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Connect to a Deployment

This page shows how to use the MongoDB Shell to connect to a MongoDB deployment. You can connect to a MongoDB Atlas cloud-hosted deployment, connect to a local deployment, or connect to another remote host with MongoDB Shell.

Prerequisites

To use the MongoDB Shell, you must have a MongoDB deployment to connect to.

  • For a free cloud-hosted deployment, you can use MongoDB Atlas.

  • To learn how to run a local MongoDB deployment, see Install MongoDB.

Supported MongoDB Versions

You can use the MongoDB Shell to connect to MongoDB version 7.0 or greater.

Install mongosh

These procedures assume you have already installed mongosh. For more information about installing mongosh, refer to Install mongosh.

Connect to a MongoDB Atlas Deployment

You can connect to your MongoDB Atlas deployment directly from your shell.

1

Get your Atlas Connection String

You need an Atlas connection string to connect from MongoDB Shell. You can get the Atlas connection string in the Atlas UI.

Refer to the Find Your MongoDB Atlas Connection String guide for details.

2

Set Your Database Credentials

If you haven't already created a database user, you must set a username and password. To connect to Atlas, pass your username with the Atlas connection string. After you issue the connect command, the shell prompts for your password.

3

Connect to MongoDB Atlas with mongosh

To establish your connection, run the mongosh command with your connection string and options to establish the connection.

The connection string includes the following elements:

  • Your cluster name

  • A hash

  • A flag for the API version

  • A flag for the username you want to use to connect

It resembles the following string:

mongosh "mongodb+srv://YOUR_CLUSTER_NAME.YOUR_HASH.mongodb.net/" --apiVersion YOUR_API_VERSION --username YOUR_USERNAME

Note

Learn More

You can use other connection security options to connect to Atlas via mongosh. For information on connecting with a private IP for peering or a Private Endpoint connection, refer to the Atlas Connect via mongosh documentation.

Connect to a Local Deployment on the Default Port

To connect to a MongoDB deployment running on localhost with default port 27017, run mongosh without any options:

mongosh

This is equivalent to the following command:

mongosh "mongodb://localhost:27017"

Connect to a Local Deployment on a Non-Default Port

To specify a port to connect to on localhost, you can use either:

For example, the following commands connect to a deployment running on localhost port 28015:

mongosh "mongodb://localhost:28015"
mongosh --port 28015

Connect to a Deployment on a Remote Host

To specify a remote host and port, you can use either:

  • A connection string with the chosen host and port.

  • The --host and --port command-line options. If you omit the --port option, mongosh uses the default port 27017.

For example, the following commands connect to a MongoDB deployment running on host mongodb0.example.com and port 28015:

mongosh "mongodb://mongodb0.example.com:28015"
mongosh --host mongodb0.example.com --port 28015

Note

Connect to MongoDB Atlas

If your remote host is an Atlas cluster, you can copy your connection string from the Atlas UI. To learn more, see Connect to a Cluster in the Atlas documentation.

Specify Connection Options

Specify different connection options to connect to different types of deployments.

Connect With Authentication

To connect to a MongoDB deployment that requires authentication, use the --username and --authenticationDatabase options. mongosh prompts you for a password, which it hides as you type.

For example, to authenticate as user alice on the admin database, run the following command:

mongosh "mongodb://mongodb0.example.com:28015" --username alice --authenticationDatabase admin

To provide a password as part of the connection command instead of using the prompt, use the --password option. Use this option for programmatic usage of mongosh, like a driver.

Tip

Connect with OpenID Connect

To connect to a deployment using OpenID Connect, use the --authenticationMechanism option and set it to MONGODB-OIDC. mongosh redirects you to a browser where you enter your identity provider's log-in information.

Note

By default, mongosh requests the oidc and offline_access scopes from the identity provider (IdP). If the IdP supports neither oidc nor offline_access, mongosh does not request those scopes. If the IdP supports oidc but not offline_access, you must re-authenticate frequently. To learn more, see oidcIdentityProviders Fields.

For example, the following connects to a local deployment using MONGODB-OIDC:

mongosh "mongodb://localhost/" --authenticationMechanism MONGODB-OIDC

Connect with LDAP

To connect to a deployment using LDAP:

Warning

When you use one-time passwords with LDAP authentication, adding the connection string options maxPoolSize=1&srvMaxHosts=1 to your connection string is recommended to reduce the potential for connection failures.

Include the --host and --port of the MongoDB deployment, along with any other options relevant to your deployment.

For example, the following operation authenticates to a MongoDB deployment running with LDAP authentication and authorization:

mongosh --username alice@dba.example.com --password  --authenticationDatabase '$external' --authenticationMechanism "PLAIN"  --host "mongodb.example.com" --port 27017

Connect to a Replica Set

To connect to a replica set, you can either:

Important

When a replica set runs in Docker, it might expose only one MongoDB endpoint. In this case, the replica set is not discoverable, and specifying directConnection=false can prevent your application from connecting to it.

In a test or development environment, you can connect to the replica set by specifying directConnection=true in your connection URI. In a production environment, we recommend configuring the cluster to make each MongoDB instance accessible outside of the Docker virtual network.

Option 1: DNS Seedlist Format

To use the DNS seedlist connection format, include the +srv modifier in your connection string.

For example, to connect to a replica set on server.example.com, run the following command:

mongosh "mongodb+srv://server.example.com/"

Note

+srv TLS Behavior

When you use the +srv connection string modifier, MongoDB automatically sets the --tls connection option to true. To override this behavior, set --tls to false.

Option 2: Specify Members in Connection String

You can specify individual replica set members in the connection string.

