diff --git a/R/conn.R b/R/conn.R
index 0eaf6c95..9967acf3 100644
--- a/R/conn.R
+++ b/R/conn.R
@@ -167,7 +167,19 @@ neuprint_connection <- function(server=NULL, token=NULL, dataset=NULL,
   # Set a default server if none specified
   neuprint_server <-
     if(is.null(server)) unlist(getenvoroption("server")) else server
-  # Set a default server if none specified
+  pu=httr::parse_url(neuprint_server)
+  if(is.null(pu$scheme)) {
+    pu$scheme="https"
+    if(is.null(pu$hostname)) {
+      pu$hostname=pu$path
+      pu$path=NULL
+    }
+    neuprint_server=httr::build_url(pu)
+    warning("No URL scheme specified for your server! Assuming it should be:x\n",
+            neuprint_server,
+            "\nPlease specify the URL in full next time!")
+  }
+  # Set a default token if none specified
   neuprint_token <- if(is.null(token)) unlist(getenvoroption("token")) else token
   # collect any curl options defined as environment variables
   config=neuprint_curl_options(config)
diff --git a/tests/testthat/test-conn.R b/tests/testthat/test-conn.R
index beb9a549..d1b83cd3 100644
--- a/tests/testthat/test-conn.R
+++ b/tests/testthat/test-conn.R
@@ -3,3 +3,11 @@ skip_if(as.logical(Sys.getenv("SKIP_NP_SERVER_TESTS")))
 test_that("neuprint_login works", {
   expect_error(neuprint_login(server="https://neuprint.janelia.org", dataset='rhubarb'))
 })
+
+test_that("neuprint_connection works", {
+  expect_warning(expect_is(
+    neuprint_connection(server = "neuprint.janelia.org", dataset = 'rhubarb'),
+    "neuprint_connection"
+  ),
+  regexp = "https://neuprint.janelia.org")
+})