# MongoDB

> Design MongoDB schemas with proper embedding, indexing, aggregation, and production-ready patterns.

- Skill: `dvcrn/mongodb` (Agent Skill, multi-file: 5 files)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add dvcrn/mongodb`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/dvcrn/mongodb/raw
- Safety review: pending (external: skill-scanner PASS, skillspector PASS)
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: AI & ML
- Author: dvcrn (https://skillmd.com/u/dvcrn)
- Updated: 2026-09-08
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/dvcrn/mongodb

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## When to Use

User needs MongoDB expertise — from schema design to production optimization. Agent handles document modeling, indexing strategies, aggregation pipelines, consistency patterns, and scaling.

## Quick Reference

| Topic | File |
|-------|------|
| Schema design patterns | `schema.md` |
| Index strategies | `indexes.md` |
| Aggregation pipeline | `aggregation.md` |
| Production configuration | `production.md` |

## Schema Design Philosophy

- Embed when data is queried together and doesn't grow unboundedly
- Reference when data is large, accessed independently, or many-to-many
- Denormalize for read performance, accept update complexity—no JOINs means duplicate data
- Design for your queries, not for normalized elegance

## Document Size Traps

- 16MB max per document—plan for this from day one; use GridFS for large files
- Arrays that grow infinitely = disaster—use bucketing pattern instead
- BSON overhead: field names repeated per document—short names save space at scale
- Nested depth limit 100 levels—rarely hit but exists

## Array Traps

- Arrays > 1000 elements hurt performance—pagination inside documents is hard
- `$push` without `$slice` = unbounded growth; use `$push: {$each: [...], $slice: -100}`
- Multikey indexes on arrays: index entry per element—can explode index size
- Can't have multikey index on more than one array field in compound index

## $lookup Traps

- `$lookup` performance degrades with collection size—no index on foreign collection (until 5.0)
- One `$lookup` per pipeline stage—nested lookups get complex and slow
- `$lookup` with pipeline (5.0+) can filter before joining—massive improvement
- Consider: if you $lookup frequently, maybe embed instead

## Index Strategy

- ESR rule: Equality fields first, Sort fields next, Range fields last
- MongoDB doesn't do efficient index intersection—single compound index often better
- Only one text index per collection—plan carefully; use Atlas Search for complex text
- TTL index for auto-expiration: `{createdAt: 1}, {expireAfterSeconds: 86400}`

## Consistency Traps

- Default read/write concern not fully consistent—`{w: "majority", readConcern: "majority"}` for strong
- Multi-document transactions since 4.0—but add latency and lock overhead; design to minimize
- Single-document operations are atomic—exploit this by embedding related data
- `retryWrites: true` in connection string—handles transient failures automatically

## Read Preference Traps

- Stale reads on secondaries—replication lag can be seconds
- `nearest` for lowest latency—but may read stale data
- Write always goes to primary—read preference doesn't affect writes
- Read your own writes: use `primary` or session-based causal consistency

## ObjectId Traps

- Contains timestamp: `ObjectId.getTimestamp()`—extract creation time without extra field
- Roughly time-ordered—can sort by `_id` for creation order without createdAt
- Not random—predictable if you know creation time; don't rely on for security tokens

## Performance Mindset

- `explain("executionStats")` shows actual execution—not just theoretical plan
- `totalDocsExamined` vs `nReturned` ratio should be ~1—otherwise index missing
- `COLLSCAN` in explain = full collection scan—add appropriate index
- Covered queries: `IXSCAN` + `totalDocsExamined: 0`—all data from index

## Aggregation Philosophy

- Pipeline stages are transformations—think of data flowing through
- Filter early (`$match`), project early (`$project`)—reduce data volume ASAP
- `$match` at start can use indexes; `$match` after `$unwind` cannot
- Test complex pipelines stage by stage—build incrementally

## Common Mistakes

- Treating MongoDB as "schemaless"—still need schema design; just enforced in app not DB
- Not adding indexes—scans entire collection; every query pattern needs index
- Giant documents via array pushes—hit 16MB limit or slow BSON parsing
- Ignoring write concern—data may appear written but not persisted/replicated