Getting Started with Studio 3T

Got Studio 3T downloaded and installed on your machine? Then let’s get started with MongoDB using Studio 3T.

Connect to MongoDB

Have your connection details ready

Whether you’re MongoDB is hosted on-premise or through a cloud hosting service, the quickest way to connect to your database is to have a connection string ready.

mongodb://[username:password@]host1[:port1][,host2[:port2],…[,hostN[:portN]]][/[database][?options]]

The standard connection string or URI format

The good news is, cloud hosting services like MongoDB Atlas, Compose, mLab, ObjectRocket, and ScaleGrid readily provide this connection string, so all you need to do is make a few modifications (e.g. insert SSH and/or SSL details), and paste it into Studio 3T.

Alternatively, you can also save the connection string as a URI file.

Create a new connection

Enter your connection string or upload your URI file in the Connection Manager following these steps.

Choose between light or dark theme

Choose between dark theme or the default light theme by going to Preferences > General and ticking the Enable dark theme checkbox.

Take a tour

The global toolbar is available throughout your Studio 3T journey, providing you one-click access to the following features:

The tools at your disposal in the Studio 3T toolbar

Connection Tree

On the left-hand side, you’ll always find the Connection Tree, which displays all your active MongoDB connections and their respective databases and collections.

Avoid database mixups by color-coding your databases and collections.

Collection Tab

Double-click on any collection in the Connection Tree to open a collection tab.

The Collection Tab is the starting point for using Studio 3T. Here you can view, edit, and query your collection, and access other features.

We highly encourage you to get familiar with the Collection Tab and read the full documentation here.

Build your query

With Studio 3T, anyone can build a MongoDB query.

It doesn’t matter if you don’t know the MongoDB query language, use SQL, or write JSON documents like a pro – there’s a feature that’s right for you.

Drag-and-drop

If you have no knowledge of the MongoDB query language, you can still get some serious querying done with the Visual Query Builder.

Simply drag and drop the fields you want to query into the builder, define your operators, and let the feature do the work – no MongoDB query syntax required.

Read about Visual Query Builder in full.

mongo shell

Those familiar with the mongo shell will feel right at home with IntelliShell, which boasts an extra perk: rich, smart autocompletion which was even made more robust with Version 2018.4.

View the full documentation on IntelliShell here.

SQL

If you’re a SQL veteran new to MongoDB, you can be just as productive with your SQL querying skills.

Through SQL Query, you can write SQL statements and joins to query MongoDB.

You also get to see how your SQL queries translate to the MongoDB query language, which is a great learning tool.

Read about SQL Query in full here.

Aggregation pipeline

For a better way of building aggregation queries (which even the MongoDB pros will appreciate), there’s the Aggregation Editor.

It lets you define aggregation pipeline operators and check inputs and outputs one stage at a time, so that you know your pipeline is accurate each step of the way.

View the full documentation on Aggregation Editor here.