Additions, deprecations, removals, and compatibility

Cypher® is a language that is constantly evolving. New features are added to the language continuously, and occasionally, some features become deprecated and are subsequently removed. All changes to Cypher are introduced in Neo4j versions.

This section lists all of the features that have been removed, deprecated, added, or extended in different versions of Neo4j. Replacement syntax for deprecated and removed features are also indicated.

Cypher 25 was introduced in Neo4j 2025.06 and can only be used on Neo4j 2025.06+ databases. From this release onward, no new features will be added to Cypher 5. Users of Cypher 5 must migrate their queries to Cypher 25 in order to access new features. For more information, see:

Neo4j 2026.06

Deprecations

Feature Details

Functionality Deprecated

CREATE VECTOR INDEX moviePlots IF NOT EXISTS
FOR (m:Movie) ON m.embedding
WITH [m.releaseDate, m.rating]
OPTIONS {
  indexConfig: {
    `vector.similarity_function`: 'cosine',
    `vector.dimensions`: 3,
    `vector.quantization.enabled`: false
  }
}

The vector index configuration setting vector.quantization.enabled has been deprecated in favor of vector.quantization.type. The latter allows you to specify quantization types ('none', 'scalar, and 'binary').

Updates

Feature Details

Updated Preview

CREATE VECTOR INDEX moviePlots IF NOT EXISTS
FOR (m:Movie) ON m.embedding
WITH [m.releaseDate, m.rating]
OPTIONS {
  indexConfig: {
    `vector.similarity_function`: 'cosine',
    `vector.dimensions`: 3,
    `vector.quantization.type`: 'binary',
    `vector.default_search_expansion_factor`: 2.0
  }
}

Vector indexes now support binary quantization (vector.quantization.type: 'binary') and a search expansion factor (vector.default_search_expansion_factor), both currently in preview, for tuning the trade-off between accuracy and query time.

For more details, see Vector index configuration settings → config-vector.default_search_expansion_factor and config-vector.quantization.type.

Neo4j 2026.02

Updates

Feature Details

Updated

SHOW [NODE] EXIST[ENCE] CONSTRAINTS

The NODE EXIST[ENCE] and EXIST[ENCE] type filtering options allowed by the SHOW CONSTRAINTS command now also return node label existence constraints (created as part of node element types in a graph type (only available in Cypher 25)). For more information, see Syntax → Type filters.

Updated

SHOW CONSTRAINTS

The type column returned by SHOW CONSTRAINTS can now return three additional constraint types: NODE_LABEL_EXISTENCE, RELATIONSHIP_SOURCE_LABEL and RELATIONSHIP_TARGET_LABEL. These new constraint types are created as part of node and relationship element types when setting a graph type (only available in Cypher 25). For more information, see the Cypher 25 Manual → Graph types.

Neo4j 2025.11

New

Feature Details

New

Added the performance-improving operatorsMergeInto .

MergeInto is similar to the Merge operator, but it is used when the start and end node of the pattern are matched outside the MERGE pattern.

Neo4j 2025.09

New

Feature Details

New

New operator: LockNodes

Introduced LockNodes operator, sometimes used in conjunction with the LockingMerge operator to lock nodes.

Neo4j 2025.08

Updates

Feature Details

Updated

PROFILE
WITH "Person" AS label
MATCH (people:$(label))
RETURN people.name

Cypher can now leverage token lookup indexes when planning queries with dynamic labels and relationship types. This is enabled by the introduction of three new query plan operators: DynamicLabelNodeLookup, DynamicDirectedRelationshipTypeLookup, and DynamicUndirectedRelationshipTypeLookup.

Neo4j 2025.06

Deprecations

Feature Details

Deprecated

CYPHER 5 CREATE ALIAS `foo`.`bar` FOR DATABASE ...

Graph references with separately backticked name parts (`foo`.`bar`) are deprecated. In future Cypher versions, use parameters or backtick the entire name (`foo.bar`).

For more information, see the Operations Manual → Show and terminate transactions.

Deprecated

CYPHER 5 USE graph.byName("`a.b`.c") ...

Graph references with separately backticked name parts (`a.b`.`c`) are deprecated. In future Cypher versions, remove the backticks (a.b.c).

New

Feature Details

New

CREATE [COMPOSITE] DATABASE actors DEFAULT LANGUAGE CYPHER 25

Set the default Cypher version for a standard or composite database when creating it. The available versions are CYPHER 25 and CYPHER 5. If not specified, the default language for the database is set to the default language of the DBMS. For more information, see the following sections in the Operations Manual:

New

CREATE ALIAS `remote-with-default-language`
FOR DATABASE `northwind-graph-2020`
	AT "neo4j+s://location:7687"
	USER alice
	PASSWORD 'example_secret'
	DEFAULT LANGUAGE CYPHER 25

Set the default Cypher version for a remote database alias when creating it. The available versions are CYPHER 5 and CYPHER 25. Local database aliases and database aliases in composite databases cannot be assigned a default Cypher version. Local database aliases always have the Cypher version of their target database and database aliases in composite databases always have the Cypher version of the composite database they belong to. For more information, see the Operations Manual → Set a default Cypher version for remote database aliases.

New

ALTER DATABASE movies SET DEFAULT LANGUAGE CYPHER 25

Alter the default Cypher version of an existing standard or composite database. The available versions are CYPHER 25 and CYPHER 5. For more information, see the Operations Manual → Alter the default Cypher version of an existing database.

New

ALTER ALIAS `remote-with-default-language` SET DATABASE DEFAULT LANGUAGE CYPHER 25

Alter the default Cypher version of a remote database alias. The available versions are CYPHER 25 and CYPHER 5. It is not possible to alter the default Cypher version of a local database alias or an alias belonging to a composite database. Local database aliases always have the Cypher version of their target database and aliases belonging to composite databases always have the Cypher version of the composite database. For more information, see the Operations Manual → Alter the default Cypher version of a remote database alias.

New

SHOW DATABASES YIELD name, defaultLanguage

The new return column defaultLanguage for the SHOW DATABASE command returns the default language of a database. This column is not returned by default; it can only be returned using YIELD. For more information, see the Operations Manual → Show the default Cypher version of a database.

New

SHOW ALIAS `remote-with-default-language` FOR DATABASE YIELD name, defaultLanguage

The new return column defaultLanguage for the SHOW ALIAS command returns the default language of a database alias. This column is not returned by default; it can only be returned using YIELD. For more information, see the Operations Manual → Show database aliases.

New

CYPHER 25
MATCH (n:Person)
FILTER n.age < 35
RETURN n.name AS name

New query option: CYPHER 25. Prepending a query with CYPHER 25 ensures that a query is run with Cypher 25, regardless of the default language of a database. (The ability to select CYPHER 5 was introduced in Neo4j 5.21).

Neo4j 2025.04

New

Feature Details

New

GRANT READ {*} ON GRAPH * FOR ()-[r]-() WHERE r.securityLevel > 3 TO regularUsers
GRANT TRAVERSE ON GRAPH * FOR ()-[r:KNOWS]-() WHERE r.classification IS NULL TO regularUsers
DENY MATCH {*} ON GRAPH * FOR ()-[r]-() WHERE r.classification <> 'UNCLASSIFIED' TO regularUsers

Property-based access control for relationships is now supported in Enterprise Edition. For more information, see Property-based access control.

Neo4j 2025.03

New

Feature Details

New

UNWIND range(1, 100) AS i
CALL (i) {
    MERGE (u:User {id: i})
    ON CREATE SET u.created = timestamp()
} IN TRANSACTIONS ON ERROR RETRY 1 SECOND THEN FAIL

New error handling option for CALL { …​ } IN TRANSACTIONS: ON ERROR RETRY. This option applies an exponential delay between retries for transaction batches failing due to transient errors, with an optional maximum retry duration, and handles failure based on a specified fallback error mode if the transaction does not succeed within the given time. For more information, see CALL subqueries in transactions → ON ERROR RETRY.

Neo4j 2025.01

Deprecations

Feature Details

Deprecated

CYPHER eagerAnalyzer=ir MATCH (a)-->(b) DELETE b RETURN a
CYPHER eagerAnalyzer=lp MATCH (a)-->(b) DELETE b RETURN a

The Cypher query option eagerAnalyzer is deprecated and will be removed without a replacement. Eagerness analysis is systematically performed on the logical plan regardless of the value provided.

