CLI

The doc binary is three things in one: a one-shot evaluator (--eval), an interactive shell, and a set of non-interactive subcommands. With a file and no subcommand it opens the interactive shell on that file; with no file it opens an in-memory database. The special path :memory: requests an in-memory database explicitly.

doc [global-flags] [file] [subcommand [args]]

Global flags

Flag	Meaning
-e, --eval <expr>	Run one expression or dot-command and exit (repeatable).
-f, --file <path>	Run commands from a script file (- for stdin), then exit.
-q, --quiet	Suppress banners and prompts; only data reaches stdout.
--json	Pretty extended JSON (default on a terminal).
--jsonl	One JSON object per line (default in a pipe).
--table	Aligned ASCII table.
--bson	Raw BSON binary.
--pretty / --no-pretty	Force pretty or compact JSON.
--canonical	Canonical extended JSON rather than relaxed.
-r, --readonly	Open the file read-only.
--pragma <k=v>	Set a PRAGMA before opening (repeatable).
--cache <bytes>	Buffer pool size; accepts K, M, G suffixes (default 64M).
--sync <level>	OFF, NORMAL, FULL, or EXTRA (default NORMAL).
--db <name>	Database to use on open (default default).
--passphrase <p>	Open an encrypted file with this passphrase (or DOC_PASSPHRASE).
--key-file <path>	Open an encrypted file with a raw 32-byte key from this file.
--width <n>	Column width limit in table mode.
--limit <n>	Truncate query results to at most n documents.
--no-color	Suppress ANSI colors.
--force	Proceed past destructive-operation confirmations.
--stop-on-error	In script mode, exit on the first error.
-v, --version	Print the version and exit.
-h, --help	Print help and exit.

Subcommands

These run without entering the shell.

Command	Meaning
doc version	Print the version string.
doc info <file>	Print the file header.
doc validate <file>	Run the integrity check (exit 4 on failure).
doc stats <file>	Print database statistics.
doc <file> compact	Rewrite the file, reclaiming space from deleted documents.
doc <file> checkpoint [mode]	Fold the WAL into the main file.
doc <file> vacuum [pages]	Reclaim trailing free pages to the OS.
doc <file> schema <coll> [n]	Infer a schema from n sample documents.
doc <file> import ...	Bulk-load a file into a collection.
doc <file> export ...	Write a query result to a file.
doc <file> dump ... / load ...	Move whole databases with index sidecars.
doc <file> backup ... / restore ...	Online physical backup and restore.
doc <file> reindex	Rebuild indexes.
doc <file> rekey ...	Rotate the encryption key (--new-passphrase or --new-key-file; --data re-encrypts every page under a fresh data key).
doc <file> serve ...	Serve the MongoDB wire protocol (see below).

serve

doc <file> serve [--bind addr] [--port 27017] [--readonly]
                 [--auth] [--tls --tls-cert f --tls-key f [--tls-ca f]]
                 [--max-conns n] [--max-conn-idle d] [--http]

--bind defaults to loopback; use 0.0.0.0 to listen on all interfaces. --auth requires SCRAM-SHA-256 authentication with role-based access control. --tls enables TLS, and --tls-ca turns on x509 client-certificate verification. --http adds a metrics and health surface. See the wire-server guide for connection examples.

Shell dot-commands

Inside the interactive shell, regular mongosh-style calls (db.users.find({...})) run queries, and dot-commands run meta operations.

.help [cmd]         show help, or help for one command
.open <file>        close the current file and open another
.close              close the current file (in-memory database)
.databases          list databases
.use <db>           switch the active database
.collections        list collections in the active database
.indexes [coll]     list indexes (all, or for one collection)
.schema <coll> [n]  infer a schema from n sample documents (default 100)
.mode <fmt>         set output mode: json, jsonl, table, bson
.pretty on|off      toggle JSON pretty-printing
.headers on|off     toggle column headers in table mode
.width [n]          set the column width limit (0 = no limit)
.timing on|off      print elapsed time after each command
.read <file>        execute commands from a script file
.output <file>|-    redirect output to a file or back to stdout
.createindex <coll> <spec>  create an index
.dropindex <coll> <name>    drop a named index
.stats [coll]       collStats for a collection, or dbStats for the database
.import <file> --collection <c> [--format json|jsonl|csv|bson] [--drop]
.export <file> --collection <c> [--filter <f>] [--fields a,b] [--format ...]
.dump [dir] [--db <name>] [--collection <c>] [--skip-indexes]
.load <dir> [--db <name>] [--drop] [--no-indexes]
.pragma [name[=value]]      read or write an engine setting, or list all
.check [full]       verify file, heap, and index integrity
.compact            rewrite the file, reclaiming space
.checkpoint [mode]  fold the WAL into the main file without closing
.vacuum [pages]     reclaim trailing free pages (needs auto_vacuum)
.backup --out <file> [--verify]   stream a consistent physical backup
.restore --base <img> --out <file> [--wal-source <dir>]   rebuild from a backup
.explain <coll> [filter] [verbosity]   show the query plan for a find
.begin / .commit / .rollback   explicit transaction control
.quit               close and exit

Run .help <cmd> inside the shell for the long form of any command.

Exit codes

0 is success. 4 is the integrity or validation failure code, so a script can branch on doc <file> validate; echo $?. Usage errors and query errors carry their own non-zero codes.