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Connect to a Deploymenticons/link.png

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This page shows how to use the MongoDB Shell to connect to a MongoDB deployment.

Prerequisitesicons/link.png

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

Supported MongoDB Versionsicons/link.png

You can use the MongoDB Shell to connect to MongoDB version 4.0 or greater.

Local MongoDB Instance on Default Porticons/link.png

Run mongosh without any command-line options to connect to a MongoDB instance running on your localhost with default port 27017:

mongosh

This is equivalent to the following command:

mongosh "mongodb://localhost:27017"

Local MongoDB Instance on a Non-Default Porticons/link.png

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

  • A connection string.

    Example

    To connect to a MongoDB instance running on localhost with a non-default port 28015:

    mongosh "mongodb://localhost:28015"

  • The command-line option --port.

    Example

    To connect to a MongoDB instance running on localhost with a non-default port 28015:

    mongosh --port 28015

MongoDB Instance on a Remote Hosticons/link.png

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

  • A connection string.

    Example

    To connect to a MongoDB instance running on a remote host on port 28015:

    mongosh "mongodb://mongodb0.example.com:28015"
    Note
    Connecting to Atlas

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

  • The command-line options --host and --port. If you do not include the --port option, mongosh uses the default port 27017.

    Example

    To connect to a MongoDB instance running on a remote host on port 28015:

    mongosh --host mongodb0.example.com --port 28015

Connection Optionsicons/link.png

Connect with Authenticationicons/link.png

To connect to a MongoDB instance requires authentication, use the --username and --authenticationDatabase command-line options. mongosh prompts you for a password, which it masks as you type.

Example

To connect to a remote MongoDB instance and authenticate against the admin database as user alice:

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

To provide a password with the command instead of using the masked prompt, you can use the --password option.

Tip
See also:

Connect to a Replica Seticons/link.png

To connect to a replica set:

  • If you are using the DNS Seedlist Connection Format, you can include the +srv modifier in your connection string.

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

    Using the +srv connection string modifier automatically sets the tls option to true for the connection. You can override this behavior by explicitly setting tls to false.

  • You can specify the replica set name and members in the connection string.

    Example

    To connect to a three-member replica set named replA:

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

mongosh adds the directConnection=true query parameter to the connection string automatically 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:// scheme.
  • The connection string contains a seed list with multiple hosts.

Connect using TLSicons/link.png

For tls connections:

  • If you are using the DNS Seedlist Connection Format, the +srv connection string modifier automatically sets the tls option to true for the connection:

    Example

    To connect to a DNS seedlist-defined replica set with tls enabled:

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

  • You can use the tls option to set tls=true in the connection string:

    Example

    To enable tls in the connection string:

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

  • You can specify the --tls command-line option.

    Example

    To connect to a remote host with tls enabled:

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

Connect to a Specific Databaseicons/link.png

To connect to a specific database, specify a database in your connection string URI path. If you do not specify a database in your URI path, you connect to a database named test.

Example

The following connection string URI connects to database db1.

mongosh "mongodb://localhost:27017/db1"

Connect to a Different Deploymenticons/link.png

You can use the Mongo() or the connect() methods to connect to a different MongoDB 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 Connectionicons/link.png

Use the db.getMongo() method to verify your current database connection.

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

Disconnect from a Deploymenticons/link.png

To disconnect from a deployment and exit mongosh, you can:

  • Type .exit, exit, or exit().
  • Type quit or quit().
  • Press Ctrl + D.
  • Press Ctrl + C twice.

Limitationsicons/link.png

  • mongosh has the following Kerberos authentication limitations:

    • authMechanismProperties=CANONICALIZE_HOST_NAME:true|false is not permitted in the connection string. Instead, specify hostname canonicalization in the connection string with authMechanismProperties=gssapiCanonicalizeHostName:true|false.
    • Hostname canonicalization reverse lookup is not supported.

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

    • zstd
    • snappy

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