diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 56580b88..1689b23f 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -115,9 +115,10 @@ _this is the recommended way to run remark42_
 | cache.max.items         | CACHE_MAX_ITEMS         | `1000`                   | max number of cached items, `0` - unlimited      |
 | cache.max.value         | CACHE_MAX_VALUE         | `65536`                  | max size of cached value, `0` - unlimited        |
 | cache.max.size          | CACHE_MAX_SIZE          | `50000000`               | max size of all cached values, `0` - unlimited   |
-| avatar.type             | AVATAR_TYPE             | `fs`                     | type of avatar storage, `fs`, `bolt`, or `mongo` |
+| avatar.type             | AVATAR_TYPE             | `fs`                     | type of avatar storage, `fs`, `bolt`, or `uri`   |
 | avatar.fs.path          | AVATAR_FS_PATH          | `./var/avatars`          | avatars location for `fs` store                  |
 | avatar.bolt.file        | AVATAR_BOLT_FILE        | `./var/avatars.db`       | file name for  `bolt` store                      |
+| avatar.uri              | AVATAR_URI              | `./var/avatars`          | avatar store uri                                 |
 | avatar.rsz-lmt          | AVATAR_RSZ_LMT          | `0` (disabled)           | max image size for resizing avatars on save      |
 | image.type              | IMAGE_TYPE              | `fs`                     | type of image storage, `fs`, `bolt`, or `mongo`  |
 | image.max-size          | IMAGE_MAX_SIZE          | `5000000`                | max size of image file                           |
diff --git a/backend/_example/memory_store/go.sum b/backend/_example/memory_store/go.sum
index 90b87539..4ce03db1 100644
--- a/backend/_example/memory_store/go.sum
+++ b/backend/_example/memory_store/go.sum
@@ -48,6 +48,7 @@ github.com/go-chi/render v1.0.1/go.mod h1:pq4Rr7HbnsdaeHagklXub+p6Wd16Af5l9koip1
 github.com/go-pkgz/auth v0.4.1/go.mod h1:CWtB8dHmOv+TfF3MUzKwk/YwTLepC2TaDL05A+pFVBM=
 github.com/go-pkgz/auth v0.7.2/go.mod h1:ibOpZYISiaOvAHe2bsKj2s3v4AkMam2WxxIFn+zhulo=
 github.com/go-pkgz/auth v0.8.0/go.mod h1:MBNrhig13KG0iXz/0d+30lnFUgzTxncUlaQ8suH/2p8=
+github.com/go-pkgz/auth v0.8.1/go.mod h1:MBNrhig13KG0iXz/0d+30lnFUgzTxncUlaQ8suH/2p8=
 github.com/go-pkgz/auth/_example v0.0.0-20190722170031-705d3f732438/go.mod h1:rvZtFFkmm3p+E0CHmfUqTGKweCVg2ddsRUrEEPB1iaE=
 github.com/go-pkgz/auth/_example v0.0.0-20190823054154-cc9c87832e19/go.mod h1:M9HLEzuiKQQ+rwGA9bAzmUDguCJi2HyGwKkxb5ouGJU=
 github.com/go-pkgz/jrpc v0.1.0 h1:hNg/IyfEqJcSWOKkuHw0ZwcuGc9TDp7QZREsD2ycmiM=
diff --git a/backend/app/cmd/server.go b/backend/app/cmd/server.go
index b8aa1be6..473931d1 100644
--- a/backend/app/cmd/server.go
+++ b/backend/app/cmd/server.go
@@ -132,14 +132,15 @@ type ImageGroup struct {
 
 // AvatarGroup defines options group for avatar params
 type AvatarGroup struct {
-	Type string `long:"type" env:"TYPE" description:"type of avatar storage" choice:"fs" choice:"bolt" default:"fs"`
+	Type string `long:"type" env:"TYPE" description:"type of avatar storage" choice:"fs" choice:"bolt" choice:"uri" default:"fs"`
 	FS   struct {
 		Path string `long:"path" env:"PATH" default:"./var/avatars" description:"avatars location"`
