Connecting to an instance

There are several different methods of connecting to an instance in Neo4j AuraDB:

  • Neo4j Browser - A browser-based interface for querying and viewing data in an instance.

  • Neo4j Bloom - A graph exploration application for visually interacting with graph data.

  • Neo4j Workspace - A browser-based interface used to import, visualize, and query graph data.

  • Neo4j Desktop - An installable desktop application used to manage local and cloud instances.

  • Neo4j Cypher Shell - A command-line tool used to run Cypher queries against a Neo4j instance.

Neo4j Browser

You can query an instance using Neo4j Browser.

To open an instance with Browser:

  1. Navigate to the Neo4j Aura Console in your browser.

  2. Select the Query button on the instance you want to open.

  3. Enter the Username and Password credentials in the window that opens. These are the same credentials you stored when creating the instance.

  4. Select Connect.

Once you have successfully connected, there are built-in guides you can complete to familiarize yourself with Neo4j Browser.

For more information on using Neo4j Browser, please see the Browser manual.

Neo4j Bloom

You can explore an instance using Neo4j Bloom.

To open an instance with Bloom:

  1. Navigate to the Neo4j Aura Console in your browser.

  2. Select the Explore button on the instance you want to open.

  3. Select Neo4j Bloom from the dropdown menu.

  4. Enter the Username and Password credentials in the window that opens. These are the same credentials you stored when creating the instance.

  5. Select Connect.

For more details on using Neo4j Bloom, please see the Neo4j Bloom documentation.

Perspectives in AuraDB

Due to the nature of AuraDB’s infrastructure, it is not currently possible to share Perspectives in Bloom, as the data for a given Perspective is stored in local storage in the user’s web browser.

An alternative is to export your Perspective as a JSON file and import it into another Bloom session.

To export a Perspective:

  1. Open the Bloom interface for your Neo4j AuraDB instance.

  2. Navigate to the Perspectives Gallery.

  3. Click on the vertical ellipsis (…​) and select Export.

  4. Save the file to your local disk.

You can import perspectives by clicking the blue "Import Perspective" button in the Perspective gallery. Please note that the Perspective exposes details about your graph’s schema but not the actual data within.

For more information, see Bloom Perspectives.

Deep links

As data for a given Perspective is stored in local storage in the user’s web browser, if you want to access a deep link referencing perspectives, you will first need to import the perspectives into your local instance of Bloom.

Neo4j Workspace

Neo4j Workspace combines the functionality of Neo4j Browser, Neo4j Bloom, and Neo4j Data Importer into a single interface.

To open an instance with Workspace:

  1. Navigate to the Neo4j Aura Console in your browser.

  2. Select the Open button on the instance you want to open.

  3. Enter the Database user and Password credentials in the window that opens. These are the same credentials you stored when creating the instance.

  4. Select Connect.

For more information on using Neo4j Workspace, see the Product page.

Workspace is enabled by default on AuraDB Free and AuraDB Professional instances but needs to be enabled for AuraDB Enterprise instances. If you do not see the Open button on your instance, you can enable it by selecting the Settings cog in the top menu bar and toggling Enable workspace.

Neo4j Desktop

You can connect AuraDB instances to the Neo4j Desktop application, allowing the ability to have a single portal for interacting with all instances of Neo4j, whether local or located in the cloud.

To connect to an instance using Neo4j Desktop:

  1. Navigate to the Neo4j Aura Console in your browser.

  2. Copy the Connection URI of the instance you want to connect to. The URI is below the instance status indicator.

  3. In Neo4j Desktop, select the Projects tab and select an existing project or create a new one.

  4. Select the Add dropdown and choose Remote connection.

  5. Enter a name for the instance and enter the URL from the Neo4j Aura console from the second step. Once complete, select Next.

  6. With Username/Password selected, enter your credentials and select Next. These are the same credentials you stored when creating the instance.

  7. When available, activate the connection by clicking the Connect button.

  • Neo4j Desktop only allows 1 connection at a time to an instance (local or remote).

  • Deactivating an instance in Neo4j Desktop won’t shut it down or stop a remote instance - it will only temporarily close the connection to it in Neo4j Desktop.

As with other instances in Neo4j Desktop, you can install Graph Apps for monitoring and other functionality.

To do this, follow the same process to install the graph application you need, and open it from Neo4j Desktop or a web browser with the running and activated Neo4j AuraDB instance.

Neo4j Cypher Shell

You can connect to an AuraDB instance using the Neo4j Cypher Shell command-line interface (CLI) and run Cypher commands against your instance from the command-line.

To connect to an instance using Neo4j Cypher Shell:

  1. Navigate to the Neo4j Aura Console in your browser.

  2. Copy the Connection URI of the instance you want to connect to. The URI is below the instance status indicator.

  3. Open a terminal and navigate to the folder where you have installed Cypher Shell.

  4. Run the following cypher-shell command replacing:

    • <connection_uri> with the URI you copied in step 2.

    • <username> with the username for your instance.

    • <password> with the password for your instance.

      ./cypher-shell -a <connection_uri> -u <username> -p <password>

Once connected, you can run :help for a list of available commands.

Available commands:
  :begin    Open a transaction
  :commit   Commit the currently open transaction
  :exit     Exit the logger
  :help     Show this help message
  :history  Print a list of the last commands executed
  :param    Set the value of a query parameter
  :params   Print all currently set query parameters and their values
  :rollback Rollback the currently open transaction
  :source   Interactively executes cypher statements from a file
  :use      Set the active instance

For help on a specific command type:
    :help command

For more information on Cypher Shell, including how to install it, see the Cypher Shell documentation.