How to move from Studio 3T or Compass to MotionQL

Switching database tools is mostly about moving your connections and rebuilding a few habits. This guide covers both. It takes about fifteen minutes for a typical setup.

You don't have to switch all at once. MotionQL installs alongside other MongoDB tools, so keep your current one open while you move over.

1. Install MotionQL and activate Pro

Create an account, download the installer and follow the install guide. Then paste the free Pro key from your account page into Settings → License. Pro unlocks SQL Migration, Data Masking, scheduled tasks and Atlas management; everything else works without a key.

2. Move your connections

The reliable way to move a connection between any two MongoDB tools is its connection string.

1. In your current tool, copy each connection's URI (mongodb://… or mongodb+srv://…). If a tool doesn't show one, note the host, port, replica set name, authentication database and options instead.
2. In MotionQL, press Mod+N (Cmd on macOS, Ctrl on Windows) and paste the URI. The form fills in.
3. Re-enter the password on the Authentication tab. MotionQL encrypts it with your operating system's keychain.
4. Add anything that lives outside the URI:
   • TLS files (CA, client certificate and key) on the TLS tab. If your URI contained tlsCAFile=…, pick the same file here.
   • SSH tunnels, including jump hosts, on the SSH tab.
   • Proxies on the Proxy tab.
   • In-use encryption (CSFLE or Queryable Encryption) settings and KMS credentials.
5. Click Test, then Save.

Then organize: put connections in folders, give them colors, and label production ones prod so a warning banner stays on screen while you're connected. Mark them read-only on the Safety tab if you only read from them; MotionQL then blocks every write, including $out and $merge.

Moving to another computer later? Export your MotionQL connections encrypted with a password, then import them on the other machine.

3. Bring your queries and scripts

• Shell commands. IntelliShell (Mod+Shift+I) accepts mongosh-style commands such as db.orders.find({...}).sort({...}), show dbs, use, CRUD and index commands. By default it parses commands rather than running JavaScript; for scripts with variables and loops, turn on Script mode. The IntelliShell docs list what's supported.
• Saved find queries. Paste the filter, projection and sort into the collection tab's query bar. Save ones you reuse as templates in the visual query builder.
• Aggregation pipelines. Paste the pipeline array into IntelliShell as db.coll.aggregate([...]), or rebuild it in the aggregation editor to get stage-by-stage preview, and save it as a template.
• SQL. If you used SQL against MongoDB elsewhere, SQL Query (Mod+Shift+Q) runs SELECT with joins, GROUP BY, HAVING and ORDER BY, and shows the MongoDB query it generates. It's read-only.

4. Recreate scheduled jobs

If you schedule exports, imports, compares or migrations today, recreate each one as a MotionQL task: set it up once in the tool, save it as a task, then add a schedule (interval, daily, weekly or cron). Turn on Run scheduled tasks when MotionQL is closed if they should run without the app open, and use MotionQL --cli tasks run <name> --wait from scripts and CI.

5. Learn the shortcuts you'll reach for first

Every rebindable shortcut can be changed in Settings → Keyboard. The full list is in the keyboard shortcuts reference.

6. Check what's different

A few things work differently from what you may be used to:

• AI is opt-in per connection and uses your own provider key (Gemini, Claude, an OpenAI-compatible endpoint or a local model). See AI assistant.
• Map-Reduce isn't supported. MongoDB has deprecated it; use the aggregation editor.
• Server-side JavaScript ($where, $function, $accumulator) is off per connection until you allow it.
• Licenses are verified offline. No license server check-ins, and the app works on air-gapped machines.

For a feature-by-feature view, see MotionQL vs Studio 3T and MotionQL vs Compass.

Something missing?

If a workflow you depend on doesn't have an equivalent yet, tell us on the support page. Several items on the roadmap came straight from people switching tools.