MongoDB MCP Server

The MongoDB MCP Server is the official Model Context Protocol implementation maintained by MongoDB, connecting MongoDB deployments (Atlas, Community Edition, Enterprise Advanced) to MCP-compatible AI agents and IDEs like Cursor, Claude Code, GitHub Copilot in VS Code, and Windsurf. It exposes a comprehensive set of tools for querying and managing databases, administering Atlas clusters, configuring stream processing, and pulling performance advisor recommendations directly from inside an AI agent session.

The server supports two authentication paths: a MongoDB connection string for direct database access (works for both local instances and Atlas clusters) and Atlas API service account credentials for managing organizations, projects, clusters, users, IP access lists, alerts, and stream processing workspaces. It can run as a local stdio process via npx or Docker, or as an HTTP server for shared/team usage. Built-in safety features include a read-only mode, an index-check mode that rejects collection scans, configurable per-query document and byte limits, a disabled-tools allowlist, and a confirmation-required list for destructive operations.

Notable extras include tools for Atlas Local deployments, the MongoDB Assistant knowledge base (search-knowledge and list-knowledge-sources) for grounding agents in official MongoDB documentation, EJSON-formatted exports, and a mcpUI preview feature exposing a web UI. Telemetry is enabled by default but can be disabled via env var.

Tools

Prerequisites

• Node.js 20.19.0+, 22.12.0+, or 23+ (or Docker)
• A MongoDB connection string (for DB tools) and/or Atlas API service account credentials (for Atlas tools)

Install via npx

Run directly with npx (no install needed):

npx -y mongodb-mcp-server@latest --readOnly

Claude Desktop / Cursor / VS Code config

Connection-string based config:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "MongoDB": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "mongodb-mcp-server@latest", "--readOnly"],
      "env": {
        "MDB_MCP_CONNECTION_STRING": "mongodb://localhost:27017/myDatabase"
      }
    }
  }
}

Atlas API credentials config (required for Atlas tools):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "MongoDB": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "mongodb-mcp-server@latest", "--readOnly"],
      "env": {
        "MDB_MCP_API_CLIENT_ID": "your-client-id",
        "MDB_MCP_API_CLIENT_SECRET": "your-client-secret"
      }
    }
  }
}

Docker

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "MongoDB": {
      "command": "docker",
      "args": [
        "run", "--rm", "-i",
        "-e", "MDB_MCP_CONNECTION_STRING",
        "-e", "MDB_MCP_READ_ONLY=true",
        "mongodb/mongodb-mcp-server:latest"
      ],
      "env": {
        "MDB_MCP_CONNECTION_STRING": "mongodb+srv://user:pass@cluster.mongodb.net/db"
      }
    }
  }
}

HTTP transport (shared/team usage)

npx -y mongodb-mcp-server@latest --transport http --httpHost=0.0.0.0 --httpPort=8080

Key configuration env vars

• MDB_MCP_CONNECTION_STRING: MongoDB URI
• MDB_MCP_API_CLIENT_ID / MDB_MCP_API_CLIENT_SECRET: Atlas API service account
• MDB_MCP_READ_ONLY: restrict to read/metadata/connect operations (default false)
• MDB_MCP_INDEX_CHECK: reject queries that perform collection scans
• MDB_MCP_DISABLED_TOOLS: comma-separated tool names or categories (atlas, mongodb) to disable
• MDB_MCP_MAX_DOCUMENTS_PER_QUERY (default 100), MDB_MCP_MAX_BYTES_PER_QUERY (default 16MB)
• MDB_MCP_TELEMETRY=disabled: opt out of telemetry

Atlas service account permissions

Use the minimum permissions needed: Org Member / Org Read Only / Org Project Creator at org level, and Project Read Only, Cluster Manager, IP Access List Admin, Database Access Admin, or Stream Processing Owner at project level.

• Let an AI agent explore unfamiliar collections by inspecting schemas, listing indexes, and running sample find and aggregate queries without leaving the IDE.
• Generate Atlas performance recommendations on demand (suggested indexes, schema improvements, slow query samples) using atlas-get-performance-advisor and act on them via create-index.
• Bootstrap a new Atlas environment from a prompt: create a project, provision a free cluster, add an IP access list entry, and create a DB user using the atlas-* tools.
• Build and manage Atlas Stream Processing pipelines (create workspaces, deploy processors, start/stop them) directly from agent conversations.
• Ground coding assistants in authoritative MongoDB docs via search-knowledge so generated queries and aggregation pipelines match current syntax and best practices.

• "Connect to my local MongoDB, show the schema of the orders collection, and list the top 5 customers by order total in the last 30 days."
• "Run the Atlas performance advisor on the prod-cluster project and create any suggested indexes that touch the events collection."
• "Provision a free M0 cluster in my dev project on AWS us-east-1, then create a read-only DB user named analytics."
• "List my Atlas stream processors, stop any that are running on the staging workspace, and delete the ones whose names start with test-."
• "Search the MongoDB knowledge base for best practices on TTL indexes and then apply one to my sessions collection with a 24-hour expiry."

• Officially maintained by MongoDB under the mongodb-js GitHub organization, so coverage tracks Atlas features.
• Very broad surface area: database CRUD, schema/index management, Atlas org/project/cluster ops, stream processing, performance advisor, and a docs knowledge-base search.
• Strong safety controls: read-only mode, index-check mode, per-query document/byte caps, disabled-tools list, and confirmation-required list for destructive operations.
• Multiple deployment modes (stdio via npx, Docker image, HTTP transport) and works with Cursor, Claude Code, VS Code, Windsurf, and other MCP clients.

• Atlas tools require an Atlas service account with appropriate roles; misconfigured permissions silently limit available functionality.
• HTTP transport is not production-ready out of the box: the docs explicitly require additional TLS, auth, and firewall hardening.
• Telemetry is enabled by default and must be opted out via MDB_MCP_TELEMETRY=disabled or DO_NOT_TRACK=1.

• kiliczsh/mcp-mongo-server: community MongoDB MCP server focused on basic DB tools.
• QuantGeekDev/mongo-mcp: another community MongoDB MCP implementation.
• mongodb-developer/mcp-mongodb-atlas: earlier MongoDB-developer-org Atlas-focused MCP server, predating the official mongodb-js server.