diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 3b3b507..ad4fa6a 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -74,4 +74,4 @@ func main() {
 
 ## LICENSE
 
-See `LICENSE` file for details.
+See [LICENSE](/LICENSE) file for details.
diff --git a/go.mod b/go.mod
index 197046b..4626edd 100644
--- a/go.mod
+++ b/go.mod
@@ -2,13 +2,13 @@ module github.com/randlabs/go-postgres
 
 go 1.19
 
-require github.com/jackc/pgx/v5 v5.5.1
+require github.com/jackc/pgx/v5 v5.5.4
 
 require (
 	github.com/jackc/pgpassfile v1.0.0 // indirect
 	github.com/jackc/pgservicefile v0.0.0-20231201235250-de7065d80cb9 // indirect
 	github.com/jackc/puddle/v2 v2.2.1 // indirect
-	golang.org/x/crypto v0.17.0 // indirect
+	golang.org/x/crypto v0.21.0 // indirect
 	golang.org/x/sync v0.5.0 // indirect
 	golang.org/x/text v0.14.0 // indirect
 )
diff --git a/go.sum b/go.sum
index 2d0bd63..fd4ef9e 100644
--- a/go.sum
+++ b/go.sum
@@ -4,8 +4,8 @@ github.com/jackc/pgpassfile v1.0.0 h1:/6Hmqy13Ss2zCq62VdNG8tM1wchn8zjSGOBJ6icpsI
 github.com/jackc/pgpassfile v1.0.0/go.mod h1:CEx0iS5ambNFdcRtxPj5JhEz+xB6uRky5eyVu/W2HEg=
 github.com/jackc/pgservicefile v0.0.0-20231201235250-de7065d80cb9 h1:L0QtFUgDarD7Fpv9jeVMgy/+Ec0mtnmYuImjTz6dtDA=
 github.com/jackc/pgservicefile v0.0.0-20231201235250-de7065d80cb9/go.mod h1:5TJZWKEWniPve33vlWYSoGYefn3gLQRzjfDlhSJ9ZKM=
-github.com/jackc/pgx/v5 v5.5.1 h1:5I9etrGkLrN+2XPCsi6XLlV5DITbSL/xBZdmAxFcXPI=
-github.com/jackc/pgx/v5 v5.5.1/go.mod h1:Ig06C2Vu0t5qXC60W8sqIthScaEnFvojjj9dSljmHRA=
+github.com/jackc/pgx/v5 v5.5.4 h1:Xp2aQS8uXButQdnCMWNmvx6UysWQQC+u1EoizjguY+8=
+github.com/jackc/pgx/v5 v5.5.4/go.mod h1:ez9gk+OAat140fv9ErkZDYFWmXLfV+++K0uAOiwgm1A=
 github.com/jackc/puddle/v2 v2.2.1 h1:RhxXJtFG022u4ibrCSMSiu5aOq1i77R3OHKNJj77OAk=
 github.com/jackc/puddle/v2 v2.2.1/go.mod h1:vriiEXHvEE654aYKXXjOvZM39qJ0q+azkZFrfEOc3H4=
 github.com/pmezard/go-difflib v1.0.0 h1:4DBwDE0NGyQoBHbLQYPwSUPoCMWR5BEzIk/f1lZbAQM=
@@ -14,8 +14,8 @@ github.com/stretchr/objx v0.1.0/go.mod h1:HFkY916IF+rwdDfMAkV7OtwuqBVzrE8GR6GFx+
 github.com/stretchr/testify v1.3.0/go.mod h1:M5WIy9Dh21IEIfnGCwXGc5bZfKNJtfHm1UVUgZn+9EI=
 github.com/stretchr/testify v1.7.0/go.mod h1:6Fq8oRcR53rry900zMqJjRRixrwX3KX962/h/Wwjteg=
 github.com/stretchr/testify v1.8.1 h1:w7B6lhMri9wdJUVmEZPGGhZzrYTPvgJArz7wNPgYKsk=
-golang.org/x/crypto v0.17.0 h1:r8bRNjWL3GshPW3gkd+RpvzWrZAwPS49OmTGZ/uhM4k=
-golang.org/x/crypto v0.17.0/go.mod h1:gCAAfMLgwOJRpTjQ2zCCt2OcSfYMTeZVSRtQlPC7Nq4=
+golang.org/x/crypto v0.21.0 h1:X31++rzVUdKhX5sWmSOFZxx8UW/ldWx55cbf08iNAMA=
+golang.org/x/crypto v0.21.0/go.mod h1:0BP7YvVV9gBbVKyeTG0Gyn+gZm94bibOW5BjDEYAOMs=
 golang.org/x/sync v0.5.0 h1:60k92dhOjHxJkrqnwsfl8KuaHbn/5dl0lUPUklKo3qE=
 golang.org/x/sync v0.5.0/go.mod h1:Czt+wKu1gCyEFDUtn0jG5QVvpJ6rzVqr5aXyt9drQfk=
 golang.org/x/text v0.14.0 h1:ScX5w1eTa3QqT8oi6+ziP7dTV1S2+ALU0bI+0zXKWiQ=
diff --git a/postgres.go b/postgres.go
index 666040f..30f7eb4 100644
--- a/postgres.go
+++ b/postgres.go
@@ -4,6 +4,9 @@ import (
 	"context"
 	"errors"
 	"fmt"
+	"net/url"
+	"strconv"
+	"strings"
 	"sync"
 	"time"
 
