$ dev/run -n 1 -a admin:password >/dev/null &
# wait a few seconds, then...
$ curl -X PUT http://admin:password@localhost:15984/abc
{"ok":true}
$ ls dev/lib/node1/data/shards/00000000-7fffffff
abc.1580273428.couch _replicator.1580273362.couch
_global_changes.1580273362.couch _users.1580273361.couch
$ curl http://admin:password@localhost:15984/_node/_local/_all_dbs
["_dbs","_nodes","_users","shards/00000000-7fffffff/_global_changes.1580273362","shards/00000000-7fffffff/_replicator.1580273362","shards/00000000-7fffffff/_users.1580273361","shards/00000000-7fffffff/abc.1580273428","shards/80000000-ffffffff/_global_changes.1580273362","shards/80000000-ffffffff/_replicator.1580273362","shards/80000000-ffffffff/_users.1580273361","shards/80000000-ffffffff/abc.1580273428"]
$ curl http://admin:password@localhost:15984/_node/_local/abc
{"error":"not_found","reason":"no_db_file"}
$ curl http://admin:password@localhost:15984/_node/_local/shards/00000000-7fffffff/abc.1580273428
{"error":"not_found","reason":"no_db_file"}
$ curl http://admin:password@localhost:15984/_node/_local/shards%2f00000000-7fffffff%2fabc.1580273428
{"error":"not_found","reason":"no_db_file"}
@rnewson I tried all variants but can't get this to work...