Neo4j 5.26

Deprecations

Feature Details

Deprecated

CREATE ... INDEX ... OPTIONS { indexProvider: ... }
CREATE ... CONSTRAINTS ... OPTIONS { indexProvider: ... }

Specifying an index provider in the OPTIONS map when creating an index or constraint is deprecated.

This also means that the vector index index provider, vector-1.0, is deprecated. Use the default index provider, vector-2.0, instead.

Deprecated

MATCH (where {...})
MATCH (...)-[where {...}]->()

The variable named where (or any casing variant, like WHERE) used in a node or relationship pattern followed directly by a property key-value expression is deprecated. To continue using variables with this name, use backticks to quote the variable name:

  • Node patterns: MATCH (`where` { …​ })

  • Relationship patterns: MATCH (…​)-[`where` { …​ }]→()

Deprecated

... + n:A
... + n:A&B
... + n:A&B|C

Using an unparenthesized label expression predicate as the right-hand side operand of + is deprecated. Parenthesize the label expression predicate on the right-hand side of +: …​ + (n:A).

Deprecated

CASE x ... WHEN is :: STRING THEN ... END

Using a variable named is (or any casing variant, like IS) as a WHEN operand in a simple CASE expression is deprecated. To continue using variables with this name in simple CASE expressions, use backticks to quote the variable name: CASE x …​ WHEN `is` :: STRING THEN …​ END

Deprecated

CASE x ... WHEN contains + 1 THEN ... END
CASE x ... WHEN contains - 1 THEN ... END

Using a variable named contains (or any casing variant, like CONTAINS) in addition or subtraction operations within a WHEN operand of a simple CASE expression is deprecated. To continue using variables with this name, use backticks to quote the variable name:

  • Additions: CASE x …​ WHEN `contains` + 1 THEN …​ END

  • Subtractions: CASE x …​ WHEN `contains` - 1 THEN …​ END

Deprecated

CASE x ... WHEN in[1] THEN ... END
CASE x ... WHEN in["abc"] THEN ... END

Using the [] operator on a variable named in (or any casing variant, like IN) within a WHEN operand of a simple CASE expression is deprecated. To continue using variables with this name, use backticks to quote the variable name:

  • CASE x …​ WHEN `in`[1] THEN …​ END

  • CASE x …​ WHEN `in`["abc"] THEN …​ END

Deprecated

CALL db.schema.nodeTypeProperties() YIELD propertyTypes RETURN propertyTypes;
CALL db.schema.relTypeProperties() YIELD propertyTypes RETURN propertyTypes;

The column propertyTypes currently returned by the procedures db.schema.nodeTypeProperties() and db.schema.relTypeProperties() produces a list of strings representing the potential Java types for a given property. In an upcoming major release of Neo4j, this will be updated to represent the possible Cypher types for that property instead. For all available Cypher types, see the section on types and their synonyms.

Deprecated

CREATE DATABASE db OPTIONS { seedCredentials: ...,  seedConfig: ... }

The CREATE DATABASE option seedCredentials has been deprecated. For seeding from cloud storage, it is recommended to use CloudSeedProvider which will read cloud credentials and configuration from standard locations. For further information, see Create a database from a URI → CloudSeedProvider.

Deprecated

CREATE DATABASE db OPTIONS { storeFormat: 'standard' }

CREATE DATABASE db OPTIONS { storeFormat: 'high_limit' }

The standard and high_limit store formats have been deprecated. Creating databases with these formats is therefore also deprecated. For more information on the deprecation of these formats, see Store formats → Format deprecations.

Deprecated

USE my.db ...

The use of unquoted . characters in USE clauses when specifying databases and aliases was deprecated in 5.26.0, except when . indicated that the database or alias belonged to a composite database. However, this deprecation has been withdrawn in 5.26.9 and 2025.06. In 2025.06, it was replaced by two new deprecations in Cypher 5:

This is because the previous quoting rules were inconsistent and ambiguous. The rules have been clarified and improved in Cypher 25. For more information, see the Cypher 25 Manual → Additions, deprecations, removals, and compatibility.

Updates

Feature Details

Updated

USE graph.byElementId("4:c0a65d96-4993-4b0c-b036-e7ebd9174905:0")
MATCH (n) RETURN n

graph.byElementId() can now be used on both standard and composite databases. Previously it could only be used on composite databases.

Updated

CREATE DATABASE foo TOPOLOGY $p PRIMARIES $s SECONDARIES
ALTER DATABASE foo SET TOPOLOGY $p PRIMARIES $s SECONDARIES

The CREATE DATABASE and ALTER DATABASE commands now accept parameters for TOPOLOGY configuration.

Updated

GRANT READ {*} ON GRAPH * FOR (n) WHERE n.createdAt > date('2024-10-25') TO regularUsers

Property-based access control now supports spatial and temporal values.

Updated

RETURN 'val' as one, 'val' as two
UNION
RETURN 'val' as two, 'val' as one
RETURN 'val' as one, 'val' as two
UNION ALL
RETURN 'val' as two, 'val' as one

Using differently ordered return items in a UNION [ALL] clause has been un-deprecated.

New

Feature Details

New

MATCH (n:$($label)),
      ()-[r:$($type))]->()
CREATE (n:$($label)),
       ()-[r:$($type)]->()
MERGE (n:$($label)),
      ()-[r:$($type)]->()
LOAD CSV WITH HEADERS FROM 'file:///artists-with-headers.csv' AS line
CREATE (n:$(line.label) {name: line.Name})

Added the ability to dynamically reference node labels and relationship types in MATCH, CREATE, and MERGE clauses. Also introduced the ability to specify CSV columns dynamically when using LOAD CSV.

Neo4j 5.25

Deprecations

Feature Details

Deprecated

CREATE DATABASE db OPTIONS { existingDataSeedInstance: ... }

The CREATE DATABASE option existingDataSeedInstance has been deprecated and replaced with the option existingDataSeedServer. The functionality is unchanged.

Updates

Feature Details

Updated

CREATE (n:Label {property: 'name'}),
()-[r:REL_TYPE]->()

Neo4j’s block format now implements GQL’s limit on the maximum length of identifiers.

The maximum limit is set to 16,383 characters in an identifier. This means that node labels, relationship types, and property keys cannot include more than 16,383 characters.

New

Feature Details

New

CREATE DATABASE db OPTIONS { existingDataSeedServer: ... }

The option existingDataSeedServer has been added to CREATE DATABASE. The functionality is the same as the deprecated option existingDataSeedServer, which this replaces.

Neo4j 5.24

New

Feature Details

New

MATCH (t:Team)
OPTIONAL CALL (t) {
  MATCH (p:Player)-[:PLAYS_FOR]->(t)
  RETURN collect(p) as players
}
RETURN t AS team, players
OPTIONAL CALL db.labels() YIELD label
RETURN label

Introduced OPTIONAL CALL for optionally executing a procedure or subquery CALL. Similar to OPTIONAL MATCH, any empty rows produced by the OPTIONAL CALL will return null and not affect the remainder of the procedure or subquery evaluation.

New

MATCH (n)
RETURN n.name AS names OFFSET 2

Introduced OFFSET, a GQL conformant synonym to SKIP.

See OFFSET as a synonym for SKIP for details.

New

MATCH (n)
ORDER BY n.name DESC
OFFSET 3
LIMIT 2
RETURN collect(n.name) AS names

Introduced GQL conformant standalone ORDER BY, SKIP/OFFSET, and LIMIT clauses.

New

SET n:$(label)
REMOVE n:$(label)

Added the ability to dynamically reference labels in SET and REMOVE clauses.

New

SET n[$prop] = "hello world"
REMOVE n[$prop]

Added the ability to dynamically reference properties in SET and REMOVE clauses.

New

DROP [COMPOSITE] DATABASE ... [RESTRICT | CASCADE ALIAS[ES]]

Added the ability to drop database aliases while deleting a database. This will affect local database aliases targeting the database and constituent database aliases belonging to the composite database. For more information, see Delete a database with local database aliases targeting it and Delete a composite database with constituent database aliases.

New

LOAD CSV FROM 'azb://azb-account/azb-container/artists.csv' AS row
MERGE (a:Artist {name: row[1], year: toInteger(row[2])})
RETURN a.name, a.year

Extension of the LOAD CSV clause to allow loading CSV files from Azure Cloud Storage URIs.

