IntelliShell

Prerequisites

Download Studio 3T and choose the right version for your particular platform and bit size.

IntelliShell requires the mongo shell executable, one of the mongo client tools bundled when downloading MongoDB.

No additional configuration is needed for Windows, macOS, or Linux installations. The mongo shell executable is bundled with Studio 3T on these systems.

If you want to use another version of MongoDB, here’s how you can point IntelliShell to use a different mongo.exe file.

Custom mongo shell

If you choose to use your own installation of the mongo shell, you can configure this in Studio 3T.

Once the mongo client tools are installed:

1. Go to Studio 3T > Preferences.
2. Click on the IntelliShell tab.
3. Insert the path of where the mongo shell executable is located.
4. Click OK.

Launch IntelliShell

Choose a target server, database, or collection in the Connection Tree, then open IntelliShell through three ways:

• Button – Click on the IntelliShell button in the global toolbar
• Right-click – Right-click and choose Open IntelliShell
• Shortcut – Press Ctrl + L (⌘+ L)

When you open IntelliShell on an existing collection, IntelliShell will open with the default query for that collection. You can use Studio 3T’s Query Manager to set a default query.

IntelliShell has two main sections: the top Editor section where you can write queries, commands, and scripts, and the bottom Result tab section where you can view the shell output.

MongoDB query auto-completion

IntelliShell detects and auto-suggests JavaScript standard library functions, shell-specific types and methods, operators, collection names, field names, and shell helper commands as you type.

You can trigger query auto-completion in the following ways:

• Right-click – Right-click anywhere in the Editor and choose Open Auto-Completion
• Shortcut – Press Ctrl + Space (^ + Space)

Live error highlighting

IntelliShell highlights syntax errors as you type.

These errors are also noted in the left-hand sidebar as red crosses that you can hover over, and in the right-hand script overview ruler as clickable red markers that take you straight to the error line.

Run queries via the mongo shell (Disable Query Assist)

You can run queries and scripts entirely, at cursor, or just a selection.

To run an entire script:

• Button – Click on the Run (play) button in the toolbar
• Right-click – Right-click anywhere in the Editor and choose Run Entire Script
• Shortcut – Press F5

To run a script at cursor, place the cursor at any top-level statement and:

• Button – Click on the second Run (play) button in the toolbar
• Right-click – Right-click anywhere in the Editor and choose Run Statement at Cursor
• Shortcut – Press F6

To run a selection, highlight the part of the query or script you want to run and:

• Button – Click on the third Run (play) button in the toolbar
• Right-click – Right-click anywhere on the selection and choose Run Selection
• Shortcut – Press F9

Whenever possible, Studio 3T will parse documents and display them in a tab with the three standard views (Table, Tree, and JSON) but you will not be able to edit the results.

In the Result tab section, you’ll always find the Raw shell output tab which displays the output of all shell-run commands.

You can run find and aggregation queries, this way but they will no longer open editable result tabs.

Instead, they will appear along with other shell commands and scripts in the Raw shell output tab as you would expect in a real terminal or shell, which means you won’t be able to edit or page through the results. Query Code and Visual Explain will not be available.

Run queries via Studio 3T (Enable Query Assist)

Query Assist is enabled by default for standalone, top-level find and aggregation queries. This means they will be run through Studio 3T instead of the mongo shell.

Query Assist adds functionalities that are not available for shell-run queries, like the ability to:

1. Run find and aggregation queries that open their own powerful result tabs. Find queries run using Query Assist allow in-place editing.

Assisted queries are clearly labeled in the left-hand sidebar as wand icons, and in the right-hand script overview rulers as clickable yellow markers that take you straight to the query.

Each assisted query will open a separate, editable result tab, whose name will display its corresponding line in the Editor.

2. Edit results within the tabs, as you normally would in other parts of Studio 3T through the three standard views: Table, Tree, and JSON.

3. Use Query Code to convert your MongoDB query to JavaScript (Node.js), Java (2.x and 3.x driver API), Python, C#, PHP, and Ruby.

4. Use Visual Explain to help optimize performance by seeing how MongoDB executed your query.

Click on the Explain Query button on any result tab. This will open a new Explain tab that shows which steps MongoDB took to run the query.

Query Assist only assists find and aggregation queries – all other scripts and commands will always be run in the shell. Their results are viewable in the the Raw shell output tab.

Pin only the query results you want to keep

Keep things tidy and choose to keep only the query results you need, by using the Pin on any result tab.

All other unpinned result tabs will be cleared with the next execution, be it the entire script or a portion of it.

Format and indent code

To format code:

• Button – Click on the Format Code button, at the bottom of the editor
• Right-click – Right-click anywhere in the Editor and choose Format code
• Shortcut – Press Ctrl + Alt + L (or ⌥ + ⌘ + L on Mac)

To indent code:

• Button – Place a cursor in the target query/query selection and click on the Indent Code button at the bottom of the editor
• Shortcut – Press Tab

To unindent code:

• Button – Place a cursor in the target query/query selection and click on the Unindent Code button at the bottom of the editor
• Shortcut – Press Shift + Tab

You can define your Editor tab width preferences under Studio 3T > Preferences > General. The default editor tab width setting is 4 spaces.

Insert and remove comments

It is also possible to comment and uncomment with a line comment.

Place the cursor on the line to be made into a comment and:

• Right-click – Right-click anywhere in the Editor and choose Comment code. Repeat to remove the comment.
• Shortcut – Press Ctrl + / (⌘+ /). Repeat to remove the comment.

Open and save queries

To save your MongoDB query as a JavaScript file:

• Button – Click on the Save script icon. Alternatively, click on the arrow to find the Save file functions.
• Right-click – Right-click anywhere in the Editor and choose Save
• Shortcuts – Save Script – Ctrl + S (⌘+ S), Save File – Shift + Ctrl + S (Shift + ⌘+ S)

To open saved queries:

• Button – Click on the Load script icon
• Right-click – Right-click anywhere in the Editor and choose Load
• Shortcut – Press Ctrl + O (⌘+ O)

Use IntelliShell and AI Helper

Don’t know how to write queries? You can use AI Helper, Studio 3T’s AI-powered assistant to type your query in natural language.

You’ll need an OpenAI API key to use AI Helper. You can generate an OpenAI API key by following this link: https://platform.openai.com/account/api-keys. In the Preferences dialog, select the IntelliShell tab, and paste your key in the OpenAI API Key box.

Click on AI Helper in the toolbar.

Type your question in the box and click Generate query. Note that if you selected a database in the Collections sidebar, click Select source to choose your collections before you start typing. You can add multiple collections from the same database.

AI Helper generates the query, ready for you to run.

Use IntelliShell and Visual Query Builder side by side

Tired of manually typing everything? You can use Visual Query Builder – our drag-and-drop MongoDB query builder – alongside IntelliShell.

Simply click on Visual Query Builder in the toolbar.

We’ve tightened this integration so that edits made in IntelliShell are reflected in Visual Query Builder in real-time, and vice versa. This way, you can skip the command line writing and build queries visually – or combine both ways to work even faster.

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