MongoDB 8 Setup

MongoDB is a document-oriented NoSQL database. Instead of tables and rows, you store JSON-like documents in collections. It’s the go-to database for many Node.js, Python, and full-stack applications — especially when your data shape isn’t fixed.

Witchly runs MongoDB 8 — the current stable major release. Available on Elite plans only (Free tier lacks the resource headroom).

When to choose MongoDB

• Your data is deeply nested and changes shape often.
• You’re using Mongoose, Prisma-with-Mongo, Motor, or the official driver.
• You want built-in sharding/replication paths for future scale (though single-node is fine for most apps).

Postgres or MariaDB instead? If your data is relational and fits rows/columns naturally, Postgres or MariaDB is usually the better default. Pick MongoDB when schema flexibility is a real need, not a vague one.

Deploying

1. dash.witchly.host → Deploy → Applications → MongoDB 8.
2. Elite only. Pick The Daemon or The Orchestrator — MongoDB benefits from RAM for its working-set cache.
3. Click Deploy.

Configuring credentials

On the Startup tab:

Variable	Value
MONGO_USER	Admin username (default admin)
MONGO_USER_PASS	Required — set a strong password

MongoDB is started bound to 0.0.0.0 on your allocated port with authentication enabled.

Connecting

Get your server’s IP and port from the Overview tab, then:

# Mongo shell (mongosh)
mongosh "mongodb://admin:your-password@your-server-ip.witchly.host:12345"

From an application:

// Node.js — mongodb driver
import { MongoClient } from "mongodb"
const client = new MongoClient("mongodb://admin:your-password@your-server-ip.witchly.host:12345")
await client.connect()
const db = client.db("myapp")

// Node.js — Mongoose
import mongoose from "mongoose"
await mongoose.connect("mongodb://admin:your-password@your-server-ip.witchly.host:12345/myapp?authSource=admin")

# Python — Motor (async) or PyMongo
from pymongo import MongoClient
client = MongoClient("mongodb://admin:your-password@your-server-ip.witchly.host:12345")
db = client["myapp"]

Create per-app users

Never ship production code using the admin account. Inside mongosh:

use myapp
db.createUser({
  user: "myapp_user",
  pwd: "strong-password",
  roles: [{ role: "readWrite", db: "myapp" }],
})

Then connect with mongodb://myapp_user:...@host:port/myapp.

Backups

Use mongodump for logical backups:

mongodump --uri="mongodb://admin:password@your-server-ip.witchly.host:12345" --out=./backup
mongorestore --uri="..." ./backup

Or enable Pterodactyl’s Backups tab — which archives the entire data directory. Pro tip: stop the MongoDB service first for a consistent snapshot, or use mongodump while running.

Performance tips

• Keep your working set in RAM. If db.serverStatus().wiredTiger.cache["bytes currently in the cache"] regularly hits the cache size, upgrade your tier.
• Index what you query. db.collection.explain("executionStats").find({...}) tells you if a query used an index.
• Use the aggregation framework over chained find()s for multi-stage queries.

Troubleshooting

• Authentication failed — the admin user’s authSource is admin. Include ?authSource=admin in the connection URI if connecting to a different DB.
• Can’t connect remotely — verify the port from the Overview tab.
• Oplog too small for replication — not relevant on a single-node deployment, but worth knowing if you later migrate to a replica set.

Next steps

• Backups — MongoDB data loss is brutal; don’t skip this
• Server security for best practices with passwords and ports