How do you connect to MongoDB from Node.js?

Import MongoClient from the mongodb driver and instantiate it with a mongodb://host:port connection string.

import { MongoClient } from 'mongodb';

const client = new MongoClient('mongodb://localhost:27017');

Connection string format: mongodb://<host>:<port>

• <host> - server hostname or IP (e.g., localhost)
• <port> - MongoDB port (default: 27017)

Note: Connection is established lazily on first database access, not when creating the client.