Show procedures

You can use SHOW PROCEDURES to list all available procedures. For general information about the SHOW command, see the Cypher Manual → SHOW.

Syntax

For full details about the syntax descriptions, see Administration command syntax.

Action Syntax

Show all procedures

SHOW PROCEDURE[S]
[YIELD { * | field[, ...] } [ORDER BY field[, ...]] [SKIP n] [LIMIT n]]
[WHERE expression]
[RETURN field[, ...] [ORDER BY field[, ...]] [SKIP n] [LIMIT n]]

Show procedures that the current user can execute

SHOW PROCEDURE[S] EXECUTABLE [BY CURRENT USER]
[YIELD { * | field[, ...] } [ORDER BY field[, ...]] [SKIP n] [LIMIT n]]
[WHERE expression]
[RETURN field[, ...] [ORDER BY field[, ...]] [SKIP n] [LIMIT n]]

Show procedures that the specified user can execute

SHOW PROCEDURE[S] EXECUTABLE BY username
[YIELD { * | field[, ...] } [ORDER BY field[, ...]] [SKIP n] [LIMIT n]]
[WHERE expression]
[RETURN field[, ...] [ORDER BY field[, ...]] [SKIP n] [LIMIT n]]

Requires the SHOW USER privilege. This command cannot be used for LDAP users.

When using the RETURN clause, the YIELD clause is mandatory and must not be omitted.

Return columns

SHOW PROCEDURES returns following columns:

Table 1. Show procedures output
Column Description Type Default output

name

The name of the procedure.

STRING

description

The procedure description.

STRING

mode

The procedure mode, for example READ or WRITE.

STRING

worksOnSystem

Whether the procedure can be run on the system database or not.

BOOLEAN

signature

The signature of the procedure.

STRING

argumentDescription

List of the arguments for the procedure, as map of strings and booleans with name, type, default, isDeprecated, and description.

LIST<MAP>

returnDescription

List of the returned values for the procedure, as map of strings and booleans with name, type, isDeprecated, and description.

LIST<MAP>

admin

true if this procedure is an admin procedure.

BOOLEAN

rolesExecution

List of roles permitted to execute this procedure. Is null without the SHOW ROLE privilege.

LIST<STRING>

rolesBoostedExecution

List of roles permitted to use boosted mode when executing this procedure. Is null without the SHOW ROLE privilege.

LIST<STRING>

isDeprecated

Whether the procedure is deprecated.

BOOLEAN

deprecatedBy

The replacement procedure to use in case of deprecation; otherwise null.

STRING

option

Map of extra output, e.g. if the procedure is deprecated.

MAP

The deprecation information for procedures is returned both in the isDeprecated and option columns.

Examples

Show all procedures and return only default columns
SHOW PROCEDURES
Show all procedures and return all columns
SHOW PROCEDURES YIELD *
Show all procedures and return specific columns only
SHOW PROCEDURES YIELD name, admin
Filter SHOW PROCEDURES using WHERE
SHOW PROCEDURES YIELD name, worksOnSystem
WHERE worksOnSystem = TRUE
RETURN name

The listed procedures can also be filtered by whether a user can execute them. This filtering is only available through the EXECUTABLE clause and not through the WHERE clause. This is due to using the user’s privileges instead of filtering on the available output columns.

There are two options for using the EXECUTABLE clause. The first option is to filter for the current user:

Show procedures executable by the current user
SHOW PROCEDURES EXECUTABLE BY CURRENT USER YIELD *

The second option for using the EXECUTABLE clause is to filter the list to only contain procedures executable by a specific user. The following example shows the procedures available to the user jake, who has been granted the EXECUTE PROCEDURE dbms.* privilege by the admin of the database. For more information about the DBMS EXECUTE privilege administration, see the DBMS EXECUTE privileges.

