Getting Started with the Node.js Driver

Install dependencies

Ensure you have the following dependencies installed in your development environment:

• Node.js v16.20.1 or later

• npm (Node Package Manager)

To learn how to install Node.js and npm, see Downloading and installing Node.js and npm in the npm documentation.

Create a project directory

In your shell, run the following command to create a directory called node_quickstart for this project:

mkdir node_quickstart

Then, run the following commands to navigate into the directory and initialize your Node.js project:

cd node_quickstart
npm init -y

When the initialization command successfully completes, you have a package.json file in your node_quickstart directory.

Install the Node.js Driver

Run the following command from your project directory to install the driver:

npm install mongodb@6.14

This command performs the following actions:

• Downloads the mongodb package and the dependencies it requires

• Saves the package in the node_modules directory

• Records the dependency information in the package.json file

Create a free MongoDB deployment on Atlas

Complete the Get Started with Atlas guide to set up a new Atlas account and load sample data into a new free tier MongoDB deployment.

Save your credentials

After you create your database user, save that user's username and password to a safe location for use in an upcoming step.

Find your MongoDB Atlas connection string

To retrieve your connection string for the deployment that you created in the previous section, log into your Atlas account and navigate to the Clusters section and click the Connect button for your new deployment.

Copy your connection string

Click the button on the right of the connection string to copy it to your clipboard, as shown in the following screenshot:

Update the placeholders

Paste your connection string into a file in your preferred text editor and replace the username and <db_password> placeholders with your database user's username and password.

Save this file to a safe location for use in the next section.

Create your Node.js application

In your node_quickstart directory, create a file called index.js for your application.

Copy and paste the following code into the index.js file:

const { MongoClient } = require("mongodb");
// Replace the uri string with your connection string
const uri = "<connection string uri>";
const client = new MongoClient(uri);
async function run() {
  try {
    const database = client.db('sample_mflix');
    const movies = database.collection('movies');
    // Queries for a movie that has a title value of 'Back to the Future'
    const query = { title: 'Back to the Future' };
    const movie = await movies.findOne(query);
    console.log(movie);
  } finally {
    await client.close();
  }
}
run().catch(console.dir);

Assign the connection string

Replace the <connection string uri> placeholder with the connection string that you copied from the Create a Connection String step of this guide.

Run your Node.js application

From your project directory, run the following command to start the application:

node index.js

The output includes details about the retrieved movie document:

{
  _id: ...,
  plot: 'A young man is accidentally sent 30 years into the past...',
  genres: [ 'Adventure', 'Comedy', 'Sci-Fi' ],
  ...
  title: 'Back to the Future',
  ...
}

If you encounter an error or see no output, verify that you specified the proper connection string in the index.js file and that you loaded the sample data.