034b300b797048cf23723400aa757e8a2bfb9d748102f9821"
-
 [[package]]
 name = "utils"
 version = "0.1.0"
diff --git a/compute_tools/Cargo.toml b/compute_tools/Cargo.toml
index a47f9998e6..1022438c2e 100644
--- a/compute_tools/Cargo.toml
+++ b/compute_tools/Cargo.toml
@@ -18,5 +18,5 @@ serde_json = "1"
 tar = "0.4"
 tokio = { version = "1.17", features = ["macros", "rt", "rt-multi-thread"] }
 tokio-postgres = { git = "https://github.com/zenithdb/rust-postgres.git", rev="d052ee8b86fff9897c77b0fe89ea9daba0e1fa38" }
-urlencoding = "2.1.0"
+url = "2.2.2"
 workspace_hack = { version = "0.1", path = "../workspace_hack" }
diff --git a/compute_tools/src/bin/compute_ctl.rs b/compute_tools/src/bin/compute_ctl.rs
index ba116af11b..f535adfd87 100644
--- a/compute_tools/src/bin/compute_ctl.rs
+++ b/compute_tools/src/bin/compute_ctl.rs
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ use std::process::exit;
 use std::sync::{Arc, RwLock};
 use std::{thread, time::Duration};
 
-use anyhow::Result;
+use anyhow::{Context, Result};
 use chrono::Utc;
 use clap::Arg;
 use log::{error, info};
@@ -45,6 +45,7 @@ use compute_tools::monitor::launch_monitor;
 use compute_tools::params::*;
 use compute_tools::pg_helpers::*;
 use compute_tools::spec::*;
+use url::Url;
 
 fn main() -> Result<()> {
     // TODO: re-use `utils::logging` later
@@ -131,7 +132,7 @@ fn main() -> Result<()> {
 
     let compute_state = ComputeNode {
         start_time: Utc::now(),
-        connstr: connstr.to_string(),
+        connstr: Url::parse(connstr).context("cannot parse connstr as a URL")?,
         pgdata: pgdata.to_string(),
         pgbin: pgbin.to_string(),
         spec,
diff --git a/compute_tools/src/checker.rs b/compute_tools/src/checker.rs
index dbb70a74cf..b6ba1692f9 100644
--- a/compute_tools/src/checker.rs
+++ b/compute_tools/src/checker.rs
@@ -1,5 +1,3 @@
-use std::sync::Arc;
-
 use anyhow::{anyhow, Result};
 use log::error;
 use postgres::Client;
@@ -23,9 +21,8 @@ pub fn create_writablity_check_data(client: &mut Client) -> Result<()> {
     Ok(())
 }
 
-pub async fn check_writability(compute: &Arc<ComputeNode>) -> Result<()> {
-    let connstr = &compute.connstr;
-    let (client, connection) = tokio_postgres::connect(connstr, NoTls).await?;
+pub async fn check_writability(compute: &ComputeNode) -> Result<()> {
+    let (client, connection) = tokio_postgres::connect(compute.connstr.as_str(), NoTls).await?;
     if client.is_closed() {
         return Err(anyhow!("connection to postgres closed"));
     }
diff --git a/compute_tools/src/compute.rs b/compute_tools/src/compute.rs
index abf7081cb7..8bcaf5494a 100644
--- a/compute_tools/src/compute.rs
+++ b/compute_tools/src/compute.rs
@@ -35,7 +35,8 @@ use crate::spec::*;
 /// Compute node info shared across several `compute_ctl` threads.
 pub struct ComputeNode {
     pub start_time: DateTime<Utc>,
-    pub connstr: String,
+    // Url type maintains proper escaping
+    pub connstr: url::Url,
     pub pgdata: String,
     pub pgbin: String,
     pub spec: ComputeSpec,
@@ -268,21 +269,25 @@ impl ComputeNode {
         // In this case we need to connect with old `zenith_admin`name
         // and create new user. We cannot simply rename connected user,
         // but we can create a new one and grant it all privileges.
-        let mut client = match Client::connect(&self.connstr, NoTls) {
+        let mut client = match Client::connect(self.connstr.as_str(), NoTls) {
             Err(e) => {
                 info!(
                     "cannot connect to postgres: {}, retrying with `zenith_admin` username",
                     e
                 );
-                let zenith_admin_connstr = self.connstr.replacen("cloud_admin", "zenith_admin", 1);
+                let mut zenith_admin_connstr = self.connstr.clone();
 
