diff --git a/api/kiwi_vpn_api/config.py b/api/kiwi_vpn_api/config.py
index 4b2cf24..5c8672f 100644
--- a/api/kiwi_vpn_api/config.py
+++ b/api/kiwi_vpn_api/config.py
@@ -180,6 +180,13 @@ class CryptoConfig(BaseModel):
 
     schemes: list[str] = ["bcrypt"]
 
+    @property
+    def crypt_context_sync(self) -> CryptContext:
+        return CryptContext(
+            schemes=self.schemes,
+            deprecated="auto",
+        )
+
     @property
     async def crypt_context(self) -> CryptContext:
         return CryptContext(
@@ -197,6 +204,19 @@ class Config(BaseModel):
     jwt: JWTConfig = Field(default_factory=JWTConfig)
     crypto: CryptoConfig = Field(default_factory=CryptoConfig)
 
+    @staticmethod
+    def load_sync() -> Config | None:
+        """
+        Load configuration from config file
+        """
+
+        try:
+            with open(Settings.get().config_file, "r") as config_file:
+                return Config.parse_obj(json.load(config_file))
+
+        except FileNotFoundError:
+            return None
+
     @staticmethod
     async def load() -> Config | None:
         """
diff --git a/api/kiwi_vpn_api/db_new/__init__.py b/api/kiwi_vpn_api/db_new/__init__.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e69de29
diff --git a/api/kiwi_vpn_api/db_new/connection.py b/api/kiwi_vpn_api/db_new/connection.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ff9341a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/api/kiwi_vpn_api/db_new/connection.py
@@ -0,0 +1,30 @@
+from sqlmodel import Session, SQLModel, create_engine
+
+
+class Connection:
+    """
+    Namespace for the database connection.
+    """
+
+    engine = None
+
+    @classmethod
+    def connect(cls, connection_url: str) -> None:
+        """
+        Connect ORM to a database engine.
+        """
+
+        cls.engine = create_engine(connection_url)
+        SQLModel.metadata.create_all(cls.engine)
+
+    @classmethod
+    @property
+    def session(cls) -> Session | None:
+        """
+        Create an ORM session using a context manager.
+        """
+
+        if cls.engine is None:
+            return None
+
+        return Session(cls.engine)
diff --git a/api/kiwi_vpn_api/db_new/user.py b/api/kiwi_vpn_api/db_new/user.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..935d9a7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/api/kiwi_vpn_api/db_new/user.py
@@ -0,0 +1,77 @@
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+from typing import Any
+
+from pydantic import root_validator
+from sqlalchemy.exc import IntegrityError
+from sqlmodel import Field, SQLModel
+
+from ..config import Config
+from .connection import Connection
+
+
+class UserBase(SQLModel):
+    name: str = Field(primary_key=True)
+    email: str
+
+    country: str | None = Field(default=None)
+    state: str | None = Field(default=None)
+    city: str | None = Field(default=None)
+    organization: str | None = Field(default=None)
+    organizational_unit: str | None = Field(default=None)
+
+
+class User(UserBase, table=True):
+    password: str
+
+    @classmethod
+    def create(cls, **kwargs) -> User | None:
+        """
+        Create a new user in the database.
+        """
+
+        try:
+            with Connection.session as db:
+                user = User.from_orm(UserCreate(**kwargs))
+
+                db.add(user)
+                db.commit()
+                db.refresh(user)
+
+                return user
+
+        except IntegrityError:
+            # user already existed
+            return None
+
+    @classmethod
+    def get(cls, name: str) -> User | None:
+        with Connection.session as db:
+            return db.get(cls, name)
+
+
+class UserCreate(UserBase):
+    password: str | None = Field(default=None)
+    password_clear: str | None = Field(default=None)
+
+    @root_validator
+    @classmethod
+    def hash_password(cls, values: dict[str, Any]) -> dict[str, Any]:
+        if (values.get("password")) is not None:
+            # password is set
+            return values
+
+        if (password_clear := values.get("password_clear")) is None:
+            raise ValueError("No password to hash")
+
+        if (current_config := Config.load_sync()) is None:
+            raise ValueError("Not configured")
+
+        values["password"] = current_config.crypto.crypt_context_sync.hash(
+            password_clear)
+
+        return values
+
+
+class UserRead(UserBase):
+    pass
diff --git a/api/kiwi_vpn_api/main.py b/api/kiwi_vpn_api/main.py
index 9ed5b77..70d6915 100755
--- a/api/kiwi_vpn_api/main.py
+++ b/api/kiwi_vpn_api/main.py
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ from fastapi import FastAPI
 from .config import Config, Settings
 from .db import Connection
 from .db.schemata import User
+from .db_new import connection, user
 from .routers import main_router
 
 settings = Settings.get()
@@ -51,6 +52,16 @@ async def on_startup() -> None:
             print(User.from_db(db, "admin"))
             print(User.from_db(db, "nonexistent"))
 
