Description
Mongoose Connection Manager is a lightweight and modular class for managing multiple MongoDB connections using Mongoose. Supports easy creation, retrieval, monitoring, and cleanup of named connections.
Problems
- Managing multiple MongoDB clusters or databases within a single project was difficult using Mongoose’s default singleton connection model.
- Switching or reusing connections between different environments caused confusion and potential memory leaks.
- Debugging connection issues was time-consuming due to lack of visibility and structure.
- As a free developer using MongoDB Atlas, maintaining multiple clusters without proper connection management quickly became messy.
Solutions
- Implemented a dedicated connection manager using a Map to handle multiple named connections safely and dynamically.
- Introduced event-based logging (connected, error, disconnected) to improve observability and debugging.
- Added auto-cleanup on process exit (SIGINT) to prevent lingering open connections.
- Provided a consistent API for adding, retrieving, checking, and closing connections (addConnection, getConnection, getState, closeConnection, etc.).
- Supported graceful shutdown and detailed connection tracking with getAllConnections() for monitoring active databases.
Tech Stack
TypeScript
Node.js
Git
NPM
Mongoose
MongoDB
Key Learnings
- Learned how to bypass Mongoose’s default singleton limitation by using mongoose.createConnection() for independent database contexts.
- Designed a connection lifecycle manager that scales across multiple clusters with minimal boilerplate.
- Improved understanding of resource management and graceful process termination in Node.js applications.
- Enhanced debugging and maintainability through structured connection tracking and color-coded console feedback.