mongo-csv

CLI tool that runs your query against MongoDB and outputs the results to CSV.

Supports both find and aggregate queries.

Usage

Provide a config.json file in the directory you'll run mongo-csv, with the following format:

{
  "url": "mongodb://my-mongo-server-url",
  "databaseName": "my_db",
  "collection": "my_collection",
  "query": { "color": "purple" }
}

Then you can either run mongo-csv with npx:

MONGO_USER=my_user MONGO_PASSWORD=secret npx mongo-csv

Or you can install mongo-csv globally:

npm install -g mongo-csv
MONGO_USER=my_user MONGO_PASSWORD=secret mongo-csv

Config

Option	Description	Default value
databaseName	Name of the database with your data	required
collection	Name of the collection with your data	required
url	URL of the Mongo server to which you're connecting	mongodb://localhost:27017
method	Method you want to call on the collection - find or aggregate	find
query	The query you'd like to run to filter the data returned	{} (all records)
options	Lets you specify any of the Mongo driver's find or aggregate options. This is especially useful when running a find for specifying a projection to limit the number of columns returned, or a limit, to limit the number of rows.	{}
outputFilePath	Path to the file to which you want the results written	./query_results.csv
authDb	Specify the database against which to authenticate	Defaults to the value supplied for databaseName

Performance tips

mongo-csv will read documents using a cursor to avoid reading them all at once, but here are some additional performance considerations:

• Write as specific a query as you can so you only get the data you really need
• Use the projection option to specify only the fields you really need, so Mongo doesn't need to work to get you the rest
• It's usually a good idea to have a database index in place to support your query, so it can run quickly
• Avoid reading huge amounts of data at your peak usage periods
• If your Mongo environment is a replica set, it's a good idea to point at one of your secondary servers to leave the primary server free to take care of new data being written

FAQ

• Does mongo-csv support distinct? Not directly, but you can achieve the same result using an aggregation.

Licence

MIT