title: Can Meteor correctly handle data updated externally directly to the MongoDB database?
body: <p><strong>Context:</strong> I already have a Nodejs server app that takes care of reading and writing to a MongoDB database autonomously. This service doesn't have any public endpoint, so the only way to communicate with it is through the database itself.</p>
  
  <p>Now I want to build an independent web application, a website that will consume the data available at the previously mentioned MongoDB database. Most of this data should be shown in real-time to the user. After some framework research, I'm considering to use Meteor, but I couldn't find any useful info on whether it integrates well with pre-existing services.</p>
  
  <p><strong>So the actual question is:</strong> Can I benefit from Meteor's framework, particularly from all the real-time client data updates, while directly and externally using the MongoDB database?</p>
  
  <p>For example, if I'm showing a table of "players" in my site, and a new player is added or the score of a player is updated <em>externally and directly in the underlying MongoDB database</em>, will Meteor be able to update the score in all the clients that have the site open, or will this requirement make Meteor unsuitable for my project?</p>