For example, to connect to a three-member replica set named replA, run the following command:

mongosh "mongodb://mongodb0.example.com.local:27017,mongodb1.example.com.local:27017,mongodb2.example.com.local:27017/?replicaSet=replA"

Note

directConnection Parameter Added Automatically

When you specify individual replica set members in the connection string, mongosh automatically adds the directConnection=true parameter, unless at least one of the following is true:

  • The replicaSet query parameter is present in the connection string.

  • The connection string uses the mongodb+srv:// connection string format.

  • The connection string contains a seed list with multiple hosts.

  • The connection string already contains a directConnection parameter.

When directConnection=true, the host specified in the connection URI runs all operations and mongosh ignores all read preferences, including explicitly set preferences.

Connect Using TLS

To connect to a deployment using TLS, you can either:

  • Use the DNS Seedlist Connection Format. The +srv connection string modifier automatically sets the tls option to true for the connection.

    For example, to connect to a DNS seedlist-defined replica set with tls enabled, run the following command:

    mongosh "mongodb+srv://server.example.com/"

  • Set the --tls option to true in the connection string.

    For example, to enable tls with a connection string option, run the following command:

    mongosh "mongodb://mongodb0.example.com:28015/?tls=true"

  • Specify the --tls command-line option.

    For example, to connect to a remote host with tls enabled, run the following command:

    mongosh "mongodb://mongodb0.example.com:28015" --tls

Connect to a Specific Database

To connect to a specific default database, specify a database in your connection string URI path. If unspecified by the connection string, the default database is the test database.

For example, to connect to a database called qa on localhost, run the following command:

mongosh "mongodb://localhost:27017/qa"

You can specify the authentication database in your connection string using the authSource connection option. If specified, the client uses this database to verify your user identity and credentials. If authSource is unspecified, it defaults to the default database specified in the connection string. If both authSource and the default database are unspecified, authSource defaults to the admin database.

The following connection string sets the default database to myDefaultDB and the authentication database to admin:

mongodb://myDatabaseUser:D1fficultP%40ssw0rd@mongodb0.example.com:27017/myDefaultDB?authSource=admin

Proxy Settings

To establish a connection with proxy configurations, you can use the following environment variables:

Variable
Description
Example

MONGODB_PROXY

Proxy connections to mongodb:// and mongodb+srv:// URLs, such as database clusters.

The following example sets the MONGODB_PROXY environment variable to proxy all MongoDB connections through a CONNECT proxy located at example.com:8080 with TLS enabled.

export MONGODB_PROXY=https://example.com:8080

HTTP_PROXY

Proxy connections to http:// URLs. HTTP connections are mostly used for OIDC authentication.

If you also set HTTPS_PROXY, the value of HTTPS_PROXY takes precedence for all requests.

The following example sets the HTTP_PROXY environment variable to proxy HTTP connections through a CONNECT proxy located at example.com:8080:

export HTTP_PROXY=http://example.com:8080

HTTPS_PROXY

Proxy connections to https:// URLs. HTTPS connections are mostly used for OIDC authentication.

If you also set HTTP_PROXY, the value of HTTPS_PROXY takes precedence for all requests.

The following example sets the HTTPS_PROXY environment variable to proxy all HTTPS connections through a CONNECT proxy located at localhost:8080 without TLS:

export HTTPS_PROXY=http://localhost:8080

ALL_PROXY

Proxy all connections to the specified URL.

The following example sets the ALL_PROXY environment variable to proxy all outbound network connections through a Socks5 proxy located at example.com:1234 with credentials included in the URL:

export ALL_PROXY=socks5://username:password@example.com:1234

NO_PROXY

Comma-separated list of hostnames that should be excluded from proxying.

The following example sets the NO_PROXY environment variable to bypass the proxy for connections to localhost and internal-db.example.com.

export NO_PROXY=localhost,internal-db.example.com

Note

mongosh supports the following proxy types:

  • Socks5 proxies

  • HTTP proxies

  • CONNECT proxies

  • PAC URLs that resolve to one of the previously listed proxies

Connect to a Different Deployment

If you are already connected to a deployment in the MongoDB Shell, you can use the Mongo() or connect() method to connect to a different deployment from within the MongoDB Shell.

To learn how to connect to a different deployment using these methods, see Open a New Connection.

Verify Current Connection

To verify your current database connection, use the db.getMongo() method.

The method returns the connection string URI for your current connection.

Disconnect from a Deployment

To disconnect from a deployment and exit mongosh, perform one of the following actions:

  • Type .exit, exit, or exit().

  • Type quit or quit().

  • Press Ctrl + D.

  • Press Ctrl + C twice.

Non-genuine Deployments

The shell displays a warning message when you connect to non-genuine MongoDB instances. Non-genuine instances may behave differently from the official MongoDB instances due to missing, inconsistent, or incomplete features.

Limitations

  • Kerberos authentication does not allow authMechanismProperties=CANONICALIZE_HOST_NAME:true|false in the connection string. Instead, use either:

    • authMechanismProperties=CANONICALIZE_HOST_NAME:forward

    • authMechanismProperties=CANONICALIZE_HOST_NAME:forwardAndReverse

    • authMechanismProperties=CANONICALIZE_HOST_NAME:none

  • mongosh currently only supports the zlib compressor. The following compressors are not supported:

    • zstd

    • snappy

  • Starting in mongosh 2.0.0:

    For boolean values in connection strings, you:

    • must use true or false.

    • cannot use 1, y, yes, or t instead of true.

    • cannot use -1, 0, n, no, or f instead of false.

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