@@ -58,16 +61,19 @@ const (
 
 // New creates a new postgresql database driver.
 func New(ctx context.Context, opts Options) (*Database, error) {
-	var sslMode string
-
-	// Create database object
-	db := Database{}
-	db.err.mutex = sync.Mutex{}
-
-	// Setup basic configuration options
+	// Validate options
+	if len(opts.Host) == 0 {
+		return nil, errors.New("invalid host")
+	}
+	if len(opts.User) == 0 {
+		return nil, errors.New("invalid user name")
+	}
+	if len(opts.Name) == 0 {
+		return nil, errors.New("invalid database name")
+	}
+	sslMode := "disable"
 	switch opts.SSLMode {
 	case SSLModeDisable:
-		sslMode = "disable"
 	case SSLModeAllow:
 		sslMode = "prefer"
 	case SSLModeRequired:
@@ -76,6 +82,10 @@ func New(ctx context.Context, opts Options) (*Database, error) {
 		return nil, errors.New("invalid SSL mode")
 	}
 
+	// Create database object
+	db := Database{}
+	db.err.mutex = sync.Mutex{}
+
 	connString := fmt.Sprintf(
 		"host='%s' port=%d user='%s' password='%s' dbname='%s' sslmode=%s",
 		encodeDSN(opts.Host), opts.Port, encodeDSN(opts.User), encodeDSN(opts.Password), encodeDSN(opts.Name),
@@ -110,6 +120,82 @@ func New(ctx context.Context, opts Options) (*Database, error) {
 	return &db, nil
 }
 
+// NewFromURL creates a new postgresql database driver from an URL
+func NewFromURL(ctx context.Context, rawUrl string) (*Database, error) {
+	opts := Options{}
+
+	u, err := url.ParseRequestURI(rawUrl)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, errors.New("invalid url provided")
+	}
+
+	// Check schema
+	if u.Scheme != "pg" && u.Scheme != "postgres" && u.Scheme != "postgresql" {
+		return nil, errors.New("invalid url schema")
+	}
+
+	// Check host name and port
+	opts.Host = u.Hostname()
+	if len(opts.Host) == 0 {
+		return nil, errors.New("invalid host")
+	}
+	s := u.Port()
+	if len(s) == 0 {
+		opts.Port = 5432
+	} else {
+		val, err2 := strconv.Atoi(s)
+		if err2 != nil || val < 1 || val > 65535 {
+			return nil, errors.New("invalid port")
+		}
+		opts.Port = uint16(val)
+	}
+
+	// Check user and password
+	if u.User == nil {
+		return nil, errors.New("invalid user name")
+	}
+	opts.User = u.User.Username()
+	if len(opts.User) == 0 {
+		return nil, errors.New("invalid user name")
+	}
+
+	// Check database name
+	if len(u.Path) < 1 || (!strings.HasPrefix(u.Path, "/")) || strings.Index(u.Path[1:], "/") >= 0 {
+		return nil, errors.New("invalid database name")
+	}
+	opts.Name = u.Path[1:]
+
+	// Check ssl mode
+	opts.SSLMode = SSLModeDisable
+	switch u.Query().Get("sslmode") {
+	case "allow":
+		opts.SSLMode = SSLModeAllow
+
+	case "required":
+		opts.SSLMode = SSLModeRequired
+
+	case "disabled":
+		fallthrough
+	case "":
+
+	default:
+		return nil, errors.New("invalid SSL mode")
+	}
+
+	// Check max connections count
+	s = u.Query().Get("maxconn")
+	if len(s) > 0 {
+		val, err2 := strconv.Atoi(s)
+		if err2 != nil || val < 0 {
+			return nil, errors.New("invalid max connections count")
+		}
+		opts.MaxConns = int32(val)
+	}
+
+	// Create
+	return New(ctx, opts)
+}
+
 // Close shutdown the connection pool
 func (db *Database) Close() {
 	if db.pool != nil {
diff --git a/postgres_test.go b/postgres_test.go
index 980dfc8..e8515e3 100644
--- a/postgres_test.go
+++ b/postgres_test.go
@@ -66,6 +66,7 @@ type TestJSON struct {
 }
 
