Argon — Git for MongoDB
Branch, time-travel, merge and undo your MongoDB. Any driver, real mongod, versioned history underneath. Built for AI agents.
Three ideas, thirty seconds:
- A branch is a pointer, not a copy — created in milliseconds at any data size.
checkoutturns a branch into a real MongoDB database — pymongo, mongoose, mongosh, indexes, aggregation, transactions: all real, and every write becomes versioned history.- Nothing is ever lost — diff it, merge it, undo it, rewind it, or pin it forever.
Install
brew install argon-lab/tap/argonctl # macOS
npm install -g argonctl # cross-platform
# MongoDB must run as a replica set (one-node is fine):
docker run -d --name argon-mongo -p 27017:27017 mongo:7 --replSet rs0
docker exec argon-mongo mongosh --quiet --eval 'rs.initiate()'
The flow
main ──branch──▶ experiment ──checkout──▶ mongodb://… ← any driver
│
┌── argon diff ──────────┤ every write captured
▼ ▼
merge (a data PR) or undo / discard / rewind
# 0 · Bring your data in ("git clone") — or: argon projects create myapp
argon import database --uri mongodb://localhost:27017 --database myapp --project myapp
# 1 · Branch — instant, no copy
argon branches create experiment -p myapp
# 2 · Get a real database for it, capture writes
argon checkout -p myapp -b experiment # prints a connection string
argon watch -p myapp -b experiment # keep running while you write
# 3 · Review and merge back — a data pull request
argon diff -p myapp -b experiment
argon merge preview -p myapp -b experiment
argon merge apply <plan-id>
# …or rewind instead of merging
argon restore reset -p myapp -b main --time 2026-07-07T09:00:00Z --backup pre-incident
Prefer clicking? argon console serves a local web console (UI + REST API)
and opens your browser.
What you get
| Command | In one line | |
|---|---|---|
| Branching | argon branches create | a metadata write — instant, zero copy |
| Real databases | argon checkout / argon proxy | any driver, real mongod; proxy serves stable mongodb://host/<project>~<branch> URIs |
| Write capture | argon watch | change-stream → versioned history, per-actor attribution |
| Time travel | argon time-travel query | any historical state, by LSN or timestamp |
| Undo | argon undo --actor <a> | revert a range or one writer's changes; append-only, conflict-aware |
| Restore | argon restore preview/reset/branch | rewind a branch or fork history; recorded, never destructive |
| Data PRs | argon merge preview/apply | three-way merges as reviewable plans; conflicts never silent |
| Sandboxes | argon sandbox create --ttl 1h | fork + checkout + TTL in one step — disposable agent workspaces |
| Dataset pins | argon pin create / pin sandbox | immutable named states that survive GC and resets — reproducible evals |
| Web console | argon console | local UI + REST API in one command |
Storage stays bounded: snapshots + retention-window GC keep state plus a window of history, not every write forever. Details and the consistency model, stated honestly: ARCHITECTURE.md.
For AI agents
claude mcp add argon -- argon mcp # 13 tools: sandbox, diff, merge, undo, pins
pip install argon-agents # LangGraph checkpointer + Mem0, over REST
saver = ArgonCheckpointSaver.from_sandbox(argon, "myapp") # checkpoint on a disposable branch
saver.merge() # adopt the run — or .discard()
argon.create_pin("myapp", "eval-v1") # pin the dataset once
run = argon.sandbox_from_pin("myapp", "eval-v1") # identical state, every eval run
The full agent workflow: docs/AGENTS.md.
Documentation
| Quick start | install → first merge, step by step |
| CLI reference | every command |
| Agents | sandboxes, pins, MCP, REST API, argon-agents, proxy |
| Architecture | how it works and what it guarantees |
| Operations | deployment, chunk stores (S3/FS), GC, v1→v2 migration |
| Performance | every number lives in the reproducible benchmarks — none here, by policy |
Community
Issues · Discussions · Contributing · argonlabs.tech
Give your MongoDB a time machine. Branch without fear. ⭐