MongoDB Shell (mongosh
)
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The MongoDB Shell, mongosh
, is a fully functional JavaScript and
Node.js 16.x REPL environment for interacting with MongoDB
deployments. You can use the MongoDB Shell to test queries and operations
directly with your database.
mongosh
is available as a standalone package in the
MongoDB download center.
Download and Install mongosh

To learn how to download and install the mongosh
binary,
see Install mongosh
.
Connect to a MongoDB Deployment
Once you have installed the MongoDB Shell and added it to your system
PATH
, you can connect to a MongoDB deployment. To learn more, see
Connect to a Deployment.
mongosh
Editor Mode
The mongosh
console is line oriented. However, you can
also use an editor to work with multiline functions. There are two
options:
- An external editor, accessed with the
edit
command - A built-in editor, accessed with the
.editor
command
For further details see Editor Mode.
The MongoDB Shell versus the Legacy mongo
Shell
The new MongoDB Shell, mongosh
, offers numerous
advantages over the legacy mongo
shell, such as:
- Improved syntax highlighting.
- Improved command history.
- Improved logging.
Currently mongosh
supports a subset of the mongo
shell methods. Achieving feature parity between mongosh
and the
mongo
shell is an ongoing effort.
To maintain backwards compatibility, the methods that mongosh
supports use the same syntax as the corresponding methods in the
mongo
shell. To see the complete list of methods
supported by mongosh
, see
MongoDB Shell Methods.