diff --git a/src/main/java/com/dtsx/astra/cli/core/models/DbRef.java b/src/main/java/com/dtsx/astra/cli/core/models/DbRef.java
index b551156b..31a2d9d7 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/dtsx/astra/cli/core/models/DbRef.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/dtsx/astra/cli/core/models/DbRef.java
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@
 import lombok.*;
 
 import java.util.Map;
+import java.util.Optional;
 import java.util.UUID;
 import java.util.function.Function;
 
@@ -15,10 +16,17 @@
 @EqualsAndHashCode
 @RequiredArgsConstructor(access = AccessLevel.PRIVATE)
 public class DbRef implements Highlightable {
+    private static final int UUID_LENGTH = 36;
+
     private final Either<UUID, String> ref;
 
     public static Either<String, DbRef> parse(@NonNull String ref) {
         return ModelUtils.trimAndValidateBasics("Database name/id", ref).flatMap((trimmed) -> {
+            val maybeIdFromEndpoint = tryParseEndpointUrl(trimmed);
+            if (maybeIdFromEndpoint.isPresent()) {
+                return Either.pure(new DbRef(Either.left(maybeIdFromEndpoint.get())));
+            }
+
             try {
                 return Either.pure(new DbRef(Either.left(UUID.fromString(trimmed))));
             } catch (IllegalArgumentException e) {
@@ -27,6 +35,26 @@ public static Either<String, DbRef> parse(@NonNull String ref) {
         });
     }
 
+    private static Optional<UUID> tryParseEndpointUrl(String input) {
+        if (!input.startsWith("https://") && !input.startsWith("http://")) {
+            return Optional.empty();
+        }
+
+        val hostStart = input.indexOf("://") + 3;
+        val afterScheme = input.substring(hostStart);
+        val host = afterScheme.contains("/") ? afterScheme.substring(0, afterScheme.indexOf('/')) : afterScheme;
+
+        if (host.length() <= UUID_LENGTH || host.charAt(UUID_LENGTH) != '-') {
+            return Optional.empty();
+        }
+
+        try {
+            return Optional.of(UUID.fromString(host.substring(0, UUID_LENGTH)));
+        } catch (IllegalArgumentException e) {
+            return Optional.empty();
+        }
+    }
+
     public static DbRef fromNameUnsafe(@NonNull String name) {
         return new DbRef(Either.pure(name));
     }
diff --git a/src/test/java/com/dtsx/astra/cli/unit/core/models/DbRefTest.java b/src/test/java/com/dtsx/astra/cli/unit/core/models/DbRefTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..49bc6643
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/test/java/com/dtsx/astra/cli/unit/core/models/DbRefTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,88 @@
+package com.dtsx.astra.cli.unit.core.models;
+
+import com.dtsx.astra.cli.core.models.DbRef;
+import com.dtsx.astra.cli.unit.BaseParseableTest;
+import lombok.val;
+import net.jqwik.api.Example;
+import net.jqwik.api.Group;
+
+import java.util.UUID;
+
+import static org.assertj.core.api.Assertions.assertThat;
+
+public class DbRefTest extends BaseParseableTest.WithTrimAndBasicValidation {
+    private static final UUID SAMPLE_ID = UUID.fromString("822b0fff-6a73-4322-a8ec-09832b075287");
+
+    public DbRefTest() {
+        super("Database name/id", DbRef::parse);
+    }
+
+    @Group
+    public class from_name {
+        @Example
+        public void parses_plain_name_as_name_ref() {
+            val result = DbRef.parse("my-database");
+            assertThat(result.getRight().isName()).isTrue();
+            assertThat(result.getRight().toString()).isEqualTo("my-database");
+        }
+    }
+
+    @Group
+    public class from_uuid {
+        @Example
+        public void parses_uuid_as_id_ref() {
+            val result = DbRef.parse(SAMPLE_ID.toString());
+            assertThat(result.getRight().isId()).isTrue();
+            assertThat(result.getRight().toString()).isEqualTo(SAMPLE_ID.toString());
+        }
+    }
+
+    @Group
+    public class from_endpoint_url {
+        @Example
+        public void parses_prod_api_endpoint() {
+            val url = "https://" + SAMPLE_ID + "-us-east1.apps.astra.datastax.com";
+            val result = DbRef.parse(url);
+            assertThat(result.getRight().isId()).isTrue();
+            assertThat(result.getRight().toString()).isEqualTo(SAMPLE_ID.toString());
+        }
+
+        @Example
+        public void parses_dev_api_endpoint() {
+            val url = "https://" + SAMPLE_ID + "-ap-south-1.apps.astra-dev.datastax.com";
+            val result = DbRef.parse(url);
+            assertThat(result.getRight().isId()).isTrue();
+            assertThat(result.getRight().toString()).isEqualTo(SAMPLE_ID.toString());
+        }
+
+        @Example
+        public void parses_endpoint_with_path() {
+            val url = "https://" + SAMPLE_ID + "-us-east1.apps.astra.datastax.com/api/json/v1";
+            val result = DbRef.parse(url);
+            assertThat(result.getRight().isId()).isTrue();
+            assertThat(result.getRight().toString()).isEqualTo(SAMPLE_ID.toString());
+        }
+
+        @Example
+        public void parses_swagger_endpoint() {
+            val url = "https://" + SAMPLE_ID + "-ap-south-1.apps.astra-dev.datastax.com/api/json/swagger-ui";
+            val result = DbRef.parse(url);
+            assertThat(result.getRight().isId()).isTrue();
+            assertThat(result.getRight().toString()).isEqualTo(SAMPLE_ID.toString());
+        }
+
+        @Example
+        public void falls_back_to_name_for_non_astra_url() {
+            val url = "https://some-other-host.example.com/path";
+            val result = DbRef.parse(url);
+            assertThat(result.getRight().isName()).isTrue();
+        }
+
+        @Example
+        public void falls_back_to_name_when_url_has_no_uuid_prefix() {
+            val url = "https://not-a-uuid-at-all.apps.astra.datastax.com";
+            val result = DbRef.parse(url);
+            assertThat(result.getRight().isName()).isTrue();
+        }
+    }
+}