New

CREATE USER bob
SET AUTH 'externalProviderName' {
  SET ID 'userIdForExternalProvider'
}
SET AUTH 'native' {
  SET PASSWORD 'password'
  SET PASSWORD CHANGE REQUIRED
}

Added the ability set which auth providers apply to a user (Enterprise Edition).

Administration of the native (username / password) auth via the new syntax is also now supported (Community Edition).

New

ALTER USER bob
REMOVE AUTH 'native'
SET AUTH 'externalProviderName' {
  SET ID 'userIdForExternalProvider'
}

Added the ability add and remove user auth providers via the ALTER USER command.

Setting the native (username / password) auth provider via this new syntax is also supported (Community Edition), but removing any auth provider or setting a non-native auth provider is only supported in Enterprise Edition.

New

SHOW USERS WITH AUTH

New support for WITH AUTH to allow display users' auth providers with a separate row per user per auth provider.

New

SET AUTH

New privilege that allows a user to modify user auth providers. This is a sub-privilege of the ALTER USER privilege. Like all GRANT/DENY commands this is only available in Enterprise Edition.

Neo4j 5.23

Deprecations

Feature Details

Deprecated

UNWIND [0, 1, 2] AS x
CALL {
  WITH x
  RETURN x * 10 AS y
}
RETURN x, y

Using the WITH clause to import variables to CALL subqueries is deprecated, and replaced with a variable scope clause. It is also deprecated to use naked subqueries without a variable scope clause.

Updates

Feature Details

Updated

RETURN datetime.statement() IS :: TIMESTAMP WITH TIME ZONE

Introduced new GQL conformant aliases to duration types: TIMESTAMP WITHOUT TIME ZONE (alias to LOCAL DATETIME), TIME WITHOUT TIME ZONE (alias to LOCAL TIME), TIMESTAMP WITH TIME ZONE (alias to ZONED DATETIME), and TIME WITH TIME ZONE (alias to ZONED TIME).

See types and their synonyms for more.

New

Feature Details

New

UNWIND [0, 1, 2] AS x
CALL (x) {
   RETURN x * 10 AS y
}
RETURN x, y

Introduced a new variable scope clause to import variables in CALL subqueries.

New

CREATE VECTOR INDEX moviePlots IF NOT EXISTS
FOR (m:Movie)
ON m.embedding
OPTIONS {indexConfig: {
`vector.quantization.enabled`: true
`vector.hnsw.m`: 16,
`vector.hnsw.ef_construction`: 100,
}}

Introduced the following configuration settings for vector indexes:

  • vector.quantization.enabled: allows for enabling quantization, which can accelerate search performance but can also slightly decrease accuracy.

  • vector.hnsw.m: controls the maximum number of connections each node has in the index’s internal graph.

  • vector.hnsw.ef_construction: sets the number of nearest neighbors tracked during the insertion of vectors into the index’s internal graph.

Additionally, as of Neo4j 5.23, it is no longer mandatory to configure the settings vector.dimensions and vector.similarity_function when creating a vector index.

Neo4j 5.21

Updates

Feature Details

Updated

SHOW FUNCTIONS YIELD *
SHOW PROCEDURES YIELD *

Introduced a deprecatedBy column to SHOW FUNCTIONS and SHOW PROCEDURES. It is not returned by default in either command.

The column is a STRING value specifying a replacement function/procedure if the used function/procedure is deprecated. Otherwise, it returns null.

New

Feature Details

New

GRANT READ {*} ON GRAPH * FOR (n) WHERE n.securityLevel > 3 TO regularUsers
GRANT TRAVERSE ON GRAPH * FOR (n:Email) WHERE n.classification IS NULL TO regularUsers
DENY MATCH {*} ON GRAPH * FOR (n) WHERE n.classification <> 'UNCLASSIFIED' TO regularUsers

Introduction of property-based access control for read privileges. The ability to read, traverse and match nodes based on node property values is now supported in Enterprise Edition.

New

LOAD CSV FROM 'gs://gs-bucket/artists.csv' AS row
MERGE (a:Artist {name: row[1], year: toInteger(row[2])})
RETURN a.name, a.year

Extension of the LOAD CSV clause to allow loading CSV files from Google Cloud Storage URIs.

New

CYPHER inferSchemaParts=most_selective_label

Introduction of inferSchemaParts, a new Cypher query option that controls the extent to which the Cypher planner will infer predicates.

New

RETURN upper('abc'), lower('ABC')

Introduction of a lower() and upper() function. These are aliases of the toLower() and toUpper() functions.

New

UNWIND range(1, 10) as i
  CALL {
    WITH i
    CREATE (n:N { i: i })
} IN 3 CONCURRENT TRANSACTIONS OF 2 ROWS

Introduced CALL { …​ } IN CONCURRENT TRANSACTIONS, which uses multiple CPU processors simultaneously to execute batched inner transactions concurrently.

New

MATCH SHORTEST 1 (:A)-[:R]->{0,10}(:B)
MATCH p = ANY 2 (:A)-[:R]->{0,10}(:B)
MATCH ALL SHORTEST (:A)-[:R]->{0,10}(:B)
MATCH SHORTEST 2 GROUPS (:A)-[:R]->{0,10}(:B)

Introduced new graph pattern matching keywords to find variations of the shortest paths between nodes.

New

New operators:

Introduced new operators to solve SHORTEST queries.

New

CYPHER 5
RETURN 1

Introduced the ability to prepend queries with CYPHER 5. This ensures that a query is run using version 5 of Cypher.

Neo4j 5.20

Deprecations

Feature Details

Deprecated

MERGE (a {foo:1})-[:T]->(b {foo:a.foo})

Merging a node or relationship entity, and then referencing that entity in a property definition in the same MERGE clause is deprecated. Split the MERGE clause into two separate clauses instead.

New

Feature Details

New

RETURN trim(BOTH 'x' FROM 'xxhelloxx'),
       ltrim('xxhello', 'x'),
       rtrim('helloxx', 'x'),
       btrim('xxhelloxx', 'x')

Introduced btrim() function, which returns the given STRING with leading and trailing trimCharacterString characters removed. Also extended the trim(), ltrim(), and rtrim() functions to accept alternative trim character strings.

Neo4j 5.19

New

Feature Details

New

RETURN "Hello" || " " || "World";

RETURN [1, 2] || [3, 4, 5];

Added a new STRING and LIST concatenation operator.

New

FINISH

New FINISH clause, which can be optionally used to define a query that returns no result.

New

RETURN 1 AS a
UNION DISTINCT
RETURN 1 AS a

The keyword DISTINCT can now be added after a UNION as the explicit form of a UNION with duplicate removal.

New

LOAD CSV FROM 's3://artists.csv' AS row
MERGE (a:Artist {name: row[1], year: toInteger(row[2])})
RETURN a.name, a.year

Extension of the LOAD CSV clause to allow loading CSV files from AWS S3 URIs.

New

  • "textembedding-gecko@002"

  • "textembedding-gecko@003"

  • "textembedding-gecko-multilingual@001"

Added support for more Vertex AI vector encoding models in GenAI plugin. Also added support for Vertex AI taskType and title embedding parameters.

Neo4j 5.18

New

Feature Details

New

INSERT

Added a new keyword INSERT, which can be used as a synonym to CREATE for creating nodes and relationships.

New

MATCH (n)
RETURN CASE n.prop
        WHEN IS NULL THEN "Null"
        WHEN < 0 THEN "Negative"
        WHEN 2, 4, 6, 8 THEN "Even"
        ELSE "Odd"
        END

Extension of the simple CASE expression, allowing multiple matching values to be comma-separated in the same WHEN statement. The simple CASE uses an implied equals (=) comparator, and this extension additionally allows other comparison predicates to be explicitly specified before the matching value in an extended version of the simple CASE.

New

CREATE VECTOR INDEX [index_name] [IF NOT EXISTS]
FOR ()-[r:REL_TYPE]-() ON (r.property)
OPTIONS {indexConfig: {
 `vector.dimensions`: $dimension,
 `vector.similarity_function`: $similarityFunction
}}

Added command to create relationship vector indexes. The index configuration settings vector.dimensions and vector.similarity_function are mandatory when using this command. The command allows for the IF NOT EXISTS flag to skip index creation should the index already exist.

