diff --git a/src/api/log.js b/src/api/log.js
index 6ad0818d9..6c05b5260 100644
--- a/src/api/log.js
+++ b/src/api/log.js
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 export async function get ({namespace}) {
-  const logger = this.getLogger(namespace)
+  const logger = await this.getLogger(namespace)
 
   return new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
     const logs = {}
@@ -17,8 +17,8 @@ export async function get ({namespace}) {
 
 get.description = 'returns logs list for one namespace'
 
-function delete_ ({namespace, id}) {
-  const logger = this.getLogger(namespace)
+async function delete_ ({namespace, id}) {
+  const logger = await this.getLogger(namespace)
   logger.del(id)
 }
 
diff --git a/src/job-executor.js b/src/job-executor.js
index 562e4697f..bc76f685c 100644
--- a/src/job-executor.js
+++ b/src/job-executor.js
@@ -50,9 +50,9 @@ export default class JobExecutor {
     }
 
     // The logger is not available until Xo has started.
-    xo.on('started', () => {
-      this._logger = this.xo.getLogger('jobs')
-    })
+    xo.on('starting', () => xo.getLogger('jobs').then(logger => {
+      this._logger = logger
+    }))
   }
 
   async exec (job) {
diff --git a/src/xo-mixins/store.js b/src/xo-mixins/store.js
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..7f86478d8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/xo-mixins/store.js
@@ -0,0 +1,50 @@
+import levelup from 'level-party'
+import sublevel from 'level-sublevel'
+import { ensureDir } from 'fs-promise'
+
+// ===================================================================
+
+const _levelHas = function has (key, cb) {
+  if (cb) {
+    return this.get(key, (error, value) => error
+      ? (
+        error.notFound
+          ? cb(null, false)
+          : cb(error)
+        )
+      : cb(null, true)
+    )
+  }
+
+  try {
+    this.get(key)
+    return true
+  } catch (error) {
+    if (!error.notFound) {
+      throw error
+    }
+  }
+  return false
+}
+const levelHas = db => {
+  db.has = _levelHas
+
+  return db
+}
+
+// ===================================================================
+
+export default class {
+  constructor (xo) {
+    const dir = `${xo._config.datadir}/leveldb`
+    this._db = ensureDir(dir).then(() => {
+      return sublevel(levelup(dir, {
+        valueEncoding: 'json'
+      }))
+    })
+  }
+
+  getStore (namespace) {
+    return this._db.then(db => levelHas(db.sublevel(namespace)))
+  }
+}
diff --git a/src/xo.js b/src/xo.js
index 51691203a..aeae3b85b 100644
--- a/src/xo.js
+++ b/src/xo.js
@@ -4,8 +4,6 @@ import fs from 'fs-promise'
 import includes from 'lodash.includes'
 import isFunction from 'lodash.isfunction'
 import isString from 'lodash.isstring'
-import levelup from 'level-party'
-import sublevel from 'level-sublevel'
 import XoCollection from 'xo-collection'
 import XoUniqueIndex from 'xo-collection/unique-index'
 import {createClient as createRedisClient} from 'redis'
@@ -107,16 +105,8 @@ export default class Xo extends EventEmitter {
   async start () {
     this.start = noop
 
-    const { _config: config } = this
-
     this._watchObjects()
 
-    await fs.mkdirp(config.datadir)
-
-    this._leveldb = sublevel(levelup(`${config.datadir}/leveldb`, {
-      valueEncoding: 'json'
-    }))
-
     // ---------------------------------------------------------------
 
     const redis = this._redis
@@ -212,10 +202,10 @@ export default class Xo extends EventEmitter {
   // -----------------------------------------------------------------
 
   getLogger (namespace) {
-    return new LevelDbLogger(
-      this._leveldb.sublevel('logs'),
+    return this.getStore('logs').then(store => new LevelDbLogger(
+      store,
       namespace
-    )
+    ))
   }
 
   // -----------------------------------------------------------------