MongoDB

mongosh Basics

# Connect
mongosh                                          # localhost:27017
mongosh "mongodb://localhost:27017/mydb"
mongosh "mongodb+srv://user:pass@cluster.mongodb.net/mydb"
mongosh --host rs0/host1:27017,host2:27017 --authenticationDatabase admin -u admin -p

show dbs                    // list databases
use mydb                    // switch database (creates on first write)
show collections            // list collections in current db
db.stats()                  // database stats
db.collection.stats()       // collection stats
db.getCollectionNames()     // programmatic collection list
db.dropDatabase()           // drop current database
db.createCollection("logs", { capped: true, size: 1048576, max: 1000 })

CRUD Operations

Insert

db.users.insertOne({ name: "Alice", email: "alice@example.com", age: 30 })
db.users.insertMany([
  { name: "Bob", email: "bob@example.com", age: 25 },
  { name: "Carol", email: "carol@example.com", age: 35 }
])
// insertMany with ordered: false continues on error
db.users.insertMany(docs, { ordered: false })

Find

db.users.find()                                    // all documents
db.users.find({ age: { $gt: 25 } })               // age > 25
db.users.findOne({ email: "alice@example.com" })   // first match
db.users.find({ status: "active" }, { name: 1, email: 1, _id: 0 })  // projection
db.users.find().sort({ age: -1 }).limit(10).skip(20)                 // sort, paginate
db.users.countDocuments({ status: "active" })
db.users.distinct("status")

Update

db.users.updateOne(
  { email: "alice@example.com" },
  { $set: { age: 31, updatedAt: new Date() } }
)
db.users.updateMany(
  { status: "inactive" },
  { $set: { archived: true }, $currentDate: { updatedAt: true } }
)
// Upsert: insert if not found
db.users.updateOne(
  { email: "dave@example.com" },
  { $set: { name: "Dave", age: 28 } },
  { upsert: true }
)
db.users.replaceOne(
  { _id: ObjectId("...") },
  { name: "Alice", email: "alice@new.com", age: 31 }
)

Delete

db.users.deleteOne({ email: "bob@example.com" })
db.users.deleteMany({ status: "inactive", lastLogin: { $lt: ISODate("2024-01-01") } })
db.users.findOneAndDelete({ email: "bob@example.com" })  // returns deleted doc

Query Operators

Comparison and Logical

{ age: { $eq: 30 } }                    // equals (same as { age: 30 })
{ age: { $gt: 25, $lte: 40 } }          // range
{ status: { $in: ["active", "pending"] } }
{ status: { $nin: ["banned"] } }
{ $and: [{ age: { $gte: 18 } }, { status: "active" }] }
{ $or: [{ role: "admin" }, { age: { $gte: 21 } }] }
{ age: { $not: { $gt: 65 } } }

Element and Evaluation

{ phone: { $exists: true } }             // field exists
{ age: { $type: "number" } }             // BSON type check
{ name: { $regex: /^alice/i } }          // regex match
{ bio: { $regex: "engineer", $options: "i" } }
{ score: { $mod: [10, 0] } }             // score divisible by 10

Array Operators

{ tags: { $all: ["mongodb", "nosql"] } }           // array contains all
{ tags: { $size: 3 } }                              // array has exactly 3 elements
{ results: { $elemMatch: { score: { $gt: 90 }, subject: "math" } } }
{ "scores.0": { $gt: 80 } }                         // first element > 80

Update Operators

// Field operators
{ $set: { status: "active" } }
{ $unset: { tempField: "" } }            // remove field
{ $inc: { views: 1, score: -5 } }       // increment/decrement
{ $rename: { "old_field": "new_field" } }
{ $min: { lowScore: 50 } }              // update if new value is lower
{ $max: { highScore: 100 } }            // update if new value is higher
{ $mul: { price: 1.1 } }               // multiply by 1.1