New

RETURN vector.similarity.euclidean(a, b)
RETURN vector.similarity.cosine(a, b)

Introduction of vector similarity functions. These functions return a FLOAT representing the similarity of vectors a and b.

Neo4j 5.17

Updates

Feature Details

Updated

CREATE [index_type] INDEX [index_name] IF NOT EXISTS FOR ...

When attempting to create an index using IF NOT EXISTS with either the same name or same index type and schema, or both, as an existing index the command now returns a notification showing the existing index which blocks the creation.

Updated

CREATE CONSTRAINT [constraint_name] IF NOT EXISTS FOR ...

When attempting to create a constraint using IF NOT EXISTS with either the same name or same constraint type and schema (and property type for property type constraints), or both, as an existing constraint the command now returns a notification showing the existing constraint which blocks the creation.

Updated

DROP CONSTRAINT constraint_name IF EXISTS

When attempting to drop a non-existing index using IF EXISTS the command will now return a notification about the index not existing.

Updated

DROP INDEX index_name IF EXISTS

When attempting to drop a non-existing constraint using IF EXISTS the command will now return a notification about the constraint not existing.

New

Feature Details

New

RETURN normalize("string", NFC)

Introduction of a normalize() function. This function normalizes a STRING according to the specified normalization form, which can be of type NFC, NFD, NFKC, or NFKD.

New

IS [NOT] [NFC | NFD | NFKC | NFKD] NORMALIZED
RETURN "string" IS NORMALIZED

Introduction of an IS NORMALIZED operator. The operator can be used to check if a STRING is normalized according to the specified normalization form, which can be of type NFC, NFD, NFKC, or NFKD.

New

New operators:

Introduction of partitioned operators used by the parallel runtime. These operators segment the data and operate on each segment in parallel

Neo4j 5.16

Updates

Feature Details

Updated

CREATE [index_type] INDEX $name [IF NOT EXISTS] FOR ...

DROP INDEX $name [IF EXISTS]

Added the ability to use parameters for the index name in the CREATE and DROP commands.

Updated

CREATE CONSTRAINT $name [IF NOT EXISTS] FOR ...

DROP CONSTRAINT $name [IF EXISTS]

Added the ability to use parameters for the constraint name in the CREATE and DROP commands.

New

Feature Details

New

GRANT LOAD ON CIDR "127.0.0.1/32" TO role
DENY LOAD ON CIDR "::1/128" TO role

Added the ability to grant or deny LOAD privilege on a CIDR range. For more information, see the Operations Manual → The CIDR privilege.

Neo4j 5.15

Deprecations

Feature Details

Deprecated

RETURN 1 as my\u0085identifier

The Unicode character `\u0085` is deprecated for identifiers not quoted in backticks and will be considered as a whitespace character in the future. To continue using it, quote the identifier with backticks. This applies to all identifiers in Cypher, such as label expressions, properties, variable names or parameters. In the given example, the quoted identifier would be `my�identifier`.

Deprecated

RETURN 1 as my$Identifier

The character with the Unicode representation `\u0024` is deprecated for identifiers not quoted in backticks and will not be supported in the future. To continue using it, quote the identifier with backticks. This applies to all identifiers in Cypher, such as label expressions, properties, variable names or parameters. In the given example, the quoted identifier would be `my$identifier`.

The following Unicode Characters are deprecated in identifiers: '\u0000', '\u0001', '\u0002', '\u0003', '\u0004', '\u0005', '\u0006', '\u0007', '\u0008', '\u000E', '\u000F', '\u0010', '\u0011', '\u0012', '\u0013', '\u0014', '\u0015', '\u0016', '\u0017', '\u0018', '\u0019', '\u001A', '\u001B', '\u007F', '\u0080', '\u0081', '\u0082', '\u0083', '\u0084', '\u0086', '\u0087', '\u0088', '\u0089', '\u008A', '\u008B', '\u008C', '\u008D', '\u008E', '\u008F', '\u0090', '\u0091', '\u0092', '\u0093', '\u0094', '\u0095', '\u0096', '\u0097', '\u0098', '\u0099', '\u009A', '\u009B', '\u009C', '\u009D', '\u009E', '\u009F', '\u0024', '\u00A2', '\u00A3', '\u00A4', '\u00A5', '\u00AD', '\u0600', '\u0601', '\u0602', '\u0603', '\u0604', '\u0605', '\u061C', '\u06DD', '\u070F', '\u08E2', '\u180E', '\u200B', '\u200C', '\u200D', '\u200E', '\u200F', '\u202A', '\u202B', '\u202C', '\u202D', '\u202E', '\u2060', '\u2061', '\u2062', '\u2063', '\u2064', '\u2066', '\u2067', '\u2068', '\u2069', '\u206A', '\u206B', '\u206C', '\u206D', '\u206E', '\u206F', '\u2E2F', '\uFEFF', '\uFFF9', '\uFFFA', '\uFFFB'

Updates

Feature Details

Updated

SHOW VECTOR INDEXES

Extended SHOW INDEXES with easy filtering for vector indexes. This is equivalent to SHOW INDEXES WHERE type = 'VECTOR'.

Updated

MATCH (n:Label) WHERE $param IS :: STRING NOT NULL AND n.prop = $param

IS :: STRING NOT NULL is now an index-compatible predicate.

New

Feature Details

New

MATCH (n)
RETURN count(ALL n.prop)

Added a new keyword ALL, explicitly defining that the aggregate function is not DISTINCT. This is a mirror of the already existing keyword DISTINCT for functions.

New

CREATE VECTOR INDEX [index_name] [IF NOT EXISTS]
FOR (n: Label) ON (n.property)
OPTIONS {indexConfig: {
 `vector.dimensions`: $dimension,
 `vector.similarity_function`: $similarityFunction
}}

Added command to create node vector indexes, replacing the db.index.vector.createNodeIndex procedure. The index configuration settings vector.dimensions and vector.similarity_function are mandatory when using this command. The command allows for the IF NOT EXISTS flag to skip index creation should the index already exist.

Neo4j 5.14

Updates

Feature Details

Updated

IS :: INTEGER!

Extended type syntax to allow an exclamation mark ! as a synonym for NOT NULL.

New

Feature Details

New

RETURN nullIf(v1, v2)

Introduction of a nullIf() function. This function returns null if the two given parameters are equivalent, otherwise returns the value of the first parameter.

New

MATCH (n) NODETACH DELETE n

Added a new keyword NODETACH, explicitly defining that relationships will not be detached and deleted. This is a mirror of the already existing keyword DETACH.

Neo4j 5.13

Updates

Feature Details

Updated

SHOW FUNCTIONS YIELD *
SHOW PROCEDURES YIELD *

Updated the signatures column in SHOW FUNCTIONS and SHOW PROCEDURES.

Procedure signatures now follow the pattern: "procedureName(param1 :: TYPE, param2 :: TYPE, .., paramN :: TYPE) :: (returnParam1 :: TYPE, returnParam2, .., returnParamN :: TYPE)"

The signature for procedures with no return columns now follows the pattern: "procedureName(param1 :: TYPE, param2 :: TYPE, .., paramN :: TYPE)"

Function signatures now follow the pattern: "functionName(param1 :: TYPE, param2 :: TYPE, .., paramN :: TYPE) :: TYPE"

For all available Cypher types, see the section on types and their synonyms.

New

Feature Details

New Beta

CALL cdc.current()
CALL cdc.earliest()
CALL cdc.query(from, selectors)

Introduction of the Change Data Capture (CDC) feature. For details, see Change Data Capture.

New

RETURN valueType(expr)

Introduction of a valueType() function. This function returns a STRING representation of the most precise value type that the given expression evaluates to.

New

RETURN char_length(expr)

Introduction of a char_length() function. This function returns the number of Unicode characters in a STRING. It is an alias of the size() function.

New

RETURN character_length(expr)

Introduction of a character_length() function. This function returns the number of Unicode characters in a STRING. It is an alias of the size() function.

New

New privilege:

GRANT LOAD ON ALL DATA TO `role`

New privilege that controls a user’s ability to load data. Unlike other privileges, these are not granted, denied, or revoked on graphs, databases, or the DBMS, but instead on ALL DATA.

New

USE graph.byElementId(elementId :: STRING)

New graph function, graph.byElementId(), that resolves the constituent graph to which a given element id belongs.

