db.createUser() (mongosh method)

Definition

db.createUser(user, writeConcern)

Creates a new user for the database on which the method is run. db.createUser() returns a duplicate user error if the user already exists on the database.

Important

mongosh Method

This page documents a mongosh method. This is not the documentation for database commands or language-specific drivers, such as Node.js.

For the database command, see the createUser command.

For MongoDB API drivers, refer to the language-specific MongoDB driver documentation.

The db.createUser() method has the following syntax:

Field	Type	Description
user	document	The document with authentication and access information about the user to create.
writeConcern	document	Optional. The level of write concern for the operation. See Write Concern Specification.

The user document defines the user and has the following form:

Tip

You can use the passwordPrompt() method in conjunction with various user authentication management methods and commands to prompt for the password instead of specifying the password directly in the method or command call. However, you can still specify the password directly as you would with earlier versions of the mongo shell.

{
  user: "<name>",
  pwd: passwordPrompt(),      // Or  "<cleartext password>"
  customData: { <any information> },
  roles: [
    { role: "<role>", db: "<database>" } | "<role>",
    ...
  ],
  authenticationRestrictions: [
     {
       clientSource: ["<IP>" | "<CIDR range>", ...],
       serverAddress: ["<IP>" | "<CIDR range>", ...]
     },
     ...
  ],
  mechanisms: [ "<SCRAM-SHA-1|SCRAM-SHA-256>", ... ],
  passwordDigestor: "<server|client>"
}

The user document has the following fields:

Field	Type	Description
user	string	The name of the new user.
pwd	string	The user's password. The pwd field is not required if you run db.createUser() on the $external database to create users who have credentials stored externally to MongoDB. The value can be either: the user's password in cleartext string, or passwordPrompt() to prompt for the user's password. You can use the passwordPrompt() method in conjunction with various user authentication management methods and commands to prompt for the password instead of specifying the password directly in the method or command call. However, you can still specify the password directly as you would with earlier versions of the mongo shell.
customData	document	Optional. Any arbitrary information. This field can be used to store any data an admin wishes to associate with this particular user. For example, this could be the user's full name or employee id.
roles	array	The roles granted to the user. Can specify an empty array [] to create users without roles.
authenticationRestrictions	array	Optional. The authentication restrictions the server enforces on the created user. Specifies a list of IP addresses and CIDR ranges from which the user is allowed to connect to the server or from which the server can accept users.
mechanisms	array	Optional. Specify the specific SCRAM mechanism or mechanisms for creating SCRAM user credentials. If authenticationMechanisms is specified, you can only specify a subset of the authenticationMechanisms. Valid values are: "SCRAM-SHA-1" Uses the SHA-1 hashing function. "SCRAM-SHA-256" Uses the SHA-256 hashing function. Requires passwordDigestor to be server. The default is both SCRAM-SHA-1 and SCRAM-SHA-256.
passwordDigestor	string	Optional. Indicates whether the server or the client digests the password. Available values are: "server" (Default) The server receives undigested password from the client and digests the password. "client" (Not compatible with SCRAM-SHA-256) The client digests the password and passes the digested password to the server.

Compatibility

This method is available in deployments hosted in the following environments:

• MongoDB Enterprise: The subscription-based, self-managed version of MongoDB
• MongoDB Community: The source-available, free-to-use, and self-managed version of MongoDB

"readWrite"

{ role: "<role>", db: "<database>" }

Behavior

Required Access

• To create a new user in a database, you must have the createUser action on that database resource.
• To grant roles to a user, you must have the grantRole action on the role's database.

The userAdmin and userAdminAnyDatabase built-in roles provide createUser and grantRole actions on their respective resources.

Examples

The following db.createUser() operation creates the accountAdmin01 user on the products database.

use products
db.createUser( { user: "accountAdmin01",
                 pwd: passwordPrompt(),  // Or  "<cleartext password>"
                 customData: { employeeId: 12345 },
                 roles: [ { role: "clusterAdmin", db: "admin" },
                          { role: "readAnyDatabase", db: "admin" },
                          "readWrite"] },
               { w: "majority" , wtimeout: 5000 } )

The operation gives accountAdmin01 the following roles:

• the clusterAdmin and readAnyDatabase roles on the admin database

• the readWrite role on the products database

use products
db.createUser(
   {
     user: "accountUser",
     pwd: passwordPrompt(),  // Or  "<cleartext password>"
     roles: [ "readWrite", "dbAdmin" ]
   }
)

use admin
db.createUser(
   {
     user: "reportsUser",
     pwd: passwordPrompt(),  // Or  "<cleartext password>"
     roles: [ ]
   }
)

use admin
db.createUser(
   {
     user: "appAdmin",
     pwd: passwordPrompt(),   // Or  "<cleartext password>"
     roles:
       [
         { role: "readWrite", db: "config" },
         "clusterAdmin"
       ]
   }
)

use admin
db.createUser(
   {
     user: "restricted",
     pwd: passwordPrompt(),      // Or  "<cleartext password>"
     roles: [ { role: "readWrite", db: "reporting" } ],
     authenticationRestrictions: [ {
        clientSource: ["192.0.2.0"],
        serverAddress: ["198.51.100.0"]
     } ]
   }
)

use reporting
db.createUser(
   {
     user: "reportUser256",
     pwd: passwordPrompt(),   // Or  "<cleartext password>"
     roles: [ { role: "readWrite", db: "reporting" } ],
     mechanisms: [ "SCRAM-SHA-256" ]
   }
)