Connect to a Neo4j Instance

Neo4j Browser is an easy way to access a Neo4j database. To establish a connection, select connection protocol, enter the connection URL, and the user credentials.

Figure 1. Connect to an instance

Connection URI schemes

Neo4j Browser requires a connection to the instance of Neo4j via the Bolt Protocol using the Neo4j JavaScript Driver to execute Cypher^® queries.

Neo4j Browser supports the following connection URI schemes:

neo4j+s:// (encrypted with TLS) — work on either a single instance or a cluster. Routing is handled by the driver. If used on a cluster, it routes to a cluster member, not necessarily the system at the IP that you specified. Queries executed over that protocol route according to the transaction functions --write transactions go to the leader and read transactions route between followers and read replicas.
bolt+s:// (encrypted with TLS) — connect only to the server with the IP you specify. All queries over this protocol go only to this machine, whether they are read or write queries. Write queries error out if not being sent to the Cluster leader.
https:// — (encrypted with TLS) — connects only to the server with the IP you specify. All queries over this protocol go only to this machine, whether they are read or write queries. This protocol can be used in environments where port restrictions, due to firewalls for example, may prevent access to the Bolt port. Note that https:// is not configured for clusters. This option uses Neo4j Query API which replaces the deprecated HTTP API. Currently, Query API does not support reactive fetching.

If used on a single server (not a cluster), then queries over them will behave identically. A difference in the behavior in the URI schemes is seen only if addressing a cluster member.

For more information on the different connection scenarios, see Connection scenarios. For more information on how to configure connectors (Bolt, HTTP, and HTTPS) for Neo4j and the default ports, see Operations Manual → Configure connectors and Operations Manual → Ports.

URI schemes ending +ssc are not supported by Neo4j Browser since the browser’s OS handles certificate trust. If it is necessary to connect to a Neo4j instance using a self-signed certificate from Neo4j Browser, first visit a web page that uses the self-signed certificate in order to prompt the browser to request that certificate trust be granted. Once that trust has been granted, you can connect with URI schemes ending +s. Alternatevely, you can trust self-signed certificate by installing them on your OS. For more information, see Operations Manual → SSL Framework, Configure SSL over Bolt.

Connection scenarios

Table 1. Neo4j Browser - Bundled with Neo4j
Cluster configured	TLS encryption	URI
no	no	`bolt://` or `neo4j://`
no	yes	`bolt+s://` or `neo4j+s://`
yes	no	`neo4j://`
yes	yes	`neo4j+s://`
yes (connect to one specific cluster member only)	no	`bolt://`
yes (connect to one specific cluster member only)	yes	`bolt+s://`
no	yes	`https://`

If you are developing on your local machine with a single instance:

Default URL to Neo4j Browser is http://localhost:7474/browser (use your web browser).
Default connection URL to Neo4j is bolt://localhost:7687.

Table 2. Neo4j Browser - Web application
Cluster configured	TLS encryption	URI
no	yes	`bolt+s://`, `neo4j+s://`, or `https://`
yes	yes	`neo4j+s://`
yes (connect to one specific cluster member only)	yes	`bolt+s://`

Neo4j Browser is available as a web application at https://browser.neo4j.io/.

Initial command

When you first open Neo4j Browser and connect to a Neo4j instance either directly via the connection modal, or by using the :connect command, the :welcome command is automatically executed.

The :welcome browser command outputs an entry page containing interactive guides that you can use to learn what’s new in Browser, try Neo4j with live data (MovieGraph) and write some basic Cypher queries, and send feedback.

Any time you reconnect, the :welcome command is triggered.