Notice: Repository Deprecation

This repository is deprecated and no longer actively maintained. It contains outdated code examples or practices that do not align with current MongoDB best practices. While the repository remains accessible for reference purposes, we strongly discourage its use in production environments. Users should be aware that this repository will not receive any further updates, bug fixes, or security patches. This code may expose you to security vulnerabilities, compatibility issues with current MongoDB versions, and potential performance problems. Any implementation based on this repository is at the user's own risk. For up-to-date resources, please refer to the MongoDB Developer Center.

Quotes API

Simple Node.js application that exposes an API to get popular quotes.

This sample app was built to showcase how MongoDB Atlas and Gitpod are a great combination for a development environment in the cloud.

How to start the API server

The API server can be started with:

$ node app.js

The server will listen for requests on port 3000. Gitpod will make port 3000 automatically available in the browser and will expose the controls to make the URL public.

What's available in the Gitpod environment

This repository is configured to be able to start coding right away. When the environment boots up, the following things happen:

• The Gitpod workspace starts up, and VS Code is configured with the Standard extension and the MongoDB for VS Code extension;
• The Node.js dependencies are installed;
• A free MongoDB Atlas cluster is created, with the same name as the Gitpod workspace;
• A .env file is created, containing a MONGODB_CONNECTION_STRING variable set to the connection string for the cluster that was created;
• The cluster is seeded with sample data, with a script for the MongoDB Shell (mongosh);
• An Atlas Search index is created to support full-text search use cases.

In the workspace, the following commands are available:

• atlas: the Atlas CLI to manage your clusters, search indexes and more;
• mongosh: the MongoDB Shell;
• atlas_up: a helper script to create the Atlas cluster associated with the Gitpod workspace. This is the script that Gitpod runs when the workspace is created;
• atlas_down: a helper script to terminate the Atlas cluster associated with the Gitpod workspace. As there is no tear-down hook in Gitpod, it is recommended to run this command manually before terminating the environment.

Atlas clusters are terminate automatically when the Gitpod workspace is stopped.

Caveats

When the Atlas cluster is created, the Atlas CLI automatically adds an access rule and a database user to the Atlas project to connect from the IP address associated with the Github workspace. The access rule and database user are not cleaned up when the cluster is terminated.

Requirements

For this setup to work correctly you need the following:

• A Gitpod free account.
• A MongoDB Atlas account, preconfigured with a Project already created and an API key with Project Owner access
  • The projectId needs to be set as the Gitpod environment variable MONGODB_ATLAS_PROJECT_ID;
  • The API public key needs to be set as the Gitpod environment variable MONGODB_ATLAS_PUBLIC_API_KEY;
  • The API private key needs to be set as the Gitpod environment variable MONGODB_ATLAS_PRIVATE_API_KEY.

If you don't have a MongoDB Atlas account and the environment variables listed above configured in your Gitpod settings the first time you start the environment, the creation of the Atlas cluster will fail.

But fear not! There is an easy fix. In the Gipod terminal, use the following command:

$ atlas setup --noBrowser

You will be guided through the creation of an Atlas account. The noBrowser is needed otherwise Gitpod tries to open the web page for the account setup with the terminal browser Lynx, which is not supported by the registration page.

Once you are all set, you can type the following command (documentation):

$ atlas projects apiKeys create --desc "Gitpod" --role "GROUP_OWNER"

You'll need to be GROUP_OWNER in order to be able to create and delete databases.

This command will help you create the API key you need.

You can find your MONGODB_ATLAS_PROJECT_ID using:

atlas projects list

To persist these values to your Gitpod environment variable settings, you can use the Gitpod CLI. For example, you can do:

gp env MONGODB_ATLAS_PROJECT_ID=<your Atlas project id>
gp env MONGODB_ATLAS_PUBLIC_API_KEY=<your public API key>
gp env MONGODB_ATLAS_PRIVATE_API_KEY=<your private API key>