 	} `group:"fs" namespace:"fs" env-namespace:"FS"`
 	Bolt struct {
 		File string `long:"file" env:"FILE" default:"./var/avatars.db" description:"avatars bolt file location"`
 	} `group:"bolt" namespace:"bolt" env-namespace:"bolt"`
-	RszLmt int `long:"rsz-lmt" env:"RESIZE" default:"0" description:"max image size for resizing avatars on save"`
+	URI    string `long:"uri" env:"URI" default:"./var/avatars" description:"avatar's store URI"`
+	RszLmt int    `long:"rsz-lmt" env:"RESIZE" default:"0" description:"max image size for resizing avatars on save"`
 }
 
 // CacheGroup defines options group for cache params
@@ -470,6 +471,8 @@ func (s *ServerCommand) makeAvatarStore() (avatar.Store, error) {
 			return nil, err
 		}
 		return avatar.NewBoltDB(s.Avatar.Bolt.File, bolt.Options{})
+	case "uri":
+		return avatar.NewStore(s.Avatar.URI)
 	}
 	return nil, errors.Errorf("unsupported avatar store type %s", s.Avatar.Type)
 }
diff --git a/backend/go.mod b/backend/go.mod
index 6b72a947..a2bee37e 100644
--- a/backend/go.mod
+++ b/backend/go.mod
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ require (
 	github.com/go-chi/chi v4.0.2+incompatible
 	github.com/go-chi/cors v1.0.0
 	github.com/go-chi/render v1.0.1
-	github.com/go-pkgz/auth v0.8.0
+	github.com/go-pkgz/auth v0.8.1
 	github.com/go-pkgz/jrpc v0.1.0
 	github.com/go-pkgz/lcw v0.3.1
 	github.com/go-pkgz/lgr v0.6.3
diff --git a/backend/go.sum b/backend/go.sum
index 88ee3d91..5dc308df 100644
--- a/backend/go.sum
+++ b/backend/go.sum
@@ -53,8 +53,8 @@ github.com/go-chi/cors v1.0.0/go.mod h1:K2Yje0VW/SJzxiyMYu6iPQYa7hMjQX2i/F491VCh
 github.com/go-chi/render v1.0.1 h1:4/5tis2cKaNdnv9zFLfXzcquC9HbeZgCnxGnKrltBS8=
 github.com/go-chi/render v1.0.1/go.mod h1:pq4Rr7HbnsdaeHagklXub+p6Wd16Af5l9koip1OvJns=
 github.com/go-pkgz/auth v0.4.1/go.mod h1:CWtB8dHmOv+TfF3MUzKwk/YwTLepC2TaDL05A+pFVBM=
-github.com/go-pkgz/auth v0.8.0 h1:8m0HyTbYGA568NEBQE7CqMgBZ+ZZFwBIZaVOzOWC2uI=
-github.com/go-pkgz/auth v0.8.0/go.mod h1:MBNrhig13KG0iXz/0d+30lnFUgzTxncUlaQ8suH/2p8=
+github.com/go-pkgz/auth v0.8.1 h1:HBJau0LDOZ9NI5+fnrJu5azETuXLJx9ipx5uosYdK8I=
+github.com/go-pkgz/auth v0.8.1/go.mod h1:MBNrhig13KG0iXz/0d+30lnFUgzTxncUlaQ8suH/2p8=
 github.com/go-pkgz/auth/_example v0.0.0-20190722170031-705d3f732438/go.mod h1:rvZtFFkmm3p+E0CHmfUqTGKweCVg2ddsRUrEEPB1iaE=
 github.com/go-pkgz/jrpc v0.1.0 h1:hNg/IyfEqJcSWOKkuHw0ZwcuGc9TDp7QZREsD2ycmiM=
 github.com/go-pkgz/jrpc v0.1.0/go.mod h1:JxZsvoBklA50DNhELVJnJ567Rt+KrMH9rR3u515wvE8=
diff --git a/backend/vendor/github.com/go-pkgz/auth/README.md b/backend/vendor/github.com/go-pkgz/auth/README.md
index d3c779b8..1afccf74 100644
--- a/backend/vendor/github.com/go-pkgz/auth/README.md
+++ b/backend/vendor/github.com/go-pkgz/auth/README.md
@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@ Example with chi router:
 ```go
 
 func main() {
-	/// define options
+	// define options
 	options := auth.Opts{
 		SecretReader: token.SecretFunc(func(id string) (string, error) { // secret key for JWT
 			return "secret", nil
@@ -129,7 +129,10 @@ Direct links to avatars won't survive any real-life usage if they linked from a
     - `avatar.GridFS` - external [GridFS](https://docs.mongodb.com/manual/core/gridfs/) (mongo db).