New

CYPHER runtime = parallel

Introduction of the parallel runtime. This runtime is designed for analytical, graph-global read queries run on machines with several available CPUs.

Neo4j 5.12

New

Feature Details

New

db.nameFromElementId(elementId :: STRING) :: STRING

New database function to return database names from element ids.

Neo4j 5.11

Updates

Feature Details

Updated

SHOW ALIASES

Introduced a new column composite to SHOW ALIASES. This column is returned by default.

The column returns the name of the composite database that the alias belongs to, or null if the alias does not belong to a composite database.

Updated

IS [NOT] :: <TYPE>

Extended type predicate expressions. Closed dynamic union types (type1 | type2 | …​) are now supported. For example, the following query which evaluates to true if a value is either of type INTEGER or FLOAT:

IS :: INTEGER | FLOAT

Updated

CREATE CONSTRAINT name FOR (n:Label) REQUIRE n.prop IS :: <PROPERTY TYPE>

CREATE CONSTRAINT name FOR ()-[r:TYPE]-() REQUIRE r.prop IS :: <PROPERTY TYPE>

Extended node and relationship property type constraints. Closed dynamic union types (type1 | type2 | …​) are now supported, allowing for types such as:

  • INTEGER | FLOAT

  • LIST<STRING NOT NULL> | STRING

  • ZONED DATETIME | LOCAL DATETIME

Updated

ALTER CURRENT USER
SET PASSWORD FROM 'password1' TO 'password2'

This command now auto-commits even when executed inside an explicit transaction.

Neo4j 5.10

Updates

Feature Details

Updated

IS [NOT] :: <TYPE>

Extended type predicate expressions. The newly supported types are:

  • NOTHING

  • NULL

  • BOOLEAN NOT NULL

  • STRING NOT NULL

  • INTEGER NOT NULL

  • FLOAT NOT NULL

  • DATE NOT NULL

  • LOCAL TIME NOT NULL

  • ZONED TIME NOT NULL

  • LOCAL DATETIME NOT NULL

  • ZONED DATETIME NOT NULL

  • DURATION NOT NULL

  • POINT NOT NULL

  • NODE

  • NODE NOT NULL

  • RELATIONSHIP

  • RELATIONSHIP NOT NULL

  • MAP

  • MAP NOT NULL

  • LIST<TYPE>

  • LIST<TYPE> NOT NULL

  • PATH

  • PATH NOT NULL

  • PROPERTY VALUE

  • PROPERTY VALUE NOT NULL

  • ANY

  • ANY NOT NULL

Updated

CREATE CONSTRAINT name FOR (n:Label) REQUIRE n.prop IS :: <PROPERTY TYPE>

CREATE CONSTRAINT name FOR ()-[r:TYPE]-() REQUIRE r.prop IS :: <PROPERTY TYPE>

Extended node and relationship property type constraints. The new supported types are:

  • LIST<BOOLEAN NOT NULL>

  • LIST<STRING NOT NULL>

  • LIST<INTEGER NOT NULL>

  • LIST<FLOAT NOT NULL>

  • LIST<DATE NOT NULL>

  • LIST<LOCAL TIME NOT NULL>

  • LIST<ZONED TIME NOT NULL>

  • LIST<LOCAL DATETIME NOT NULL>

  • LIST<ZONED DATETIME NOT NULL>

  • LIST<DURATION NOT NULL>

  • LIST<POINT NOT NULL>

Neo4j 5.9

Deprecations

Feature Details

Deprecated

CREATE (a {foo:1}), (b {foo:a.foo})

Creating a node or relationship entity, and then referencing that entity in a property definition in the same CREATE clause is deprecated. Split the CREATE clause into two separate clauses instead.

Updates

Feature Details

Updated

SHOW SETTINGS YIELD *
SHOW FUNCTIONS YIELD *
SHOW PROCEDURES YIELD *

Introduced an isDeprecated column to SHOW SETTINGS, SHOW FUNCTIONS, and SHOW PROCEDURES. It is not returned by default in either command.

The column is true if the setting/function/procedure is deprecated and false otherwise.

Updated

SHOW FUNCTIONS YIELD argumentDescription
SHOW PROCEDURES YIELD argumentDescription, returnDescription

Introduced an isDeprecated field to the argument and return description maps for SHOW FUNCTIONS and SHOW PROCEDURES.

The field is true if the argument/return value is deprecated and false otherwise.

Updated

SHOW CONSTRAINTS

Introduced propertyType column, which is returned by default. It returns a STRING representation of the property type for property type constraints, and null for other constraints.

New

Feature Details

New

MATCH ((x:A)-[:R]->(z:B WHERE z.h > x.h)){1,5}

Introduction of quantified path patterns - a new method in graph pattern matching for matching paths of a variable length. More information can be found here.

New

New operator: Repeat(Trail)

The Repeat(Trail) operator is used to solve quantified path patterns. More information can be found here.

New

IS [NOT] :: <TYPE>

Added type predicate expressions. The available types are:

  • BOOLEAN

  • STRING

  • INTEGER

  • FLOAT

  • DATE

  • LOCAL TIME

  • ZONED TIME

  • LOCAL DATETIME

  • ZONED DATETIME

  • DURATION

  • POINT

New

CREATE CONSTRAINT name FOR (n:Label) REQUIRE n.prop IS :: <PROPERTY TYPE>

CREATE CONSTRAINT name FOR ()-[r:TYPE]-() REQUIRE r.prop IS :: <PROPERTY TYPE>

Added node and relationship property type constraints. The available property types are:

  • BOOLEAN

  • STRING

  • INTEGER

  • FLOAT

  • DATE

  • LOCAL TIME

  • ZONED TIME

  • LOCAL DATETIME

  • ZONED DATETIME

  • DURATION

  • POINT

New

SHOW NODE PROPERTY TYPE CONSTRAINTS

SHOW REL[ATIONSHIP] PROPERTY TYPE CONSTRAINTS

SHOW PROPERTY TYPE CONSTRAINTS

Added filtering for the new property constraints to SHOW CONSTRAINTS. Includes filtering for the node part, relationship part, or both parts.

New

SHOW SUPPORTED PRIVILEGE[S]

Show supported privileges on the current server.

Neo4j 5.8

Updates

Feature Details

Updated

SHOW INDEXES

Introduced lastRead, readCount, and trackedSince columns. Both lastRead and readCount are returned by default.

The lastRead column returns the last time the index was used for reading. The readCount column returns the number of read queries that have been issued to this index. The trackedSince column returns the time when usage statistics tracking started for this index.

New

Feature Details

New

New operator: AssertSameRelationship

The AssertSameRelationship operator is used to ensure that no relationship property uniqueness constraints are violated in the slotted and interpreted runtime. More information can be found here.

Neo4j 5.7

Deprecations

Feature Details

Deprecated

CYPHER connectComponentsPlanner=greedy MATCH (a), (b) RETURN *
CYPHER connectComponentsPlanner=idp MATCH (a), (b) RETURN *

The Cypher query option connectComponentsPlanner is deprecated and will be removed without a replacement. The product’s default behavior of using a cost-based IDP search algorithm when combining sub-plans will be kept.

Updates

Feature Details

Updated

ALTER DATABASE ... [WAIT [n [SEC[OND[S]]]]|NOWAIT]

New sub-clause WAIT for ALTER DATABASE. This enables adding a waiting clause to specify a time limit in which the command must be completed and returned.

New

CREATE CONSTRAINT name FOR ()-[r:TYPE]-() REQUIRE r.prop IS UNIQUE

CREATE CONSTRAINT name FOR ()-[r:TYPE]-() REQUIRE r.prop IS RELATIONSHIP KEY

Added relationship key and property uniqueness constraints.

New

SHOW NODE UNIQUE[NESS] CONSTRAINTS

SHOW REL[ATIONSHIP] UNIQUE[NESS] CONSTRAINTS

SHOW UNIQUE[NESS] CONSTRAINTS

SHOW REL[ATIONSHIP] KEY CONSTRAINTS

SHOW KEY CONSTRAINTS

Added filtering for the new constraint types to SHOW CONSTRAINTS. Includes filtering for the node part, relationship part, or both parts of each type (NODE KEY filtering already exists previously).

The existing UNIQUENESS filter will now return both node and relationship property uniqueness constraints.