// Array operators
{ $push: { tags: "new-tag" } }
{ $push: { scores: { $each: [90, 85], $sort: -1, $slice: 10 } } }  // push, sort, keep top 10
{ $addToSet: { tags: "unique-tag" } }    // add only if not present
{ $pull: { tags: "old-tag" } }           // remove matching elements
{ $pull: { results: { score: { $lt: 50 } } } }  // remove by condition
{ $pop: { queue: -1 } }                 // remove first element (1 for last)

Aggregation Pipeline

db.orders.aggregate([
  { $match: { status: "completed", createdAt: { $gte: ISODate("2025-01-01") } } },
  { $group: {
      _id: "$customerId",
      totalSpent: { $sum: "$amount" },
      orderCount: { $sum: 1 },
      avgOrder: { $avg: "$amount" },
      lastOrder: { $max: "$createdAt" }
  }},
  { $sort: { totalSpent: -1 } },
  { $limit: 10 },
  { $project: {
      customerId: "$_id",
      totalSpent: 1,
      orderCount: 1,
      avgOrder: { $round: ["$avgOrder", 2] },
      _id: 0
  }}
])

$lookup (Join)

db.orders.aggregate([
  { $lookup: {
      from: "users",
      localField: "customerId",
      foreignField: "_id",
      as: "customer"
  }},
  { $unwind: "$customer" },   // flatten single-element array
  { $project: { amount: 1, "customer.name": 1, "customer.email": 1 } }
])

// Pipeline lookup (correlated subquery)
db.orders.aggregate([
  { $lookup: {
      from: "products",
      let: { productIds: "$items.productId" },
      pipeline: [
        { $match: { $expr: { $in: ["$_id", "$$productIds"] } } },
        { $project: { name: 1, price: 1 } }
      ],
      as: "productDetails"
  }}
])

$facet (Multiple Aggregations in One Pass)

db.products.aggregate([
  { $facet: {
      priceRanges: [
        { $bucket: { groupBy: "$price", boundaries: [0, 25, 50, 100, Infinity] } }
      ],
      topRated: [
        { $sort: { rating: -1 } },
        { $limit: 5 },
        { $project: { name: 1, rating: 1 } }
      ],
      totalCount: [
        { $count: "count" }
      ]
  }}
])

Indexing

// Single field
db.users.createIndex({ email: 1 })                    // ascending
db.users.createIndex({ email: 1 }, { unique: true })  // unique

// Compound (order matters: equality, sort, range)
db.orders.createIndex({ customerId: 1, createdAt: -1 })

// Multikey (automatically indexes array elements)
db.articles.createIndex({ tags: 1 })

// Text index (one per collection)
db.articles.createIndex({ title: "text", body: "text" })
db.articles.find({ $text: { $search: "mongodb aggregation" } })

// TTL (auto-delete documents after expiry)
db.sessions.createIndex({ createdAt: 1 }, { expireAfterSeconds: 3600 })

// Partial (index subset of documents)
db.orders.createIndex(
  { createdAt: -1 },
  { partialFilterExpression: { status: "active" } }
)

// Wildcard (index all fields or subfields in a document)
db.logs.createIndex({ "metadata.$**": 1 })

// List and manage indexes
db.users.getIndexes()
db.users.dropIndex("email_1")
db.users.dropIndexes()                                 // drops all non-_id indexes

Schema Design Patterns

Embedding vs Referencing

// Embedding: data accessed together, 1:few relationship
// Good for: addresses in user doc, comments on a blog post (bounded)
{
  _id: ObjectId("..."),
  name: "Alice",
  addresses: [
    { type: "home", street: "123 Main St", city: "Springfield" },
    { type: "work", street: "456 Corp Ave", city: "Shelbyville" }
  ]
}

// Referencing: data accessed independently, 1:many or many:many
// Good for: orders referencing products, users referencing groups
{
  _id: ObjectId("..."),
  customerId: ObjectId("..."),   // reference to users collection
  items: [
    { productId: ObjectId("..."), qty: 2, price: 29.99 }
  ]
}

Denormalization

Store computed or copied fields to avoid joins:

// Store author name directly on posts (update on author rename)
{ title: "My Post", authorId: ObjectId("..."), authorName: "Alice" }

Polymorphic Pattern

Single collection, different shapes distinguished by a type field:

