MONGOC_MANAGE_...ECTION_INDEXES(3)

🎀 MANAGE COLLECTION INDEXES 🎀

okay bestie, so this page lives in the libmongoc manual, and it's your whole guide to wrangling indexes on a MongoDB collection — creating them, listing them, dropping them, and then a whole separate vibe for Atlas Search indexes. let's go 💅

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✨ CREATE AN INDEX ✨

to create indexes on a MongoDB collection, you use mongoc_collection_create_indexes_with_opts():

// `keys` represents an ascending index on field `x`.
bson_t *keys = BCON_NEW ("x", BCON_INT32 (1));
mongoc_index_model_t *im = mongoc_index_model_new (keys, NULL /* opts */);
if (mongoc_collection_create_indexes_with_opts (
       coll, &im, 1, NULL /* opts */, NULL /* reply */, &error)) {
   printf ("Successfully created index\n");
} else {
   bson_destroy (keys);
   HANDLE_ERROR ("Failed to create index: %s", error.message);
}
bson_destroy (keys);

side note for real: keys is an ascending index on the field x. that's the BCON_INT32 (1) doing its thing 💖

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🔍 LIST YOUR INDEXES 🔍

to list indexes, hit up mongoc_collection_find_indexes_with_opts():

mongoc_cursor_t *cursor =
   mongoc_collection_find_indexes_with_opts (coll, NULL /* opts */);
printf ("Listing indexes:\n");
const bson_t *got;
while (mongoc_cursor_next (cursor, &got)) {
   char *got_str = bson_as_canonical_extended_json (got, NULL);
   printf ("  %s\n", got_str);
   bson_free (got_str);
}
if (mongoc_cursor_error (cursor, &error)) {
   mongoc_cursor_destroy (cursor);
   HANDLE_ERROR ("Failed to list indexes: %s", error.message);
}
mongoc_cursor_destroy (cursor);

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🗑️ DROP AN INDEX 🗑️

to drop an index, use mongoc_collection_drop_index_with_opts(). and where does the index name come from?? bestie, you get it from the keys document with mongoc_collection_keys_to_index_string() 🫶

bson_t *keys = BCON_NEW ("x", BCON_INT32 (1));
char *index_name = mongoc_collection_keys_to_index_string (keys);
if (mongoc_collection_drop_index_with_opts (
       coll, index_name, NULL /* opts */, &error)) {
   printf ("Successfully dropped index\n");
} else {
   bson_free (index_name);
   bson_destroy (keys);
   HANDLE_ERROR ("Failed to drop index: %s", error.message);
}
bson_free (index_name);
bson_destroy (keys);

and if you want the full example, go peek at example-manage-collection-indexes.c — it's giving complete, no cap ✨

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🌈 MANAGE ATLAS SEARCH INDEXES 🌈

okay now we're in a whole different era, this is the Atlas Search Index saga 🦋

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💖 CREATE 💖

to create an Atlas Search Index, use the createSearchIndexes command:

bson_t cmd;
// Create command.
{
   char *cmd_str = bson_strdup_printf (
      BSON_STR ({
         "createSearchIndexes" : "%s",
         "indexes" : [ {
            "definition" : {"mappings" : {"dynamic" : false}},
            "name" : "test-index"
         } ]
      }),
      collname);
   ASSERT (bson_init_from_json (&cmd, cmd_str, -1, &error));
   bson_free (cmd_str);
}
if (!mongoc_collection_command_simple (
       coll, &cmd, NULL /* read_prefs */, NULL /* reply */, &error)) {
   bson_destroy (&cmd);
   HANDLE_ERROR ("Failed to run createSearchIndexes: %s", error.message);
}
printf ("Created index: \"test-index\"\n");
bson_destroy (&cmd);

---

🌸 LIST 🌸

to list Atlas Search Indexes, use the $listSearchIndexes aggregation stage:

const char *pipeline_str =
   BSON_STR ({"pipeline" : [ {"$listSearchIndexes" : {}} ]});
bson_t pipeline;
ASSERT (bson_init_from_json (&pipeline, pipeline_str, -1, &error));
mongoc_cursor_t *cursor =
   mongoc_collection_aggregate (coll,
                                MONGOC_QUERY_NONE,
                                &pipeline,
                                NULL /* opts */,
                                NULL /* read_prefs */);
printf ("Listing indexes:\n");
const bson_t *got;
while (mongoc_cursor_next (cursor, &got)) {
   char *got_str = bson_as_canonical_extended_json (got, NULL);
   printf ("  %s\n", got_str);
   bson_free (got_str);
}
if (mongoc_cursor_error (cursor, &error)) {
   bson_destroy (&pipeline);
   mongoc_cursor_destroy (cursor);
   HANDLE_ERROR ("Failed to run $listSearchIndexes: %s", error.message);
}
bson_destroy (&pipeline);
mongoc_cursor_destroy (cursor);

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⭐ UPDATE ⭐

to update an Atlas Search Index, use the updateSearchIndex command:

bson_t cmd;
// Create command.
{
   char *cmd_str = bson_strdup_printf (
      BSON_STR ({
         "updateSearchIndex" : "%s",
         "definition" : {"mappings" : {"dynamic" : true}},
         "name" : "test-index"
      }),
      collname);
   ASSERT (bson_init_from_json (&cmd, cmd_str, -1, &error));
   bson_free (cmd_str);
}
if (!mongoc_collection_command_simple (
       coll, &cmd, NULL /* read_prefs */, NULL /* reply */, &error)) {
   bson_destroy (&cmd);
   HANDLE_ERROR ("Failed to run updateSearchIndex: %s", error.message);
}
printf ("Updated index: \"test-index\"\n");
bson_destroy (&cmd);

---

🧚 DROP 🧚

to drop an Atlas Search Index, use the dropSearchIndex command:

bson_t cmd;
// Create command.
{
   char *cmd_str = bson_strdup_printf (
      BSON_STR ({"dropSearchIndex" : "%s", "name" : "test-index"}),
      collname);
   ASSERT (bson_init_from_json (&cmd, cmd_str, -1, &error));
   bson_free (cmd_str);
}
if (!mongoc_collection_command_simple (
       coll, &cmd, NULL /* read_prefs */, NULL /* reply */, &error)) {
   bson_destroy (&cmd);
   HANDLE_ERROR ("Failed to run dropSearchIndex: %s", error.message);
}
printf ("Dropped index: \"test-index\"\n");
bson_destroy (&cmd);

for the whole full example, go read example-manage-search-indexes.c — it's iconic, iykyk 💜

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👑 AUTHOR 👑

MongoDB, Inc

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💌 COPYRIGHT 💌

2017-present, MongoDB, Inc

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and that's the page bestie, we ate 🍓 the version on this one is 1.26.0, dated Mar 31, 2025, and it's filed under libmongoc in the MONGOC_MANAGE_...ECTION_INDEXES(3) slot. slay, go index something 💖✨