MongoDB Lens

- MongoDB Connection String
- Config File
- Config File Generation
- Multiple MongoDB Connections
- Environment Variable Overrides
- Cross-Platform Environment Variables

> [!NOTE]<br>
> NPX requires Node.js installed and running on your system (suggestion: use Volta).

The easiest way to run MongoDB Lens is using NPX.

First, ensure Node.js is installed:

node --version # Ideally >= v22.x but MongoDB Lens is >= v18.x compatible

Then, run MongoDB Lens via NPX:

> [!NOTE]<br>
> Docker Hub requires Docker installed and running on your system.
First, ensure Docker is installed:

Then, run MongoDB Lens via Docker Hub:

> [!NOTE]<br>
> Node.js from source requires Node.js installed and running on your system (suggestion: use Volta).

1. Clone the MongoDB Lens repository:<br>

    git clone https://github.com/furey/mongodb-lens.git

    

    cd /path/to/mongodb-lens

    

    node --version # Ideally >= v22.x but MongoDB Lens is >= v18.x compatible

    

    npm ci

    

> [!NOTE]<br>

> Docker from source requires Docker installed and running on your system.

1. Clone the MongoDB Lens repository:<br>

    

1. Navigate to the cloned repository directory:<br>

    

1. Ensure Docker is installed:<br>

    

1. Build the Docker image:<br>

    

1. Run the container:<br>

    

To verify the installation, paste and run the following JSONRPC message into the server's stdio:

{"method":"resources/read","params":{"uri":"mongodb://databases"},"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":1}

The server should respond with a list of databases in your MongoDB instance, for example:

{"result":{"contents":[{"uri":"mongodb://databases","text":"Databases (12):\n- admin (180.00 KB)\n- config (108.00 KB)\n- local (40.00 KB)\n- sample_airbnb (51.88 MB)\n- sample_analytics (9.46 MB)\n- sample_geospatial (980.00 KB)\n- sample_guides (40.00 KB)\n- sample_mflix (108.90 MB)\n- sample_restaurants (7.73 MB)\n- sample_supplies (968.00 KB)\n- sample_training (40.85 MB)\n- sample_weatherdata (2.69 MB)"}]},"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":1}

MongoDB Lens is now installed and ready to accept MCP requests.

If connecting to a MongoDB instance with a version < 4.0, the MongoDB Node.js driver used by the latest version of MongoDB Lens will not be compatible. Specifically, MongoDB Node.js driver versions 4.0.0 and above require MongoDB version 4.0 or higher.

To use MongoDB Lens with older MongoDB instances, you need to use a MongoDB Node.js driver version from the 3.x series (e.g. 3.7.4 which is compatible with MongoDB 3.6).

1. Clone the MongoDB Lens repository:<br>

    git clone https://github.com/furey/mongodb-lens.git

    

    cd /path/to/mongodb-lens

    

    "dependencies": {

      ...

    -  "mongodb": "^6.15.0",  // Or whatever newer version is listed

    +  "mongodb": "^3.7.4",   // Or whatever 3.x version is compatible with your older MongoDB instance

      ...

    }

    

    npm install

    

    node mongodb-lens.js mongodb://older-mongodb-instance

    

This will use the older driver version compatible with your MongoDB instance.

> [!NOTE]<br>
> You may also need to revert this commit to add back useNewUrlParser and useUnifiedTopology MongoDB configuration options.

The server accepts a MongoDB connection string as its only argument.

Example NPX usage:

npx -y mongodb-lens@latest mongodb://your-connection-string

MongoDB connection strings have the following format:

```txt