Show procedures executable by specific user
SHOW PROCEDURES EXECUTABLE BY jake

Combine SHOW PROCEDURES with other Cypher clauses

SHOW PROCEDURES can be combined with other Cypher clauses to form a single query.

When combining SHOW PROCEDURES with other clauses, the YIELD clause is mandatory and must not be omitted. YIELD must explicitly list the yielded columns. YIELD * is not permitted. The query must also end with a valid last clause (like a RETURN or an updating clause).

Return all functions and procedures
SHOW PROCEDURES
YIELD name, signature
RETURN name, signature, 'procedure' AS type
UNION
SHOW FUNCTIONS
YIELD name, signature
RETURN name, signature, 'function' AS type

Glossary

allocator

A component in the cluster that allocates databases to servers according to the topology constraints specified and an allocation strategy.

asynchronous replication

Asynchronous replication is used by secondary copies to poll for new transactions, which means they cannot be guaranteed to have received the most recent transactions. This enables efficient scale-out of read-performance.

Aura instance

A fully-managed DBMS represented by a single instance ID, that is running in the Neo4j Aura cloud.

auto-commit transaction

An automatically committed transaction that contains a single query.

Bolt protocol

Bolt is a protocol used for interaction between Neo4j instances and drivers.

bookmark

A marker the client can request from the cluster to ensure that it is able to read its own writes so that the application’s state is consistent and only databases that have a copy of the bookmark are permitted to respond.

category (Bloom)

A category is based on a node label and is defined in a Perspective as a way of visually distinguishing nodes with the same label(s).

causal consistency

All servers in a cluster agree on the order in which transactions take place. The position of a server on the causal chain can be guaranteed using a bookmark.

cluster

A Neo4j DBMS that spans multiple servers working together to increase fault tolerance and/or read scalability. Databases on a cluster may be configured to replicate across servers in the cluster thus achieving read scalability or high availability.

client application

Software that interacts with a Neo4j server.

commit

A commit is the successful completion of a transaction, which ensures durability of any changes made. For more details, visit Operations Manual → Transaction management.

composite database

Composite databases are the means to access partitioned graph data with a single Cypher query.

constraint

Constraints are sets of data modeling rules that ensure the data is consistent and reliable.

Cypher®

Neo4j’s graph query language.

data model

A data model defines how information is organized in a database. A good data model will make querying and understanding your data easier. In Neo4j, the data models have a graph structure.

database

A database is a container used by the DBMS to manage and store graph data. The physical structure of data is controlled by the database.

database vs graph

Databases are the physical containers of graph data. Graphs are the logical structure of data in Neo4j.

Database Management System

Database Management System, or DBMS, capable of managing multiple databases. A DBMS may run on a single server, or span several servers configured as a cluster.

database schema

The prescribed property existence and datatypes for nodes and relationships.

deallocate

An act of removing a database from a server or a server from a cluster without loss of data or reduced fault tolerance.

degree (of a node)

The number of relationships of a specific node; loops are counted twice.

disaster recovery

A manual intervention to restore availability of a cluster, or databases within a cluster.

driver

A software library that provides access to Neo4j from a particular programming language.

election

In the event that the Raft leader becomes unresponsive, followers automatically trigger an election and vote for a new leader.

entity

A node or a relationship.

expression (Cypher)

A component of a Cypher query which produces values. It may be used in projections, as a predicate, or when setting properties on graph elements.

fabric

Fabric is the architectural design of a unified system that provides a single access point to local or distributed graph data.

fault tolerance

A guarantee that a cluster can maintain a database’s persistence and availability in the event of one or more servers failing.

follower

A primary copy of a database acting as a follower, receives and acknowledges synchronous writes from the leader.