// notifications collection
{ type: "email", to: "alice@example.com", subject: "Welcome", body: "..." }
{ type: "sms", to: "+1234567890", message: "Your code is 1234" }
{ type: "push", deviceToken: "abc...", title: "New message", payload: { ... } }

Mongoose ODM (Node.js)

Schema and Model

const mongoose = require("mongoose");
await mongoose.connect("mongodb://localhost:27017/mydb");

const userSchema = new mongoose.Schema({
  name: { type: String, required: true, trim: true },
  email: { type: String, required: true, unique: true, lowercase: true },
  age: { type: Number, min: 0 },
  role: { type: String, enum: ["user", "admin"], default: "user" },
  profile: {
    bio: String,
    avatar: String
  },
  tags: [String],
  createdAt: { type: Date, default: Date.now }
});

// Virtuals
userSchema.virtual("isAdmin").get(function () {
  return this.role === "admin";
});

// Instance methods
userSchema.methods.toPublic = function () {
  const { _id, name, email, role } = this.toObject();
  return { id: _id, name, email, role };
};

// Static methods
userSchema.statics.findByEmail = function (email) {
  return this.findOne({ email: email.toLowerCase() });
};

// Middleware (hooks)
userSchema.pre("save", function (next) {
  this.updatedAt = new Date();
  next();
});

const User = mongoose.model("User", userSchema);

Queries with Mongoose

const users = await User.find({ role: "admin" }).sort({ name: 1 }).limit(10).lean();
const user = await User.findById(id).select("name email");
await User.findOneAndUpdate({ email }, { $inc: { loginCount: 1 } }, { new: true });
await User.deleteMany({ lastLogin: { $lt: cutoffDate } });

Populate (Reference Resolution)

const postSchema = new mongoose.Schema({
  title: String,
  author: { type: mongoose.Schema.Types.ObjectId, ref: "User" }
});
const Post = mongoose.model("Post", postSchema);

const posts = await Post.find().populate("author", "name email").lean();
// Nested populate
const posts = await Post.find().populate({ path: "comments", populate: { path: "user" } });

lean()

lean() returns plain JS objects instead of Mongoose documents. Use for read-only queries -- skips hydration, significantly faster.

Transactions

const session = await mongoose.startSession();
session.startTransaction();
try {
  await Account.updateOne({ _id: from }, { $inc: { balance: -amount } }, { session });
  await Account.updateOne({ _id: to }, { $inc: { balance: amount } }, { session });
  await session.commitTransaction();
} catch (err) {
  await session.abortTransaction();
  throw err;
} finally {
  session.endSession();
}

Transactions require a replica set (or sharded cluster). For local dev, start mongod with --replSet rs0 and run rs.initiate().

MongoDB Atlas

Connection

# Connection string from Atlas dashboard
mongosh "mongodb+srv://cluster0.abc123.mongodb.net/mydb" --apiVersion 1 --username admin

# In application code
mongoose.connect("mongodb+srv://admin:password@cluster0.abc123.mongodb.net/mydb?retryWrites=true&w=majority")

Key Settings

• Network Access: whitelist IP addresses or use 0.0.0.0/0 for dev (not production).
• Database Access: create users with specific roles (readWrite, atlasAdmin).
• Backups: Atlas provides continuous backups and point-in-time restore for M10+ clusters. Snapshots can be downloaded or restored to a new cluster.

Performance

explain()

db.orders.find({ customerId: ObjectId("...") }).explain("executionStats")

Key fields: totalDocsExamined vs nReturned (ratio should be close to 1:1), executionTimeMillis, winningPlan.stage (IXSCAN good, COLLSCAN bad), indexBounds.