-                let mut client = Client::connect(&zenith_admin_connstr, NoTls)?;
+                zenith_admin_connstr
+                    .set_username("zenith_admin")
+                    .map_err(|_| anyhow::anyhow!("invalid connstr"))?;
+
+                let mut client = Client::connect(zenith_admin_connstr.as_str(), NoTls)?;
                 client.simple_query("CREATE USER cloud_admin WITH SUPERUSER")?;
                 client.simple_query("GRANT zenith_admin TO cloud_admin")?;
                 drop(client);
 
                 // reconnect with connsting with expected name
-                Client::connect(&self.connstr, NoTls)?
+                Client::connect(self.connstr.as_str(), NoTls)?
             }
             Ok(client) => client,
         };
diff --git a/compute_tools/src/monitor.rs b/compute_tools/src/monitor.rs
index 041b4875bd..58cdf796bc 100644
--- a/compute_tools/src/monitor.rs
+++ b/compute_tools/src/monitor.rs
@@ -13,11 +13,11 @@ const MONITOR_CHECK_INTERVAL: u64 = 500; // milliseconds
 // Spin in a loop and figure out the last activity time in the Postgres.
 // Then update it in the shared state. This function never errors out.
 // XXX: the only expected panic is at `RwLock` unwrap().
-fn watch_compute_activity(compute: &Arc<ComputeNode>) {
+fn watch_compute_activity(compute: &ComputeNode) {
     // Suppose that `connstr` doesn't change
-    let connstr = compute.connstr.clone();
+    let connstr = compute.connstr.as_str();
     // Define `client` outside of the loop to reuse existing connection if it's active.
-    let mut client = Client::connect(&connstr, NoTls);
+    let mut client = Client::connect(connstr, NoTls);
     let timeout = time::Duration::from_millis(MONITOR_CHECK_INTERVAL);
 
     info!("watching Postgres activity at {}", connstr);
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ fn watch_compute_activity(compute: &Arc<ComputeNode>) {
                     info!("connection to postgres closed, trying to reconnect");
 
                     // Connection is closed, reconnect and try again.
-                    client = Client::connect(&connstr, NoTls);
+                    client = Client::connect(connstr, NoTls);
                     continue;
                 }
 
@@ -93,7 +93,7 @@ fn watch_compute_activity(compute: &Arc<ComputeNode>) {
                 debug!("cannot connect to postgres: {}, retrying", e);
 
                 // Establish a new connection and try again.
-                client = Client::connect(&connstr, NoTls);
+                client = Client::connect(connstr, NoTls);
             }
         }
     }
diff --git a/compute_tools/src/spec.rs b/compute_tools/src/spec.rs
index d2cfb6d726..041f42acde 100644
--- a/compute_tools/src/spec.rs
+++ b/compute_tools/src/spec.rs
@@ -4,7 +4,6 @@ use anyhow::Result;
 use log::{info, log_enabled, warn, Level};
 use postgres::{Client, NoTls};
 use serde::Deserialize;
-use urlencoding::encode;
 
 use crate::compute::ComputeNode;
 use crate::config;
@@ -231,9 +230,11 @@ pub fn handle_role_deletions(node: &ComputeNode, client: &mut Client) -> Result<
 fn reassign_owned_objects(node: &ComputeNode, role_name: &PgIdent) -> Result<()> {
     for db in &node.spec.cluster.databases {
         if db.owner != *role_name {
-            let db_name_encoded = format!("/{}", encode(&db.name));
-            let db_connstr = node.connstr.replacen("/postgres", &db_name_encoded, 1);
-            let mut client = Client::connect(&db_connstr, NoTls)?;
+            let mut connstr = node.connstr.clone();
+            // database name is always the last and the only component of the path
+            connstr.set_path(&db.name);
+
+            let mut client = Client::connect(connstr.as_str(), NoTls)?;
 
             // This will reassign all dependent objects to the db owner
             let reassign_query = format!(