Docs Sample Apps

A repository of sample applications for the MongoDB documentation. This README describes internal details for the repository maintainers. If you are a developer having issues with the sample app, please refer to the Issues section below.

Sample Apps

This repository currently contains a single sample app using the mflix dataset.

MFlix Sample App

The sample app provides a Next.js frontend in the client directory, with the choice of three backend stacks in the server directory:

• Java: Spring Boot
• JavaScript: Express.js
• Python: FastAPI

├── mflix/
│   ├── client/               # Next.js frontend - source for all `mflix` sample app backend repos
│   └── server/
│       ├── express/          # Express.js backend - source for sample-app-nodejs-mflix
│       ├── java-spring/      # Java/Spring backend - source for sample-app-java-mflix
│       └── python/           # Python/FastAPI backend - source for sample-app-python-mflix
├── README.md
├── copier-config.yaml
└── deprecated_examples.json

Artifact Repositories

This repository serves as the source for the following artifact repositories:

• Java: mongodb/sample-app-java-mflix
• JavaScript: mongodb/sample-app-nodejs-mflix
• Python: mongodb/sample-app-python-mflix

Development

When you merge to main, a copier tool copies the source from this repository to a target repository for each sample app. For configuration details, refer to copier-config.yaml.

Branching Model

For development, work from the development branch. Make incremental PRs containing new features and bug fixes to development, not main.

When all development work is complete, then create a release PR from development to main. Upon merging to main, the copier tool runs automatically. It creates a new PR in the target repository, which must be tested and merged manually.

Deleting Files

If a PR from development to main deletes any files, this creates a new entry in the deprecated_examples.json file. This entry resembles:

{
  "filename": "go/gcloud24march_v2.go",
  "repo": "docs-code-examples-test-target",
  "branch": "v2.2",
  "deleted_on": "2025-03-24T18:16:30Z"
},

The copier tool does not delete files from the target repository. You must manually delete files from the target repository that are listed in deprecated_examples.json. This is an intentional step to avoid accidentally deleting files that are referred to in documentation. Review documentation references before deleting files.

Release Process

When you merge a release PR from development to main, the copier tool creates a new PR in the target repository. This PR must be tested and merged manually. This is an intentional design choice to ensure:

• The sample app still functions as expected after copying.
• Any documentation references are updated as part of the release process.

To test and verify the PR, navigate to the target repository - see Artifact Repositories above. Perform the following checks:

• Verify that the PR contains the expected changes.
• Check out the PR locally.
  • Build and test the changes.
  • Run the tests
  • Run the application and verify that it functions as expected.
• Review the deprecated_examples.json file for any files that need to be deleted. If files are deleted:
  • Add a commit to the copier PR to delete the files from the target repository.
• Merge the PR.

Issues

If you are a developer having issues with the sample app, feel free to open an issue in this repository. Please include the following information:

• The sample app you are using (Java, JavaScript, or Python)
• The version of the MongoDB database you are using
• The version of the MongoDB driver you are using
• What type of deployment you're using (local, Atlas, etc.)
• Any other relevant information that might help us reproduce the issue

Contributions

We are not currently accepting public contributions to this repository.