Connecting to MongoDB

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Connecting: mongosh and Connection Strings

You can talk to MongoDB using mongosh (the interactive shell) or a language driver (Node.js, Python, etc.). Both use a connection string — a URI that encodes host, port, credentials, and database.

Using mongosh

// Connect to a local instance
mongosh

// Connect to a remote instance
mongosh "mongodb://localhost:27017/school"

// Connect to MongoDB Atlas
mongosh "mongodb+srv://user:pass@cluster0.abcde.mongodb.net/school"

Node.js Driver

import { MongoClient } from "mongodb";

const uri = "mongodb+srv://user:pass@cluster0.abcde.mongodb.net/";
const client = new MongoClient(uri);

await client.connect();
const db = client.db("school");
const students = db.collection("students");

// Always close the connection when done
await client.close();

Store your connection string in an environment variable (e.g. MONGODB_URI) — never hard-code credentials in source files.

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