 - In case of need custom implementations of other stores can be passed in and used by `auth` library. Each store has to implement `avatar.Store` [interface](https://github.com/go-pkgz/auth/blob/master/avatar/store.go#L25).
 - All avatar-related setup done as a part of `auth.Opts` and needs:
-    - `AvatarStore` - avatar store to use, i.e. `avatar.NewLocalFS("/tmp/avatars")`
+    - `AvatarStore` - avatar store to use, i.e. `avatar.NewLocalFS("/tmp/avatars")` or more generic `avatar.NewStore(uri)`
+        - file system uri - `file:///tmp/location` or just `/tmp/location`
+        - boltdb - `bolt://tmp/avatars.bdb`
+        - mongo - `"mongodb://127.0.0.1:27017/test?ava_db=db1&ava_coll=coll1`
     - `AvatarRoutePath` - route prefix for direct links to proxied avatar. For example `/api/v1/avatars` will make full links like this - `http://example.com/api/v1/avatars/1234567890123.image`. The url will be stored in user's token and retrieved by middleware (see "User Info")
     - `AvatarResizeLimit` - size (in pixels) used to resize the avatar. Pls note - resize happens once as a part of `Put` call, i.e. on login. 0 size (default) disables resizing.      
 
diff --git a/backend/vendor/github.com/go-pkgz/auth/avatar/bolt.go b/backend/vendor/github.com/go-pkgz/auth/avatar/bolt.go
index 08d26198..24b1092c 100644
--- a/backend/vendor/github.com/go-pkgz/auth/avatar/bolt.go
+++ b/backend/vendor/github.com/go-pkgz/auth/avatar/bolt.go
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ import (
 	"bytes"
 	"crypto/sha1"
 	"encoding/hex"
+	"fmt"
 	"io"
 	"io/ioutil"
 	"log"
@@ -126,6 +127,10 @@ func (b *BoltDB) Close() error {
 	return errors.Wrapf(b.db.Close(), "failed to close %s", b.fileName)
 }
 
+func (b *BoltDB) String() string {
+	return fmt.Sprintf("boltdb, path=%s", b.fileName)
+}
+
 func (b *BoltDB) sha1(data []byte, avatarID string) (id string) {
 	h := sha1.New()
 	if _, err := h.Write(data); err != nil {
diff --git a/backend/vendor/github.com/go-pkgz/auth/avatar/gridfs.go b/backend/vendor/github.com/go-pkgz/auth/avatar/gridfs.go
index 5eeb7214..04d54e73 100644
--- a/backend/vendor/github.com/go-pkgz/auth/avatar/gridfs.go
+++ b/backend/vendor/github.com/go-pkgz/auth/avatar/gridfs.go
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ package avatar
 
 import (
 	"bytes"
+	"fmt"
 	"io"
 	"io/ioutil"
 	"log"
@@ -116,3 +117,7 @@ func (gf *GridFS) List() (ids []string, err error) {
 func (gf *GridFS) Close() error {
 	return nil
 }
+
+func (gf *GridFS) String() string {
+	return fmt.Sprintf("mongo (grid fs), conn=%s", gf.Connection)
+}
diff --git a/backend/vendor/github.com/go-pkgz/auth/avatar/localfs.go b/backend/vendor/github.com/go-pkgz/auth/avatar/localfs.go
index bed7b634..7336c3a8 100644
--- a/backend/vendor/github.com/go-pkgz/auth/avatar/localfs.go
+++ b/backend/vendor/github.com/go-pkgz/auth/avatar/localfs.go
@@ -108,6 +108,10 @@ func (fs *LocalFS) Close() error {
 	return nil
 }
 
+func (fs *LocalFS) String() string {
+	return fmt.Sprintf("localfs, path=%s", fs.storePath)
+}
+
 // get location (directory) for user id by adding partition to final path in order to keep files
 // in different subdirectories and avoid too many files in a single place.