New

Feature Details

New

CALL {
  <inner>
} IN TRANSACTIONS [ OF <num> ROWS ]
  [ ON ERROR CONTINUE / BREAK / FAIL ]
  [ REPORT STATUS AS <v> ]

New fine-grained control mechanism to control how an inner transaction impacts subsequent inner and/or outer transactions.

  • ON ERROR CONTINUE - will ignore errors and continue with the execution of subsequent inner transactions when one of them fails.

  • ON ERROR BREAK - will ignore an error and stop the execution of subsequent inner transactions.

  • ON ERROR FAIL - will fail in case of an error.

  • REPORT STATUS AS <v> - reports the execution status of the inner transaction (a map value including the fields started committed, transactionId, and errorMessage). This flag is disallowed for ON ERROR FAIL.

Neo4j 5.6

New

Feature Details

New

server.tag

New functionality to change tags at runtime via ALTER SERVER. More information can be found in the Operations Manual → ALTER SERVER options.

New

COLLECT {
    ...
}

New expression which returns the results of a subquery collected in a list.

New

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

Show configuration settings on the current server.

The setting-name is either a comma-separated list of one or more quoted STRING values or a single expression resolving to a STRING or a LIST<STRING>`.

New
New privilege:

SHOW SETTING[S] name-globbing[,...]

New privilege that controls a user’s access to desired configuration settings.

Neo4j 5.5

Deprecations

Feature Details

Deprecated

RETURN 'val' as one, 'val' as two
UNION
RETURN 'val' as two, 'val' as one
RETURN 'val' as one, 'val' as two
UNION ALL
RETURN 'val' as two, 'val' as one

Using differently ordered return items in a UNION [ALL] clause is deprecated. Replaced by:

RETURN 'val' as one, 'val' as two
UNION
RETURN 'val' as one, 'val' as two
RETURN 'val' as one, 'val' as two
UNION ALL
RETURN 'val' as one, 'val' as two

New

Feature Details

New

New operator: IntersectionNodeByLabelsScan

The IntersectionNodeByLabelsScan operator fetches all nodes that have all of the provided labels from the node label index. More information can be found here.

Neo4j 5.3

Updates

Feature Details

Updated

SHOW DATABASES

Changes to the visibility of databases hosted on offline servers.

For such databases:

  • The address column will return null.

  • The currentStatus column will return unknown.

  • The statusMessage will return Server is unavailable.

Updated

EXISTS {
    ...
}

An EXISTS subquery now supports any non-writing query. For example, it now supports UNION and CALL clauses.

Updated

COUNT {
    ...
}

A COUNT subquery now supports any non-writing query. For example, it now supports UNION and CALL clauses.

Updated

SHOW UNIQUE[NESS] CONSTRAINTS

The property uniqueness constraint type filter now allow both UNIQUE and UNIQUENESS keywords.

New

Feature Details

New

New operator: NodeByElementIdSeek

The NodeByElementIdSeek operator reads one or more nodes by ID from the node store, specified via the function elementId(). More information can be found here.

Neo4j 5.2

Updates

Feature Details

Updated

CREATE COMPOSITE DATABASE name OPTIONS {}

Creating composite databases now allows for an empty options clause. There are no applicable option values for composite databases.

New

DRYRUN REALLOCATE|DEALLOCATE DATABASES FROM <serverId>

To preview of the result of either REALLOCATE or DEALLOCATE without executing, prepend the command with DRYRUN.

Neo4j 5.1

Deprecations

Feature Details

Deprecated

CREATE TEXT INDEX ... OPTIONS {indexProvider: `text-1.0`}

The text index provider text-1.0 is deprecated and replaced by text-2.0.

Updates

Feature Details

Updated

CREATE TEXT INDEX ... OPTIONS {indexProvider: `text-2.0`}

A new text index provider is available, text-2.0. This is also the default provider if none is given.

Neo4j 5.0

Removals

Feature Details

Removed

SHOW EXISTS CONSTRAINTS
SHOW NODE EXISTS CONSTRAINTS
SHOW RELATIONSHIP EXISTS CONSTRAINTS

Replaced by:

SHOW [PROPERTY] EXIST[ENCE] CONSTRAINTS
SHOW NODE [PROPERTY] EXIST[ENCE] CONSTRAINTS
SHOW REL[ATIONSHIP] [PROPERTY] EXIST[ENCE] CONSTRAINTS

Removed

SHOW INDEXES BRIEF
SHOW CONSTRAINTS BRIEF

Replaced by:

SHOW INDEXES
SHOW CONSTRAINTS

Removed

SHOW INDEXES VERBOSE
SHOW CONSTRAINTS VERBOSE

Replaced by:

SHOW INDEXES YIELD *
SHOW CONSTRAINTS YIELD *

Removed

DROP INDEX ON :Label(prop)

Replaced by:

DROP INDEX name

Removed

DROP CONSTRAINT ON (n:Label) ASSERT (n.prop) IS NODE KEY
DROP CONSTRAINT ON (n:Label) ASSERT (n.prop) IS UNIQUE
DROP CONSTRAINT ON (n:Label) ASSERT exists(n.prop)
DROP CONSTRAINT ON ()-[r:Type]-() ASSERT exists(r.prop)

Replaced by:

DROP CONSTRAINT name

Removed

CREATE INDEX ON :Label(prop)

Replaced by:

CREATE INDEX FOR (n:Label) ON (n.prop)

Removed

CREATE CONSTRAINT ON ... ASSERT ...

Replaced by:

CREATE CONSTRAINT FOR ... REQUIRE ...

Removed

CREATE BTREE INDEX ...

Removed

CREATE INDEX
...
OPTIONS "{" btree-option: btree-value[, ...] "}"

B-tree indexes are removed.

B-tree indexes used for STRING predicates are replaced by:

CREATE TEXT INDEX ...

B-tree indexes used for spatial queries are replaced by:

CREATE POINT INDEX ...

B-tree indexes used for general queries or property value types are replaced by:

CREATE [RANGE] INDEX ...

These new indexes may be combined for multiple use cases.

Removed

SHOW BTREE INDEXES

B-tree indexes are removed.

Replaced by:

SHOW {POINT | RANGE | TEXT} INDEXES

Removed

USING BTREE INDEXES

B-tree indexes are removed.

Replaced by:

USING {POINT | RANGE | TEXT} INDEX

Removed

CREATE CONSTRAINT
...
OPTIONS "{" btree-option: btree-value[, ...] "}"

Node key and property uniqueness constraints backed by B-tree indexes are removed.

Replaced by:

CREATE CONSTRAINT ...

Constraints used for STRING properties require an additional text index to cover the STRING predicates properly. Constraints used for point properties require an additional point index to cover the spatial queries properly.

Removed

SHOW INDEXES YIELD uniqueness

The uniqueness output has been removed along with the concept of index uniqueness, as it actually belongs to the constraint and not the index.

The new column owningConstraint was introduced to indicate whether an index belongs to a constraint or not.

Removed

SHOW CONSTRAINTS YIELD ownedIndexId

The ownedIndexId output has been removed and replaced by the new ownedIndex column.

Removed
For privilege commands:

ON DEFAULT DATABASE

Replaced by:

ON HOME DATABASE

Removed
For privilege commands:

ON DEFAULT GRAPH

Replaced by:

ON HOME GRAPH

Removed

SHOW TRANSACTIONS YIELD allocatedBytes

The allocatedBytes output has been removed, because it was never tracked and thus was always 0.

Removed

exists(prop)

Replaced by:

prop IS NOT NULL

Removed

NOT exists(prop)

Replaced by:

prop IS NULL

Removed

0...

Replaced by 0o....

Removed

0X...

Only 0x... (lowercase x) is supported.

Removed

MATCH ()-[r]-()
RETURN [ ()-[r]-()-[r]-() | r ] AS rs

Remaining support for repeated relationship variables is removed.

Removed

WHERE [1,2,3]

Automatic coercion of a list to a boolean is removed.

Replaced by:

WHERE NOT isEmpty([1, 2, 3])

Removed

distance(n.prop, point({x:0, y:0})

Replaced by:

point.distance(n.prop, point({x:0, y:0})

Removed

point({x:0, y:0}) <= point({x:1, y:1}) <= point({x:2, y:2})

The ability to use operators <, <=, >, or >= on spatial points is removed. Instead, use:

point.withinBBox(point({x:1, y:1}), point({x:0, y:0}), point({x:2, y:2}))

Removed

USING PERIODIC COMMIT ...

