MongoDB Setup and CRUD Operations Tutorial

September 30, 2025

Contents
1 Introduction 2

2 Prerequisites 2

3 Setting Up MongoDB 2
3.1 Local Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
3.2 MongoDB Atlas (Cloud) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

4 Creating a Database and Collection 2

5 CRUD Operations in MongoDB Shell 3

5.1 Create . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
5.2 Read . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
5.3 Update . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
5.4 Delete . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

6 Integrating MongoDB with Spring Boot 4

6.1 Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
6.2 Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
6.3 Repository . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
6.4 REST Controller . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

7 Testing the Application 5

8 Best Practices 6

9 Conclusion 6

10 References 6

1
1 Introduction
This tutorial provides a comprehensive guide to setting up MongoDB, performing CRUD
operations using the MongoDB shell, and integrating MongoDB with a Spring Boot appli-
cation for a RESTful API. MongoDB is a NoSQL, document-oriented database that stores
data in JSON-like BSON documents, offering flexibility and scalability.

2 Prerequisites
To follow this tutorial, ensure you have:
• MongoDB Community Edition installed locally or a MongoDB Atlas cloud account.
• MongoDB Shell (mongosh) for command-line operations.
• Optional: MongoDB Compass for GUI-based data visualization.
• Java 17+, Maven, and a Spring Boot project for integration.

3 Setting Up MongoDB
3.1 Local Installation
Download MongoDB Community Edition from https://www.mongodb.com/try/download/
community. Start the server:
mongod

3.2 MongoDB Atlas (Cloud)

1. Sign up at https://www.mongodb.com/atlas.
2. Create a free cluster, add a database user, and whitelist your IP.
3. Obtain the connection string, e.g., mongodb+srv://<username>:<password>@cluster0.xxx.m

Connect using mongosh:

mongosh ”mongodb://localhost:27017”

or for Atlas:
mongosh ”mongodb+srv://<username>:<password>@cluster0.xxx.mongodb.net/”

4 Creating a Database and Collection

Switch to a database (created automatically upon use):
use tutorialdb

Insert a document to create the tutorials collection:

db.tutorials.insertOne({
title: ”MongoDB Tutorial”,
description: ”Learn MongoDB basics”,
published: true
})

2
 Output includes an auto-generated _id:
{
”acknowledged”: true,
”insertedId”: ObjectId(”6718b3a2e4b0c3f1a2b3c4d5”)
}

5 CRUD Operations in MongoDB Shell

5.1 Create
Insert a single document:
db.tutorials.insertOne({
title: ”Spring Boot with MongoDB”,
description: ”Build a REST API”,
published: false
})

Insert multiple documents:

db.tutorials.insertMany([
{ title: ”Node.js with MongoDB”, description: ”Backend tutorial”,
published: true },
{ title: ”Python MongoDB”, description: ”Data analysis”, published:
false }
])

5.2 Read
Retrieve all documents:
db.tutorials.find().pretty()

Find a specific document:

db.tutorials.findOne({ title: ”MongoDB Tutorial” })

Filter by condition:
db.tutorials.find({ published: true }).pretty()

5.3 Update
Update a single document:
db.tutorials.updateOne(
{ title: ”MongoDB Tutorial” },
{ $set: { description: ”Updated MongoDB basics”, published: false } }
)

Update multiple documents:

db.tutorials.updateMany(
{ published: false },
{ $set: { published: true } }
)

3
5.4 Delete
Delete a single document:
db.tutorials.deleteOne({ title: ”Python MongoDB” })

Delete multiple documents:

db.tutorials.deleteMany({ published: false })

6 Integrating MongoDB with Spring Boot

This section assumes a Spring Boot project with spring-boot-starter-data-mongodb
and spring-boot-starter-web dependencies.

6.1 Configuration
In src/main/resources/application.properties, configure the MongoDB connec-
tion:
spring.data.mongodb.uri=mongodb+srv://<username>:<password>@cluster0.xxx.
mongodb.net/tutorialdb?retryWrites=true&w=majority

6.2 Model
Define the Tutorial entity:
@Document(collection = ”tutorials”)
public class Tutorial {
@Id
private String id;
private String title;
private String description;
private boolean published;
// Constructors, getters, setters
}

6.3 Repository
Create a repository interface:
@Repository
public interface TutorialRepository extends MongoRepository<Tutorial,
String> {
List<Tutorial> findByPublished(boolean published);
List<Tutorial> findByTitleContaining(String title);
}

6.4 REST Controller

Define endpoints for CRUD operations:
@RestController
@RequestMapping(”/api/tutorials”)
public class TutorialController {
@Autowired

4
 private TutorialService tutorialService;

@PostMapping
public ResponseEntity<Tutorial> createTutorial(@RequestBody Tutorial
tutorial) {
Tutorial savedTutorial = tutorialService.createTutorial(tutorial);
return new ResponseEntity<>(savedTutorial, HttpStatus.CREATED);
}

@GetMapping
public ResponseEntity<List<Tutorial>> getAllTutorials() {
List<Tutorial> tutorials = tutorialService.getAllTutorials();
return new ResponseEntity<>(tutorials, HttpStatus.OK);
}

@GetMapping(”/{id}”)
public ResponseEntity<Tutorial> getTutorialById(@PathVariable String id
) {
Tutorial tutorial = tutorialService.getTutorialById(id).orElseThrow
(() -> new RuntimeException(”Tutorial␣not␣found”));
return new ResponseEntity<>(tutorial, HttpStatus.OK);
}

@PutMapping(”/{id}”)
public ResponseEntity<Tutorial> updateTutorial(@PathVariable String id,
@RequestBody Tutorial tutorial) {
Tutorial updatedTutorial = tutorialService.updateTutorial(id,
tutorial);
return new ResponseEntity<>(updatedTutorial, HttpStatus.OK);
}

@DeleteMapping(”/{id}”)
public ResponseEntity<HttpStatus> deleteTutorial(@PathVariable String
id) {
tutorialService.deleteTutorial(id);
return new ResponseEntity<>(HttpStatus.NO_CONTENT);
}
}

7 Testing the Application

Run the Spring Boot application:
./mvnw spring-boot:run

Test endpoints using Postman or curl:

• Create: POST http://localhost:8080/api/tutorials

• Read: GET http://localhost:8080/api/tutorials

• Update: PUT http://localhost:8080/api/tutorials/{id}

• Delete: DELETE http://localhost:8080/api/tutorials/{id}

Verify data in MongoDB using mongosh or MongoDB Compass.

5
8 Best Practices
• Use environment variables for sensitive data like MongoDB credentials.

• Implement error handling with @ControllerAdvice in Spring Boot.

• Design efficient document schemas to avoid frequent updates to large arrays.

• Use indexes to improve query performance, e.g.:

db.tutorials.createIndex({ title: 1 })

9 Conclusion
This tutorial covered setting up MongoDB, performing CRUD operations in the Mon-
goDB shell, and integrating MongoDB with Spring Boot for a REST API. For further learn-
ing, explore MongoDB’s aggregation framework or reactive programming with Spring
WebFlux.

10 References
• MongoDB Documentation: https://docs.mongodb.com/

• Spring Data MongoDB: https://spring.io/projects/spring-data-mongodb