MongoDB is one of the most popular options for NoSQL databases, chosen by developers for its flexibility and scalability. It’s no surprise that we’ve heard from many startups that are seeking to build their own internal tools on top of their MongoDB.
While basic GUI and CRUD tools for MongoDB exist (e.g. Compass), they’re typically not the best way to build out internal tools, especially for nontechnical teams like operations and customer service. They’re primarily designed for engineering teams and require extensive coding to build out custom functionality to meet business needs. This means that nontechnical teams often cannot access or build with these tools, leaving the burden on engineering.
At Internal, we want to make sure anyone at your company can build flexible, easy-to-use internal tools on top of your data. It shouldn’t matter if you know code or SQL. Otherwise, your engineering team will get pulled into building and maintaining internal tools on their own, forever. When it came to MongoDB, that meant making sure we gave you tools to:
1 - Easily manage and unpack nested documents in MongoDB
We’ve seen that many startups have nested JSON data structures, making it a little harder to plug-and-play that data directly into no-code platforms. We’ve made it easy to manage and unpack that nested data, by letting you use an aggregation pipeline to define a custom resource in Internal. This lets you quickly view, edit and work with the data that you need in the format that works best for you.
2 - Let anyone build custom tools to manipulate MongoDB data
Internal brings a GUI and CRUD functionality to everyone in your organization, not just engineering. Even better, Internal is a no-code solution, letting nontechnical teams build fully custom tools on top of MongoDB. They can visually build tools by connecting front-end components with the data in MongoDB, defining how the business logic works without code. Engineering can extend Internal’s capabilities even further by transforming existing company APIs into Internal functions that anyone can build with.
Here’s an example tool that was built in 5 minutes with no code.
3 - Combine MongoDB Data with other data
The data residing in your MongoDB is usually just one piece of your business. Internal helps you bring that data alongside data from other data sources, like Zendesk, Salesforce, or Stripe. You can use this to populate powerful Super Records that give you a full 360 view of your customer or other aspects of your business. You can also build custom tools that span across data sets, extending their capabilities not just to MongoDB, but to all the data sources that your business uses.
We want to make it easier than ever to build on top of MongoDB. Pairing Internal and MongoDB opens up tool creation and access to nontechnical teams in your organization, as the combination of NoSQL and no-code means that your whole business is no longer blocked by engineering’s bandwidth. If you’re a startup building with MongoDB and you want to see how Internal can help you move faster, get in touch.
