MONGOC_INIT(3)

✨ MONGOC_INIT 💅 (libmongoc, bestie!)

okay so before we even get into it — this is the libmongoc page, and it's genuinely one of the shortest ones you'll ever read, so consider this your little snack break 🍓

🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

void
mongoc_init (void);

that's it. that's the whole signature. iconic minimalism, no cap 💖

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🎀 DESCRIPTION 🎀

so basically, mongoc_init() is the "hello bestie, wake up" call for the MongoDB C Driver. Call it exactly once at the beginning of your program, mmkay? Once. Not zero times, not twice. The way it works is it's in charge of spinning up all the global state — think process counters, SSL, and threading primitives. All the behind-the-scenes machinery that has to exist before literally anything else works 🦋

there's one exception tho and you need to hear it 🙈 — mongoc_log_set_handler(). That one should be called before mongoc_init(), otherwise some log traces just won't use your log handling function at all. like, they'll go off and do their own thing 💀 see Custom Log Handlers for a detailed example, iykyk.

then, at the end of your program, you call mongoc_cleanup() exactly once to release all the memory and other resources the driver allocated. matching set. one at the start, one at the end, balanced like a little chakra alignment moment 🧚

warning bestie, this is the serious part 🚨 after you've called mongoc_cleanup(), you must not call any other MongoDB C Driver functions. none. not even a little one. and heads up: mongoc_init() does not reinitialize the driver after mongoc_cleanup(). so like, no "lol oops let me just re-init" — that is not a thing. periodt 💅

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👑 AUTHOR 👑

MongoDB, Inc — the main characters of this whole operation 🌈

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💜 COPYRIGHT 💜

2009-present, MongoDB, Inc. — slay, long-running copyright, we love to see it ⭐

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and that's the teardown, bestie 🫶 this was libmongoc version 2.5.6, dated Oct 09, 2026 — go forth and call your init exactly once, mwah 💋🌸