Database Profiler

db.setProfilingLevel(1, { slowms: 100 })     // log queries slower than 100ms
db.system.profile.find().sort({ ts: -1 }).limit(5)
db.setProfilingLevel(0)                       // disable profiler

Index Hints

db.orders.find({ status: "active" }).hint({ status: 1, createdAt: -1 })
db.orders.find({ status: "active" }).hint("status_1_createdAt_-1")

Backup and Restore

# Full database dump
mongodump --uri="mongodb://localhost:27017/mydb" --out=/backup/$(date +%F)

# Specific collection
mongodump --uri="mongodb://localhost:27017/mydb" --collection=users --out=/backup

# Compressed dump
mongodump --uri="mongodb://localhost:27017/mydb" --gzip --archive=backup.gz

# Restore full database
mongorestore --uri="mongodb://localhost:27017" /backup/2025-04-13/

# Restore specific collection
mongorestore --uri="mongodb://localhost:27017/mydb" --collection=users /backup/mydb/users.bson

# Restore from compressed archive
mongorestore --uri="mongodb://localhost:27017" --gzip --archive=backup.gz

# Drop existing data before restoring
mongorestore --drop --uri="mongodb://localhost:27017" /backup/2025-04-13/

Replica Sets

Setup

# Start three mongod instances
mongod --replSet rs0 --port 27017 --dbpath /data/rs0-0
mongod --replSet rs0 --port 27018 --dbpath /data/rs0-1
mongod --replSet rs0 --port 27019 --dbpath /data/rs0-2

// Initiate from mongosh connected to one node
rs.initiate({
  _id: "rs0",
  members: [
    { _id: 0, host: "localhost:27017" },
    { _id: 1, host: "localhost:27018" },
    { _id: 2, host: "localhost:27019" }
  ]
})
rs.status()
rs.conf()

Read Preference and Write Concern

// Read preference: where reads go
// primary (default), primaryPreferred, secondary, secondaryPreferred, nearest
db.users.find().readPref("secondaryPreferred")

// In connection string
"mongodb://host1,host2,host3/mydb?replicaSet=rs0&readPreference=secondaryPreferred"

// Write concern: how many nodes acknowledge a write
db.users.insertOne({ name: "Alice" }, { writeConcern: { w: "majority", wtimeout: 5000 } })

Change Streams

// Watch a collection for real-time changes
const changeStream = db.collection("orders").watch();
changeStream.on("change", (change) => {
  console.log(change.operationType, change.fullDocument);
});

// With filters
const pipeline = [{ $match: { "fullDocument.status": "shipped" } }];
const changeStream = db.collection("orders").watch(pipeline, { fullDocument: "updateLookup" });

// Resume after disconnect
const changeStream = db.collection("orders").watch([], { resumeAfter: lastResumeToken });

// Mongoose change streams
const stream = Order.watch();
stream.on("change", (data) => { /* handle */ });

Requires replica set or sharded cluster. Use fullDocument: "updateLookup" to include the full document on update events.

Common Patterns

Cursor-Based Pagination

// More efficient than skip/limit for large datasets
const pageSize = 20;
// First page
const firstPage = await db.orders.find().sort({ _id: -1 }).limit(pageSize).toArray();
// Next page: use last _id as cursor
const lastId = firstPage[firstPage.length - 1]._id;
const nextPage = await db.orders.find({ _id: { $lt: lastId } }).sort({ _id: -1 }).limit(pageSize).toArray();

Full-Text Search

db.articles.createIndex({ title: "text", body: "text" });
db.articles.find(
  { $text: { $search: "mongodb performance" } },
  { score: { $meta: "textScore" } }
).sort({ score: { $meta: "textScore" } })

// Atlas Search (more powerful, uses Lucene)
db.articles.aggregate([
  { $search: { index: "default", text: { query: "mongodb performance", path: ["title", "body"] } } },
  { $project: { title: 1, score: { $meta: "searchScore" } } }
])

Geospatial Queries

// Store GeoJSON point
db.places.insertOne({
  name: "Central Park",
  location: { type: "Point", coordinates: [-73.965, 40.782] }  // [lng, lat]
})
db.places.createIndex({ location: "2dsphere" })

// Find within radius (meters)
db.places.find({
  location: { $nearSphere: { $geometry: { type: "Point", coordinates: [-73.97, 40.77] }, $maxDistance: 2000 } }
})

// Find within polygon
db.places.find({
  location: { $geoWithin: { $geometry: { type: "Polygon", coordinates: [[[...], ...]] } } }
})