 // the end result is a full path like this - /tmp/avatars.test/92
diff --git a/backend/vendor/github.com/go-pkgz/auth/avatar/store.go b/backend/vendor/github.com/go-pkgz/auth/avatar/store.go
index 8aec56e3..e6c58740 100644
--- a/backend/vendor/github.com/go-pkgz/auth/avatar/store.go
+++ b/backend/vendor/github.com/go-pkgz/auth/avatar/store.go
@@ -4,15 +4,21 @@ package avatar
 
 import (
 	"crypto/sha1"
+	"fmt"
 	_ "image/gif"  // initializing packages for supporting GIF
 	_ "image/jpeg" // initializing packages for supporting JPEG.
 	_ "image/png"  // initializing packages for supporting PNG.
 	"io"
 	"log"
+	"net/url"
 	"regexp"
 	"strings"
+	"time"
 
+	bolt "github.com/coreos/bbolt"
 	"github.com/go-pkgz/auth/token"
+	"github.com/go-pkgz/mongo"
+	"github.com/pkg/errors"
 )
 
 // imgSfx for avatars
@@ -22,6 +28,7 @@ var reValidAvatarID = regexp.MustCompile(`^[a-fA-F0-9]{40}\.image$`)
 
 // Store defines interface to store and and load avatars
 type Store interface {
+	fmt.Stringer
 	Put(userID string, reader io.Reader) (avatarID string, err error) // save avatar data from the reader and return base name
 	Get(avatarID string) (reader io.ReadCloser, size int, err error)  // load avatar via reader
 	ID(avatarID string) (id string)                                   // unique id of stored avatar's data
@@ -30,6 +37,30 @@ type Store interface {
 	Close() error                                                     // close store
 }
 
+// NewStore provides factory for all supported stores making the one
+// based on uri protocol. Default (no protocol) is file-system
+func NewStore(uri string) (Store, error) {
+	switch {
+	case strings.HasPrefix(uri, "file://"):
+		return NewLocalFS(strings.TrimPrefix(uri, "file://")), nil
+	case !strings.Contains(uri, "://"):
+		return NewLocalFS(uri), nil
+	case strings.HasPrefix(uri, "mongodb://"):
+		db, coll, u, err := parseExtMongoURI(uri)
+		if err != nil {
+			return nil, errors.Wrapf(err, "can't parse mongo store uri %s", uri)
+		}
+		mg, err := mongo.NewServerWithURL(u, time.Second)
+		if err != nil {
+			return nil, errors.Wrap(err, "failed to make mongo server")
+		}
+		return NewGridFS(mongo.NewConnection(mg, db, coll)), nil
+	case strings.HasPrefix(uri, "bolt://"):
+		return NewBoltDB(strings.TrimPrefix(uri, "bolt://"), bolt.Options{})
+	}
+	return nil, errors.Errorf("can't parse store url %s", uri)
+}
+
 // Migrate avatars between stores
 func Migrate(dst, src Store) (int, error) {
 	ids, err := src.List()
@@ -59,3 +90,26 @@ func encodeID(id string) string {
 	}
 	return token.HashID(sha1.New(), id)
 }
+
+// parseExtMongoURI extracts extra params ava_db and ava_coll and remove
+// from the url. Input example: mongodb://user:password@127.0.0.1:27017/test?ssl=true&ava_db=db1&ava_coll=coll1
+func parseExtMongoURI(uri string) (db, collection, cleanURI string, err error) {
+
+	db, collection = "test", "avatars_fs"
+	u, err := url.Parse(uri)
+	if err != nil {
+		return "", "", "", err
+	}
+	if val := u.Query().Get("ava_db"); val != "" {
+		db = val
+	}
+	if val := u.Query().Get("ava_coll"); val != "" {
+		collection = val
+	}
+
+	q := u.Query()
+	q.Del("ava_db")
+	q.Del("ava_coll")
+	u.RawQuery = q.Encode()
+	return db, collection, u.String(), nil
+}
diff --git a/backend/vendor/modules.txt b/backend/vendor/modules.txt
index 0294cd54..3eb350cf 100644
--- a/backend/vendor/modules.txt
+++ b/backend/vendor/modules.txt
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ github.com/go-chi/chi/middleware
 github.com/go-chi/cors
 # github.com/go-chi/render v1.0.1
 github.com/go-chi/render
-# github.com/go-pkgz/auth v0.8.0
+# github.com/go-pkgz/auth v0.8.1
 github.com/go-pkgz/auth
 github.com/go-pkgz/auth/avatar
 github.com/go-pkgz/auth/provider