MongoDB Shell and Connection Basics

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Connect with mongosh, switch databases, inspect collections, and run the most common shell workflows.

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Connect and navigate

Start mongosh sessions and move around databases and collections.

Start mongosh locally

Open an interactive shell to a local deployment.

↗#

bashANYmongoshshellconnect

bash

mongosh

Starts the modern MongoDB shell and connects using default local settings when available.

Connect with a MongoDB URI

Connect directly with a full connection string.

↗#

bashANYmongoshuriconnect

bash

mongosh "mongodb://localhost:27017/appdb"

Useful for choosing the target database immediately.

Connect with authentication

Pass username, password, and auth database.

↗#

bashANYmongoshauthuri

bash

mongosh "mongodb://dbuser:secret@localhost:27017/appdb?authSource=admin"

`authSource=admin` is common when the user is defined in the admin database.

List databases

Show visible databases in the deployment.

↗#

javascriptANYmongodbdatabases

javascript

show dbs

A quick overview of the databases you can access.

Switch database

Change the current database context.

↗#

javascriptANYmongodbdatabasecontext

javascript

use appdb

Subsequent collection operations use the selected database.

List collections

Show collections in the current database.

↗#

javascriptANYmongodbcollections

javascript

show collections

Useful when exploring a schema or checking whether a collection already exists.

Get collection names programmatically

Return an array of collection names.

↗#

javascriptANYmongodbcollectionsmongosh

javascript

db.getCollectionNames()

Convenient when you want a value instead of formatted shell output.

Check database stats

Inspect size, object count, and storage metrics.

↗#

javascriptANYmongodbstatsstorage

javascript

db.stats()

Helpful for quick diagnostics and growth checks.

Collection bootstrap

Create collections and inspect a few starter records.

Create a collection

Create a collection explicitly.

↗#

javascriptANYmongodbcollectioncreate

javascript

db.createCollection("users")

MongoDB can also create collections implicitly on first insert, but explicit creation is useful for options and predictability.

Insert one sample document

Create a starter document.

↗#

javascriptANYmongodbinsertOneusers

javascript

db.users.insertOne({ name: "Ada", email: "ada@example.com", active: true })

A collection will be created automatically if it does not already exist.

Read a few documents

Preview documents from a collection.

↗#

javascriptANYmongodbfindlimit

javascript

db.users.find().limit(5)

Limit early while exploring to keep output manageable.

Pretty-print query results

Format documents for easier reading.

↗#

javascriptANYmongodbfindpretty

javascript

db.users.find({ active: true }).pretty()

Useful for ad hoc inspection in interactive sessions.

Drop a collection

Remove a collection and its data.

↗#

javascriptANYmongodbdropcollection

javascript

db.users.drop()

Use with care because the operation deletes all documents in the collection.

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