Native workspaces
MongoDB
MongoDB opens in a document workspace. It browses collections, runs find and aggregate with Extended JSON, shows documents without losing their types, and stages changes that are checked against the server before they are written.
Where to find it
| Action | How |
|---|---|
| Create a connection | New connection, ⌘N (Ctrl+N), then MongoDB |
| Open the workspace | Connect on a saved connection |
| Choose a collection | Databases and collections on the left |
| Query | Find or Aggregate above the grid, then Run |
| Inspect a document | Select a row, then read Canonical Extended JSON on the right |
| Stage and commit | Document draft, Staged operations and Commit staged operations on the right |
| Switch connection | ⌘⇧K (Ctrl+Shift+K) |
Databases and collections sit on the left, the query and the grid in the middle, and the inspector and staged operations on the right.
Connecting
Choose MongoDB in New connection and enter a mongodb:// seed list or a mongodb+srv:// address in Connection URI. Keep credentials out of the URI: Username, Authentication database and Password have their own fields, and the password goes to the keychain only when you check Save to system keychain.
Verify TLS certificates is on by default and required for SRV, and Direct connection talks to one host without replica set discovery. Client certificates, Kerberos, LDAP, OIDC and cloud credentials have no fields.
Browsing
Select a database, then a collection, then Run. The grid shows 100 documents per page with a column for every top-level field on the page, and the arrows below it move between pages. A field a document does not have reads missing in italics, while a field set to null shows a null badge.
Queries
Find takes a Filter, a Projection and a Sort, each an Extended JSON object. Aggregate takes an Aggregation pipeline as an Extended JSON array, and rejects output stages that write, because writes go through staging. The editors accept document syntax only and do not run mongosh JavaScript.
Inspecting
Select a row and Canonical Extended JSON shows the whole document. ObjectId, Decimal128, dates, binary data and 64-bit integers keep their type tags, so a value is never rounded or turned into a plain string. The same text fills Document draft, ready to edit.
Editing
Stage insert adds the draft as a new document, Stage update replaces the selected document with the draft, and Stage delete removes the selected document. Each entry in Staged operations opens to show the original document and its _id beside the replacement.
Commit staged operations writes only when the document on the server still matches the original. A document changed by someone else is reported as changed or deleted before commit and stays staged, and the app never retries it.
Good to know
Commit as a transactionis available only when discovery finds a replica set or sharded cluster that supports transactions. Without it, each operation is written on its own and the result names each failure.- A read-only connection refuses every write in the native layer.
Query historykeeps the last 30 queries of the session, and a server error stays above the grid until the next run.- There is no cancellation, schema editing, diagram, import, export or snapshot here, because collections hold documents of any shape rather than a relational schema.