+        connection.Connection.connect("sqlite:///tmp/v2.db")
+
+        user.User.create(
+            name="Uwe",
+            password_clear="ulf",
+            email="uwe@feh.de",
+        )
+
+        print(user.User.get("Uwe"))
+
 
 def main() -> None:
     uvicorn.run(
diff --git a/api/poetry.lock b/api/poetry.lock
index 3f5e84d..b778921 100644
--- a/api/poetry.lock
+++ b/api/poetry.lock
@@ -428,6 +428,30 @@ postgresql_psycopg2cffi = ["psycopg2cffi"]
 pymysql = ["pymysql (<1)", "pymysql"]
 sqlcipher = ["sqlcipher3-binary"]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "sqlalchemy2-stubs"
+version = "0.0.2a21"
+description = "Typing Stubs for SQLAlchemy 1.4"
+category = "main"
+optional = false
+python-versions = ">=3.6"
+
+[package.dependencies]
+typing-extensions = ">=3.7.4"
+
+[[package]]
+name = "sqlmodel"
+version = "0.0.6"
+description = "SQLModel, SQL databases in Python, designed for simplicity, compatibility, and robustness."
+category = "main"
+optional = false
+python-versions = ">=3.6.1,<4.0.0"
+
+[package.dependencies]
+pydantic = ">=1.8.2,<2.0.0"
+SQLAlchemy = ">=1.4.17,<1.5.0"
+sqlalchemy2-stubs = "*"
+
 [[package]]
 name = "starlette"
 version = "0.17.1"
@@ -477,7 +501,7 @@ standard = ["websockets (>=10.0)", "httptools (>=0.4.0)", "watchgod (>=0.6)", "p
 [metadata]
 lock-version = "1.1"
 python-versions = "^3.10"
-content-hash = "432d2933102f8a0091cec1b5484944a0211ca74c5dc9b65877d99d7bd160e4bb"
+content-hash = "a580f9fe4c68667e4cbdf385ac11d5c7a2925e3c990b7164faa922ec8b6f9555"
 
 [metadata.files]
 anyio = [
@@ -834,6 +858,14 @@ sqlalchemy = [
     {file = "SQLAlchemy-1.4.32-cp39-cp39-win_amd64.whl", hash = "sha256:b3f1d9b3aa09ab9adc7f8c4b40fc3e081eb903054c9a6f9ae1633fe15ae503b4"},
     {file = "SQLAlchemy-1.4.32.tar.gz", hash = "sha256:6fdd2dc5931daab778c2b65b03df6ae68376e028a3098eb624d0909d999885bc"},
 ]
+sqlalchemy2-stubs = [
+    {file = "sqlalchemy2-stubs-0.0.2a21.tar.gz", hash = "sha256:207e3d8a36fc032d325f4eec89e0c6760efe81d07e978513d8c9b14f108dcd0c"},
+    {file = "sqlalchemy2_stubs-0.0.2a21-py3-none-any.whl", hash = "sha256:bd4a3d5ca7ff9d01b2245e1b26304d6b2ec4daf43a01faf40db9e09245679433"},
+]
+sqlmodel = [
+    {file = "sqlmodel-0.0.6-py3-none-any.whl", hash = "sha256:c5fd8719e09da348cd32ce2a5b6a44f289d3029fa8f1c9818229b6f34f1201b4"},
+    {file = "sqlmodel-0.0.6.tar.gz", hash = "sha256:3b4f966b9671b24d85529d274e6c4dbc7753b468e35d2d6a40bd75cad1f66813"},
+]
 starlette = [
     {file = "starlette-0.17.1-py3-none-any.whl", hash = "sha256:26a18cbda5e6b651c964c12c88b36d9898481cd428ed6e063f5f29c418f73050"},
     {file = "starlette-0.17.1.tar.gz", hash = "sha256:57eab3cc975a28af62f6faec94d355a410634940f10b30d68d31cb5ec1b44ae8"},
diff --git a/api/pyproject.toml b/api/pyproject.toml
index a105d62..a9a7855 100644
--- a/api/pyproject.toml
+++ b/api/pyproject.toml
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@ python-jose = {extras = ["cryptography"], version = "^3.3.0"}
 passlib = {extras = ["argon2", "bcrypt"], version = "^1.7.4"}
 SQLAlchemy = "^1.4.32"
 pyOpenSSL = "^22.0.0"
+sqlmodel = "^0.0.6"
 
 [tool.poetry.dev-dependencies]
 pytest = "^7.1.0"