Replaced by:

CALL {
  ...
} IN TRANSACTIONS

Removed

CREATE (a {prop:7})-[r:R]->(b {prop: a.prop})

It is no longer allowed to have CREATE clauses in which a variable introduced in the pattern is also referenced from the same pattern.

Removed

CALL { RETURN 1 }

Unaliased expressions are no longer supported in subquery RETURN clauses. Replaced by:

CALL { RETURN 1 AS one }

Removed

MATCH (a) RETURN (a)--()

Pattern expressions producing lists of paths are no longer supported, but they can still be used as existence predicates, for example in WHERE clauses. Instead, use a pattern comprehension:

MATCH (a) RETURN [p=(a)--() | p]

Removed

MATCH (n) RETURN n.propertyName_1, n.propertyName_2 + count(*)

Implied grouping keys are no longer supported. Only expressions that do not contain aggregations are still considered grouping keys. In expressions that contain aggregations, the leaves must be either:

  • An aggregation

  • A literal

  • A parameter

  • A variable, ONLY IF it is either: 1) A projection expression on its own (e.g. the n in RETURN n AS myNode, n.value + count(*))
    2) A local variable in the expression (e.g the x in RETURN n, n.prop + size([ x IN range(1, 10) | x ])

  • Property access, ONLY IF it is also a projection expression on its own (e.g. the n.prop in RETURN n.prop, n.prop + count(*))

  • Map access, ONLY IF it is also a projection expression on its own (e.g. the map.prop in WITH {prop: 2} AS map RETURN map.prop, map.prop + count(*))

Deprecations

Feature Details

Deprecated

MATCH (n)-[r:REL]->(m) SET n=r

Use the properties() function instead to get the map of properties of nodes/relationships that can then be used in a SET clause:

MATCH (n)-[r:REL]->(m) SET n=properties(r)

Deprecated

MATCH (a), (b), allShortestPaths((a)-[r]->(b)) RETURN b

MATCH (a), (b), shortestPath((a)-[r]->(b)) RETURN b

shortestPath and allShortestPaths without variable-length relationship are deprecated. Instead, use a MATCH with a LIMIT of 1 or:

MATCH (a), (b), shortestPath((a)-[r*1..1]->(b)) RETURN b

Deprecated

CREATE DATABASE databaseName.withDot ...

Creating a database with dots in the name was deprecated in 5.0. However, this deprecation was withdrawn in 2025.06, and replaced by two new deprecations in Cypher 5:

This because the previous quoting rules were inconsistent and ambiguous. The rules have been clarified and improved in Cypher 25. For more information, see the Cypher 25 Manual → Additions, deprecations, removals, and compatibility.

Deprecated

()-[:A|:B]->()

Replaced by:

()-[:A|B]->()

Updates

Feature Details

Updated

CREATE INDEX ...

The default index type is changed from B-tree to range index.

Updated

SHOW INDEXES

The new column owningConstraint was added and will be returned by default from now on. It will list the name of the constraint that the index is associated with or null, in case it is not associated with any constraint.

Updated

SHOW CONSTRAINTS

The new column ownedIndex was added and will be returned by default from now on. It will list the name of the index associated with the constraint or null, in case no index is associated with it.

Updated

SHOW TRANSACTIONS YIELD *

New columns for the current query are added:

  • currentQueryStartTime

  • currentQueryStatus

  • currentQueryActiveLockCount

  • currentQueryElapsedTime

  • currentQueryCpuTime

  • currentQueryWaitTime

  • currentQueryIdleTime

  • currentQueryAllocatedBytes

  • currentQueryPageHits

  • currentQueryPageFaults

These columns are only returned in the full set (with YIELD) and not by default.

Updated

TERMINATE TRANSACTIONS transaction-id[,...]
YIELD { * | field[, ...] }
[ORDER BY field[, ...]]
[SKIP n]
[LIMIT n]
[WHERE expression]
[RETURN field[, ...] [ORDER BY field[, ...]] [SKIP n] [LIMIT n]]

Terminate transaction now allows YIELD. The WHERE clause is not allowed on its own, as it is for SHOW, but needs the YIELD clause.

Updated

SHOW TRANSACTIONS [transaction-id[,...]]
TERMINATE TRANSACTIONS transaction-id[,...]

transaction-id now allows general expressions resolving to a STRING or LIST<STRING> instead of just parameters.

Updated

SHOW TRANSACTIONS [transaction-id[,...]]
YIELD field[, ...]
  [ORDER BY field[, ...]]
  [SKIP n]
  [LIMIT n]
  [WHERE expression]
TERMINATE TRANSACTIONS transaction-id[,...]
YIELD field[, ...]
  [ORDER BY field[, ...]]
  [SKIP n]
  [LIMIT n]
  [WHERE expression]
RETURN field[, ...]
  [ORDER BY field[, ...]]
  [SKIP n]
  [LIMIT n]

The SHOW and TERMINATE TRANSACTIONS commands can be combined in the same query. The query does not require a specific order and there can be zero or more of each command type, however at least one command is needed.

When the command is not in standalone mode, the YIELD and RETURN clauses are mandatory. YIELD * is not allowed.

transaction-id is a comma-separated list of one or more quoted STRING values. It could also be an expression resolving to a STRING or a LIST<STRING> (for example the output column from SHOW).

Updated

GRANT EXECUTE BOOSTED PROCEDURE ...
GRANT EXECUTE BOOSTED FUNCTION ...

Not a syntax change but a semantic one. The EXECUTE BOOSTED privilege will no longer include an implicit EXECUTE privilege when granted. That means that to execute a procedure or a function with boosted privileges both EXECUTE and EXECUTE BOOSTED are needed.

Updated

[GRANT|DENY] [IMMUTABLE] ...

Privileges can be specified as IMMUTABLE, which means that they cannot be altered by users with Privilege Management. They can only be administered with auth disabled.

Updated

REVOKE [IMMUTABLE] ...

IMMUTABLE can now be specified with the REVOKE command to specify that only immutable privileges should be revoked.

Updated

SHOW DATABASES

Changes to the default columns in the result:

  • The writer, type, and constituents columns have been added.

  • The values returned in the role column have changes to be just primary, secondary, or unknown.

  • The error column has been renamed to statusMessage.

The following columns have been added to the full result set (with YIELD) and not by default:

  • creationTime

  • lastStartTime

  • lastStopTime

  • store

  • currentPrimariesCount

  • currentSecondariesCount

  • requestedPrimariesCount

  • requestedSecondariesCount

Updated

MATCH (n)
RETURN
CASE n.prop
    WHEN null THEN 'one'
    ELSE 'two'
END

Previously, if n.prop is null, 'one' would be returned. Now, 'two' is returned.

This is a semantic change only. Since null = null returns false in Cypher, a WHEN expression no longer matches on null.

If matching on null is required, please use IS NULL instead:

MATCH (n)
RETURN
CASE
    WHEN n.prop IS NULL THEN 'one'
    ELSE 'two'
END

Updated

RETURN round(val, precision)

Rounding infinity and NaN values will now return the original value instead of returning an integer approximation for precision 0 and throwing an exception for precision > 0:

old value new value

round(Inf)

9223372036854776000.0

Inf

round(Inf, 1)

exception

Inf

round(NaN)

0

NaN

round(Inf, 1)

exception

NaN

To get an integer value use the toInteger function.

Updated

CREATE [OR REPLACE] ALIAS compositeDatabase.aliasName ...
ALTER ALIAS compositeDatabase.aliasName
DROP ALIAS compositeDatabase.aliasName

The alias commands can now handle aliases in composite databases.

Updated

SHOW ALIAS[ES] aliasName FOR DATABASE[S]
SHOW ALIAS[ES] compositeDatabase.aliasName FOR DATABASE[S]

SHOW ALIAS now allows for easy filtering on alias name.

Updated

CREATE [OR REPLACE] ALIAS compositeDatabase.aliasName ...
ALTER ALIAS compositeDatabase.aliasName
DROP ALIAS compositeDatabase.aliasName

The alias commands can now handle aliases in composite databases.

Updated

SHOW ALIAS[ES] aliasName FOR DATABASE[S]
SHOW ALIAS[ES] compositeDatabase.aliasName FOR DATABASE[S]

SHOW ALIAS now allows for easy filtering on alias name.

