MongoDB Query Formatter

What this tool formats

This tool pretty-prints MongoDB queries and pipelines into readable, indented JSON. It accepts two input shapes: plain JSON (a filter or aggregation array on its own), or MongoDB shell syntax like db.users.find({...}, {...}) — in which case it detects the db.collection.method(...) wrapper, extracts and re-indents each argument individually, and reassembles them inside the original method call.

It does not evaluate or connect to a database — this is purely a text formatter. It also doesn't currently support special BSON syntax that isn't valid JSON on its own, like unquoted ObjectId(...) or ISODate(...) constructors used in the mongo shell; wrap those in quotes as strings if you hit a parse error.

When to use it

Use it when debugging a complex aggregation pipeline copied from application logs, a slow-query log, or a colleague's Slack message as a single unreadable line — reformatting it makes nested $match, $group, and $lookup stages visible so you can actually trace the logic. It's also useful when writing documentation or code review comments: paste a compact query and get a clean, indented version to include in a PR description or runbook.

Because it detects the db.collection.method(...) wrapper automatically, you can paste queries copied directly from mongosh or Compass without manually stripping the wrapper first — just paste the whole line as-is.

Example

Input db.orders.find({"status":"shipped","total":{"$gt":100}},{"_id":0,"total":1}) reformats to db.orders.find(\n{\n "status": "shipped",\n "total": {\n "$gt": 100\n }\n},\n{\n "_id": 0,\n "total": 1\n}\n) — both the filter and projection arguments are independently pretty-printed and reassembled inside the original find(...) call.