Quickstart OS X

Install MongoDB

The easiest way to install MongoDB is to use a package manager or the pre-built binaries:

Package managers

If you use the Homebrew package manager, run:

$ brew update
$ brew install mongodb

If you use MacPorts you can install with:

$ sudo port install mongodb

This will take a while to install.

32-bit binaries

Note: 64-bit is recommended (if you have a 64-bit system).

$ curl http://downloads.mongodb.org/osx/mongodb-osx-i386-x.y.z.tgz > mongo.tgz
$ tar xzf mongo.tgz

Replace x.y.z with the current stable version.

64-bit binaries

$ curl http://downloads.mongodb.org/osx/mongodb-osx-x86_64-x.y.z.tgz > mongo.tgz
$ tar xzf mongo.tgz

Replace x.y.z with the current stable version.

Create a data directory

By default MongoDB will store data in /data/db, but it won't automatically create that directory. To create it, do:

$ sudo mkdir -p /data/db/
$ sudo chown `id -u` /data/db

You can also tell MongoDB to use a different data directory, with the --dbpath option.

Run and connect to the server

First, start the MongoDB server in one terminal:

$ ./mongodb-xxxxxxx/bin/mongod

In a separate terminal, start the shell, which will connect to localhost by default:

$ ./mongodb-xxxxxxx/bin/mongo
> db.foo.save( { a : 1 } )
> db.foo.find()

Congratulations, you've just saved and retrieved your first document with MongoDB!

Learn more

Once you have MongoDB installed and running, head over to the Tutorial.