How to Create Graphs in Neo4j: A Step-by-Step Tutorial

Neo4j is one of the most popular graph databases available today. It excels at managing connected data and relationships. Whether you want to create social networks, recommendation engines, or complex relationship maps, Neo4j provides a powerful platform optimized for graph data.

Prerequisites

Basic understanding of graph database concepts (nodes, relationships, properties).
Neo4j installed and running. For installation help, see our guide: How to Install Neo4j Graph Database: A Step-by-Step Guide.
Familiarity with Cypher, Neo4j’s query language (optional but helpful).
Neo4j Desktop or Neo4j Aura set up for interacting with the database.

Step 1: Understand Graph Components in Neo4j

Graphs in Neo4j are composed of:

Nodes: Entities or objects (e.g., Person, Movie).
Relationships: Directed connections between nodes (e.g., FRIEND_OF, ACTED_IN).
Properties: Key-value pairs that describe nodes or relationships.

Example: A node could represent a user named Alice, and another node Bob. A relationship “FRIEND_OF” connects Alice to Bob with a property “since” indicating the friendship start year.

Step 2: Create Nodes

Use the CREATE statement with Cypher to add nodes. Here’s an example query creating two people:

CREATE (a:Person {name: 'Alice', age: 30})
CREATE (b:Person {name: 'Bob', age: 28})

This creates two nodes with the label Person and properties name and age.

Step 3: Create Relationships

Relationships link nodes. To create a “FRIEND_WITH” relationship between Alice and Bob, run:

MATCH (a:Person {name: 'Alice'}), (b:Person {name: 'Bob'})
CREATE (a)-[:FRIEND_WITH {since: 2020}]->(b)

This matches the two nodes and creates a directed relationship from Alice to Bob, with a property since.

Step 4: Visualize Your Graph

Neo4j Browser or Neo4j Desktop lets you run MATCH queries to view your graph visually. For example:

MATCH (p:Person) RETURN p

This returns all Person nodes with interactive visualization of nodes and their connections.

Step 5: Build a Simple Graph Example

Let’s model a movie database with actors and movies:

// Create movies
CREATE (m1:Movie {title: 'The Matrix', released: 1999})
CREATE (m2:Movie {title: 'Inception', released: 2010})

// Create actors
CREATE (a1:Person {name: 'Keanu Reeves'})
CREATE (a2:Person {name: 'Leonardo DiCaprio'})

// Create relationships
MATCH (a1:Person {name: 'Keanu Reeves'}), (m1:Movie {title: 'The Matrix'})
CREATE (a1)-[:ACTED_IN]->(m1)

MATCH (a2:Person {name: 'Leonardo DiCaprio'}), (m2:Movie {title: 'Inception'})
CREATE (a2)-[:ACTED_IN]->(m2)

You can query who acted in “The Matrix”:

MATCH (p:Person)-[:ACTED_IN]->(m:Movie {title: 'The Matrix'}) RETURN p.name

Step 6: Modify and Expand Your Graph

Add new nodes and relationships anytime. For instance, add a director:

CREATE (d:Person {name: 'The Wachowskis'})
MATCH (d:Person {name: 'The Wachowskis'}), (m:Movie {title: 'The Matrix'})
CREATE (d)-[:DIRECTED]->(m)

Troubleshooting Tips

Error: Invalid input near ‘CREATE’ – Check syntax and make sure Cypher commands end correctly.
Nodes or relationships not created – Confirm your MATCH clauses correctly find nodes. Use RETURN to debug.
Visualization not refreshing – Refresh Neo4j Browser or reconnect to the database.