- tl;dr
- Hotkeys
The Connection Manager in Studio 3T makes it easy to connect to MongoDB, whether it is cloud-hosted or on-premise, or through a direct connection or a replica set.
Connect - Ctrl + N (⌘ + N)
Open Collection Tab - F10
Exit Studio 3T - Alt + X (⌘ + Q)
Haven’t downloaded Studio 3T yet? Get the latest version here to start using Connection Manager.
Create a new connection
- Open Studio 3T.
- Click on the Connect button either in the global toolbar or under the Recent Connections tab. This will open the Connection Manager.
- Click on New Connection. This will open the New Connection window.
Studio 3T supports various settings nested under the Server, Authentication, SSL, SSH Tunnel, and Advanced tabs:
- Replica Set or Sharded Cluster
- X.509
- Kerberos (GSSAPI) - Enterprise only
- LDAP (PLAIN) - Enterprise only
- Use own Root CA file
- Accept trusted server SSL certificates
- Use Client Certificate
- Allow invalid hostnames
- User Server Name Indication
- Server selection timeout
- Socket timeout
- Connect timeout
There are two main ways to enter connection details: by pasting a MongoDB connection string (recommended) or importing a URI file.
There’s also entering details manually, which isn’t recommended and won’t be covered.
Here’s a little tip to prevent a connection timeout.
Use a MongoDB URI
Hosters like MongoDB Atlas, Compose, mLab, and ObjectRocket provide the MongoDB URI or connection string in an easy format, so all that’s left is to paste it within Studio 3T’s Connection Manager.
Picking up from the steps above:
- Click on the From URI button.
- Paste the connection string.
- Click OK. Studio 3T will then extract the information and automatically fill out the fields in the Server, Authentication, SSL, SSH Tunnel, and Advanced tabs. It will also automatically save the connection in the Connection Manager.
Import a URI file
To import a URI file:
- Click on the Connect button either in the global toolbar or under the Recent Connections tab.
- Then, click on the Import button.
- Click on Open Connection URI File.
- Choose your .uri file and click Import.
While these two connection methods work seamlessly on Studio 3T, other MongoDB GUIs, clients, and cloud providers only support the standard URI format.
For example, a Studio 3T-generated MongoDB connection URI might have all the information (e.g. SSH details, passwords), but other tools might strip it down to the standard format which means details might have to be entered manually.
Already connected to your database? Get cracking with query building:
- Visual Query Builder – Drag and drop fields to build MongoDB queries, perfect for those still learning the MongoDB query syntax
- IntelliShell – Prefer a command line interface? Try our smart mongo shell with autocompletion
- SQL Query – Put your SQL skills to use and write SQL expressions to query MongoDB
