MongoDB Compass for VS Code

An independent MongoDB GUI for VS Code: connections, document browsing with a query bar, CRUD, an aggregation pipeline builder with live preview, index management, schema analysis, explain plans, validation rules, import/export, server stats and query history.

This community extension is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by MongoDB, Inc. MongoDB and MongoDB Compass are trademarks of MongoDB, Inc.

Built on the official mongodb Node driver and bson.

Features

Connections (Compass connection-form / connection-storage)

• Add / edit / duplicate / remove saved connections
• Connect with a URI directly
• Credentials stored securely in the OS keychain via VS Code SecretStorage
• Advanced options: read preference, server selection timeout, notes, color
• Topology detection (standalone / replica set / sharded / Atlas), server version
• Status bar indicator for the active connection

Explorer (Compass sidebar / compass-connections-navigation)

• Connections → Databases → Collections / Views → Indexes / Search Indexes tree
• Create / drop databases and collections, create views (incl. time-series)
• Rename / duplicate / drop collections
• Database & collection stats
• Inline connect / disconnect / refresh

Documents (Compass compass-crud + compass-query-bar)

• Query bar: filter, project, sort, collation, skip, limit, maxTimeMS
• Shell-style BSON parsing: ObjectId("…"), ISODate("…"), NumberLong(…), etc.
• List / Table / JSON view modes
• Pagination with matched/total counts and timing
• Insert / edit / clone / delete documents
• Explain plan for the current query
• Save query to "My Queries", export query to language, copy as mongosh snippet
• Query cancellation

Aggregation Pipeline Builder (Compass compass-aggregations)

• Stage-by-stage editor with enable/disable, reorder, duplicate, delete
• Live per-stage preview + auto-preview
• Stage catalogue with templates ($match, $group, $lookup, $search, $vectorSearch, $out, $merge, …)
• Run / count / explain the whole pipeline
• $out / $merge safety warning
• Save pipeline, create a view from the pipeline
• Export pipeline to language / mongosh

Indexes (Compass compass-indexes)

• List regular + Atlas Search indexes with properties
• Create / drop indexes (keys + options)
• Create / drop search indexes

Schema (Compass compass-schema)

• Sample-based schema analysis: field paths, presence %, type distribution
• Uniqueness, string length and numeric range statistics
• Nested document / array field analysis
• Indexing & mixed-type insights

Validation (Compass compass-schema-validation)

• View / edit $jsonSchema (or any) validator
• Validation level & action

Explain Plan (Compass compass-explain-plan)

• Flattened winning-plan tree with stage descriptions
• Execution stats
• Performance insights (COLLSCAN, SORT, EOFSORT, covered queries, examine/return ratio)

Import / Export (Compass compass-import-export)

• Export collection to JSON / JSON Lines / CSV (with filter, flattening)
• Import JSON / JSONL / CSV with insert/upsert, type inference, progress, cancellation

Server tools (Compass compass-serverstats)

• Server status (connections, opcounters, memory, uptime)
• Current operations with killOp
• Run raw database commands
• Query history (find / aggregate / explain / command) with re-open
• My Queries: saved queries & pipelines

Export to Language (Compass compass-export-to-language)

• mongosh, JavaScript, TypeScript, Python, Java, C#, Go, PHP, Ruby, Rust, Compass

Getting started

Requirements

• VS Code 1.85 or newer.
• A reachable MongoDB deployment. Standalone servers, replica sets, sharded clusters and MongoDB Atlas are supported by the official Node.js driver.
• mongosh and mongorestore must be installed separately and available on PATH for the corresponding commands.

npm install
npm run build      # or: npm run watch

Press F5 in VS Code to launch the Extension Development Host.

1. Click the MongoDB icon in the Activity Bar.
2. Add Connection (or Connect with URI), e.g. mongodb://localhost:27017.
3. Expand a connection → databases → collections.
4. Click a collection to open the Documents view, or use the context menu for Aggregation / Indexes / Schema / Validation / Explain / Export.

Configuration

Architecture

src/
  core/            # driver-agnostic services (mirrors Compass packages)
    connectionManager.ts   # compass-connections
    connectionStore.ts     # connection-storage (SecretStorage)
    dataService.ts         # mongodb-data-service
    bsonParser.ts          # mongodb-query-parser (shell syntax)
    schemaAnalyzer.ts      # mongodb-schema
    explainHelper.ts       # explain-plan-helper
    exportToLanguage.ts    # bson-transpilers / export-to-language
    importExport.ts        # compass-import-export
    queryHistory.ts        # recent queries
    myQueries.ts           # my-queries-storage
    config.ts, logger.ts, types.ts
  explorer/        # TreeView (sidebar navigation)
  webviews/        # webview panels
    baseWebview.ts         # shared panel infra (CSP, messaging)
    documentsPanel.ts      # compass-crud
    aggregationPanel.ts    # compass-aggregations
    dataPanel.ts           # indexes/schema/validation/explain/stats/history/…
    documents/, aggregation/, dataview/   # webview front-ends
    shared/                # shared CSS + client helpers
  commands/        # connection form
  extension.ts     # activation + command registration

Packaging

npm ci
npm run package    # produces mongo-compass-<version>.vsix

Install the resulting file with Extensions: Install from VSIX... before publishing it.

Security and privacy

• Connection strings are stored in VS Code SecretStorage, backed by the operating system credential store.
• Query history and saved queries are stored locally in VS Code global storage.
• The extension does not include telemetry or send database contents to an external service.
• Database queries and commands are sent only to the MongoDB deployment selected by the user.
• Review the target database before using destructive operations such as drop, delete, restore, $out or $merge.

Support

Report defects through the repository issue tracker. Include the extension version, VS Code version, MongoDB server version and relevant output from MongoDB: Show Output Channel. Do not include credentials or unredacted connection strings.

Notes & limitations

• This is an independent implementation inspired by MongoDB Compass; it is not affiliated with MongoDB, Inc.
• Atlas Search indexes require an Atlas deployment.
• The webview editors use plain textareas with EJSON/shell syntax (no CodeMirror autocompletion as in Compass).
• Data modeling diagrams, the embedded mongosh, and the GenAI assistant from Compass are out of scope.

License

MIT