Generative AI (GenAI)

A type of artificial intelligence (AI) system that generates text, images, or other media in response to prompts.

graph

A logical representation of a set of nodes where some pairs are connected by relationships.

index

Data structure that improves read performance of a database.

knowledge graph

A specific type of graph that has an organizing principle so that a user (or a computer system) can reason about the underlying data. The organizing principle provides an additional layer of structure that adds context to support knowledge discovery.

label

Marks a node as a member of a named and indexed subset. A node may be assigned zero or more labels.

leader

A single primary copy of a database is designated as the leader. It receives all write transactions from clients and replicates writes synchronously to followers and asynchronously to secondary copies of the database.

main database

In terms of Neo4j Enterprise Studio, the database(s) containing the user’s data. Can exist in the same Neo4j deployment as the tool asset database.

motif

A description of a specific pattern within a graph.

node

A node represents an entity or discrete object in your graph data model. Nodes can be connected by relationships, hold data in properties, and are classified by labels.

operator

A symbol representing a mathematical or logical operation.

parameter

Named value provided when running a Cypher statement.

path

A sequence of nodes and the relationships connecting them, that does not contain duplicate relationships. Several paths can match a pattern.

pattern

A specific arrangement of nodes and relationships that can be matched in a graph. A pattern follows a motif.

perspective (Bloom)

A Perspective defines a certain business view or domain that can be found in the target Neo4j graph. A single Neo4j graph can be viewed through different Perspectives, each tailored for a different business purpose.

primary

A copy of the database that is able to process write transactions and is eligible to be elected as a leader. It participates in fault tolerant writes as it is part of the majority required to acknowledge and commit write transactions.

primary vs secondary

In a cluster, databases can operate in either primary or secondary mode. Primary databases are able to process write and read transactions, ensuring fault tolerance. Secondary databases are replicated asynchronously from primaries, and their main purpose is to provide read scaling within the cluster.

project (Aura)

An isolated environment in the unified Aura console that contains its own database instances, configurations, and resources. Preceded by tenant in the classic Aura console.

property

Properties are key-value pairs that are used for storing data on nodes and relationships.

query (Cypher)

A statement that retrieves or writes information to a database.

Raft group

A group of servers that are participating in hosting a particular database in primary mode.

Raft group member

A server that is participating in a Raft group. A server can be a member of one or more groups.

Raft log

A shared log between all Raft group members that is guaranteed to be consistently updated and viewed by those members. The log contains both database data and operational state of the Raft group.

Raft protocol

The networking mechanism that enables a database to replicate its data across multiple servers to give high availability for accessing the data and high durability to the data stored.

read scaling

Distributing query load by creating additional database copies hosted in secondary mode (read-only).

relationship

A relationship represents a connection between nodes in your graph data model. Relationships connect a source node to a target node, hold data in properties, and are classified by type.

secondary

An asynchronously replicated copy of the database that provides read scaling within the cluster.

seed

A seed is a database dump or a full backup used to create a database on a cluster. This is sometimes called seeding.

server

A physical machine, a virtual machine, or a container running an instance of Neo4j. Servers can be standalone or part of a cluster.

session

A causally linked sequence of transactions.

session consistency

An alternative name for Neo4j’s causal consistency.

standalone

A single server running Neo4j and not part of a cluster.

synchronous replication

Synchronous replication requires the leader primary to replicate a transaction and block the commit until a quorum of the follower primaries acknowledges that the transaction is successfully replicated. Once the transaction is replicated, the commit is allowed to proceed. This ensures data durability and consistency within the cluster.

system database

A database used by Neo4j to store system information.

tenant (Aura)

An isolated environment in the classic Aura console that contains its own database instances, configurations, and resources. Replaced by project in the unified Aura console.

tool asset database

In terms of Neo4j Enterprise Studio, the database where tools' assets are stored. This can be in the same Neo4j deployment as the main database(s) or in a separate deployment.

topology

A configuration that describes how the copies of a database should be spread across the servers in a cluster, see primary mode and secondary mode.

transaction

A transaction comprises a unit of work performed against a database. It is treated in a coherent and reliable way, independent of other transactions. Transactions comply with the ACID consistency model (atomic, consistent, isolated, and durable).