Neo4j Python Driver 6.0

The Official Neo4j Driver for Python.

Bolt protocol versions supported:

  • Bolt 6.0

  • Bolt 5.0 - 5.8

  • Bolt 4.4

See https://7687.org/bolt-compatibility/ for what Neo4j DBMS versions support which Bolt versions. See https://neo4j.com/developer/kb/neo4j-supported-versions/ for a driver-server compatibility matrix.

Python versions supported:

  • Python 3.13

  • Python 3.12

  • Python 3.11

  • Python 3.10

Topics

Installation

Note

neo4j-driver is the old name for this package. It is now deprecated and and will receive no further updates starting with 6.0.0. Make sure to install neo4j as shown here.

Note

It is always recommended to install python packages for user space in a virtual environment.

To install the latest stable release, use:

python -m pip install neo4j

To install the latest pre-release, use:

python -m pip install --pre neo4j

Alternative Installation for Better Performance

You may want to have a look at the available Rust extensions for this driver for better performance. The Rust extensions are not installed by default. For more information, see neo4j-rust-ext.

Virtual Environment

To create a virtual environment named sandbox, use:

python -m venv sandbox

To activate the virtual environment named sandbox, use:

source sandbox/bin/activate

To deactivate the current active virtual environment, use:

deactivate

Development Environment

For development, we recommend to run Python in development mode (python -X dev ...). Specifically for this driver, this will:

  • enable ResourceWarning, which the driver emits if resources (e.g., Sessions) aren’t properly closed.

  • enable DeprecationWarning, which the driver emits if deprecated APIs are used.

  • enable the driver’s debug mode (this can also be achieved by setting the environment variable PYTHONNEO4JDEBUG):

    • the driver will raise an exception if non-concurrency-safe methods are used concurrently.

    • the driver will emit warnings if the server sends back notification (see also warn_notification_severity).

      Added in version 5.15.

      Changed in version 5.21: Added functionality to automatically emit warnings on server notifications.

      Changed in version 6.0: Stabilized from preview.

Quick Example

from neo4j import GraphDatabase, RoutingControl URI = "neo4j://localhost:7687" AUTH = ("neo4j", "password") def add_friend(driver, name, friend_name): driver.execute_query( "MERGE (a:Person {name: $name}) " "MERGE (friend:Person {name: $friend_name}) " "MERGE (a)-[:KNOWS]->(friend)", name=name, friend_name=friend_name, database_="neo4j", ) def print_friends(driver, name): records, _, _ = driver.execute_query( "MATCH (a:Person)-[:KNOWS]->(friend) WHERE a.name = $name " "RETURN friend.name ORDER BY friend.name", name=name, database_="neo4j", routing_=RoutingControl.READ, ) for record in records: print(record["friend.name"]) with GraphDatabase.driver(URI, auth=AUTH) as driver: add_friend(driver, "Arthur", "Guinevere") add_friend(driver, "Arthur", "Lancelot") add_friend(driver, "Arthur", "Merlin") print_friends(driver, "Arthur")

Example Application

import logging from neo4j import GraphDatabase, RoutingControl from neo4j.exceptions import DriverError, Neo4jError class App: def __init__(self, uri, user, password, database=None): self.driver = GraphDatabase.driver(uri, auth=(user, password)) self.database = database def close(self): # Don't forget to close the driver connection when you are finished # with it self.driver.close() def create_friendship(self, person1_name, person2_name): with self.driver.session() as session: # Write transactions allow the driver to handle retries and # transient errors result = self._create_and_return_friendship( person1_name, person2_name ) print("Created friendship between: " f"{result['p1']}, {result['p2']}") def _create_and_return_friendship(self, person1_name, person2_name): # To learn more about the Cypher syntax, # see https://neo4j.com/docs/cypher-manual/current/ # The Cheat Sheet is also a good resource for keywords, # see https://neo4j.com/docs/cypher-cheat-sheet/ query = ( "CREATE (p1:Person { name: $person1_name }) " "CREATE (p2:Person { name: $person2_name }) " "CREATE (p1)-[:KNOWS]->(p2) " "RETURN p1.name, p2.name" ) try: record = self.driver.execute_query( query, person1_name=person1_name, person2_name=person2_name, database_=self.database, result_transformer_=lambda r: r.single(strict=True) ) return {"p1": record["p1.name"], "p2": record["p2.name"]} # Capture any errors along with the query and data for traceability except (DriverError, Neo4jError) as exception: logging.error("%s raised an error: \n%s", query, exception) raise def find_person(self, person_name): names = self._find_and_return_person(person_name) for name in names: print(f"Found person: {name}") def _find_and_return_person(self, person_name): query = ( "MATCH (p:Person) " "WHERE p.name = $person_name " "RETURN p.name AS name" ) names = self.driver.execute_query( query, person_name=person_name, database_=self.database, routing_=RoutingControl.READ, result_transformer_=lambda r: r.value("name") ) return names if __name__ == "__main__": # For Aura specific connection URI, # see https://neo4j.com/developer/aura-connect-driver/ . scheme = "neo4j" # Connecting to Aura, use the "neo4j+s" URI scheme host_name = "example.com" port = 7687 uri = f"{scheme}://{host_name}:{port}" user = "<Username for Neo4j database>" password = "<Password for Neo4j database>" database = "neo4j" app = App(uri, user, password, database) try: app.create_friendship("Alice", "David") app.find_person("Alice") finally: app.close()

Further Information