 var (
+	pgUrl          string
 	pgHost         string
 	pgPort         uint
 	pgUsername     string
@@ -82,10 +83,11 @@ var (
 // -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
 func init() {
+	flag.StringVar(&pgUrl, "url", "", "Specifies the Postgres URL.")
 	flag.StringVar(&pgHost, "host", "127.0.0.1", "Specifies the Postgres server host. (Defaults to '127.0.0.1')")
 	flag.UintVar(&pgPort, "port", 5432, "Specifies the Postgres server port. (Defaults to 5432)")
 	flag.StringVar(&pgUsername, "user", "postgres", "Specifies the user name. (Defaults to 'postgres')")
-	flag.StringVar(&pgPassword, "password", "", "Specifies the user passwonrd.")
+	flag.StringVar(&pgPassword, "password", "", "Specifies the user password.")
 	flag.StringVar(&pgDatabaseName, "db", "", "Specifies the database name.")
 
 	testJSON = TestJSON{
@@ -102,56 +104,55 @@ func init() {
 // -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
 func TestPostgres(t *testing.T) {
+	var db *postgres.Database
+	var err error
+
 	// Parse and check command-line parameters
 	flag.Parse()
 	checkSettings(t)
 
+	ctx := context.Background()
+
 	// Create database driver
-	db, err := postgres.New(context.Background(), postgres.Options{
-		Host:     pgHost,
-		Port:     uint16(pgPort),
-		User:     pgUsername,
-		Password: pgPassword,
-		Name:     pgDatabaseName,
-	})
+	if len(pgUrl) > 0 {
+		db, err = postgres.NewFromURL(ctx, pgUrl)
+	} else {
+		db, err = postgres.New(ctx, postgres.Options{
+			Host:     pgHost,
+			Port:     uint16(pgPort),
+			User:     pgUsername,
+			Password: pgPassword,
+			Name:     pgDatabaseName,
+		})
+	}
 	if err != nil {
 		t.Fatalf("%v", err.Error())
 	}
-	// We comment the next defer line because we want to do a clean database pool shutdown on errors and
-	// calling fatal exits the process.
-	// defer db.Close()
-
-	ctx := context.Background()
+	defer db.Close()
 
 	t.Log("Creating test table")
 	err = createTestTable(ctx, db)
 	if err != nil {
-		db.Close()
 		t.Fatalf("%v", err.Error())
 	}
 
 	t.Log("Inserting test data")
 	err = insertTestData(ctx, db)
 	if err != nil {
-		db.Close()
 		t.Fatalf("%v", err.Error())
 	}
 
 	t.Log("Reading test data")
 	err = readTestData(ctx, db)
 	if err != nil {
-		db.Close()
 		t.Fatalf("%v", err.Error())
 	}
 
 	t.Log("Reading test data (multi-row)")
 	err = readMultiTestData(ctx, db)
 	if err != nil {
-		db.Close()
 		t.Fatalf("%v", err.Error())
 	}
-
-	db.Close()
 }
 
 // -----------------------------------------------------------------------------