New

Feature Details

New

CREATE [OR REPLACE] COMPOSITE DATABASE databaseName [IF NOT EXISTS] [WAIT [n [SEC[OND[S]]]]|NOWAIT]
DROP COMPOSITE DATABASE databaseName [IF EXISTS] [DUMP DATA | DESTROY DATA] [WAIT [n [SEC[OND[S]]]]|NOWAIT]

New Cypher command for creating and dropping composite databases.

New
New privilege:

CREATE COMPOSITE DATABASE
DROP COMPOSITE DATABASE
COMPOSITE DATABASE MANAGEMENT

New privileges that allow a user to CREATE and/or DROP composite databases.

New

1_000_000, 0x_FF_FF, 0o_88_88

Cypher now supports number literals with underscores between digits.

New

isNaN(n.prop)

New function which returns whether the given number is NaN. NaN is a special floating point number defined in the Floating-Point Standard IEEE 754. This function was introduced since comparisons including NaN = NaN returns false.

New

NaN, Inf, Infinity

Cypher now supports float literals for the values Infinity and NaN. NaN defines a quiet not-a-number value and does not throw any exceptions in arithmetic operations. Both values are implemented according to the Floating-Point Standard IEEE 754.

New

COUNT { (n) WHERE n.foo = "bar" }

New expression which returns the number of results of a subquery.

New

CREATE DATABASE ... TOPOLOGY n PRIMAR{Y|IES} [m SECONDAR{Y|IES}]

New sub-clause for CREATE DATABASE, to specify the number of servers hosting a database, when creating a database in cluster environments.

New

ALTER DATABASE ... SET TOPOLOGY n PRIMAR{Y|IES} [m SECONDAR{Y|IES}]

New sub-clause for ALTER DATABASE, which allows modifying the number of servers hosting a database in cluster environments.

New

ENABLE SERVER ...

New Cypher command for enabling servers.

New

ALTER SERVER ... SET OPTIONS ...

New Cypher command for setting options for a server.

New

RENAME SERVER ... TO ...

New Cypher command for changing the name of a server.

New

REALLOCATE DATABASES

New Cypher command for re-balancing what servers host which databases.

New

DEALLOCATE DATABASE[S] FROM SERVER[S] ...

New Cypher command for moving all databases from servers.

New

DROP SERVER ...

New Cypher command for dropping servers.

New

SHOW SERVERS

New Cypher command for listing servers.

New
New privileges:

SERVER MANAGEMENT
SHOW SERVERS

New privileges that allow a user to create, modify, reallocate, deallocate, drop and list servers.

New

MATCH (n: A&(B|C)&!D)

New concise syntax for expressing predicates for which labels a node may have, referred to as label expression.

New

MATCH ()-[r:(!A&!B)]->()

New concise syntax for expressing predicates for which relationship types a relationship may have, referred to as relationship type expression.

New

MATCH ()-[r:R {prop1: 42} WHERE r.prop2 > 42]->()

New syntax that enables inlining of WHERE clauses inside relationship patterns.

Neo4j 4.4

Deprecations

Feature Details

Deprecated

MATCH (n) RETURN n.propertyName_1, n.propertyName_2 + count(*)

Implied grouping keys are deprecated. Only expressions that do not contain aggregations are still considered grouping keys. In expressions that contain aggregations, the leaves must be either:

  • An aggregation

  • A literal

  • A parameter

  • A variable, ONLY IF it is either:
    1) A projection expression on its own (e.g. the n in RETURN n AS myNode, n.value + count(*))
    2) A local variable in the expression (e.g the x in RETURN n, n.prop + size([ x IN range(1, 10) | x ])

  • Property access, ONLY IF it is also a projection expression on its own (e.g. the n.prop in RETURN n.prop, n.prop + count(*))

  • Map access, ONLY IF it is also a projection expression on its own (e.g. the map.prop in WITH {prop: 2} AS map RETURN map.prop, map.prop + count(*))

Deprecated

USING PERIODIC COMMIT ...

Replaced by:

CALL {
  ...
} IN TRANSACTIONS

Deprecated

CREATE (a {prop:7})-[r:R]->(b {prop: a.prop})

CREATE clauses in which a variable introduced in the pattern is also referenced from the same pattern are deprecated.

Deprecated

CREATE CONSTRAINT ON ... ASSERT ...

Replaced by:

CREATE CONSTRAINT FOR ... REQUIRE ...

Deprecated

CREATE BTREE INDEX ...

B-tree indexes are deprecated.

B-tree indexes used for string queries are replaced by:

CREATE TEXT INDEX ...

B-tree indexes used for spatial queries are replaced by:

CREATE POINT INDEX ...

B-tree indexes used for general queries or property value types are replaced by:

CREATE RANGE INDEX ...

These new indexes may be combined for multiple use cases.

Deprecated

CREATE INDEX
...
OPTIONS "{" btree-option: btree-value[, ...] "}"

Deprecated

SHOW BTREE INDEXES

B-tree indexes are deprecated.

Replaced by:

SHOW {POINT | RANGE | TEXT} INDEXES

Deprecated

USING BTREE INDEX

B-tree indexes are deprecated.

Replaced by:

USING {POINT | RANGE | TEXT} INDEX

Deprecated

CREATE CONSTRAINT
...
OPTIONS "{" btree-option: btree-value[, ...] "}"

Node key and property uniqueness constraints with B-tree options are deprecated.

Replaced by:

CREATE CONSTRAINT
...
OPTIONS "{" range-option: range-value[, ...] "}"

Constraints used for string properties will also require an additional text index to cover the string queries properly. Constraints used for point properties will also require an additional point index to cover the spatial queries properly.

Deprecated

distance(n.prop, point({x:0, y:0})

Replaced by:

point.distance(n.prop, point({x:0, y:0})

Deprecated

point({x:0, y:0}) <= point({x:1, y:1}) <= point({x:2, y:2})

The ability to use the inequality operators <, ⇐, >, and >= on spatial points is deprecated. Instead, use:

point.withinBBox(point({x:1, y:1}), point({x:0, y:0}), point({x:2, y:2}))

Deprecated

MATCH (n)
RETURN
CASE n.prop
    WHEN null THEN 'one'
    ELSE 'two'
END

Currently, if n.prop is null, 'one' would be returned. Since null = null returns false in Cypher, a WHEN expression will no longer match in future versions.

Please use IS NULL instead:

MATCH (n)
RETURN
CASE
    WHEN n.prop IS NULL THEN 'one'
    ELSE 'two'
END

New

Feature Details

New

CALL {
  ...
} IN TRANSACTIONS

New clause for evaluating a subquery in separate transactions. Typically used when modifying or importing large amounts of data. See CALL { ... } IN TRANSACTIONS.

New

CREATE CONSTRAINT FOR ... REQUIRE ...

New syntax for creating constraints, applicable to all constraint types.

New

CREATE CONSTRAINT [constraint_name] [IF NOT EXISTS]
FOR (n:LabelName)
REQUIRE (n.propertyName_1, …, n.propertyName_n) IS UNIQUE
[OPTIONS "{" option: value[, ...] "}"]

Property uniqueness constraints now allow multiple properties, ensuring that the combination of property values are unique.

New Deprecated

DROP CONSTRAINT
ON (n:LabelName)
ASSERT (n.propertyName_1, …, n.propertyName_n) IS UNIQUE

Property uniqueness constraints now allow multiple properties.

Replaced by:

DROP CONSTRAINT name [IF EXISTS]

New

CREATE CONSTRAINT [constraint_name] [IF NOT EXISTS]
FOR ...
REQUIRE ... IS NOT NULL
OPTIONS "{" "}"

Existence constraints now allow an OPTIONS map, however, at this point there are no available values for the map.

New

CREATE LOOKUP INDEX [index_name] [IF NOT EXISTS]
FOR ... ON ...
OPTIONS "{" option: value[, ...] "}"

Token lookup indexes now allow an OPTIONS map to specify the index provider.

New

CREATE TEXT INDEX ...

Allows creating text indexes on nodes or relationships with a particular label or relationship type, and property combination. They can be dropped by using their name.

New

CREATE RANGE INDEX ...

Allows creating range indexes on nodes or relationships with a particular label or relationship type, and properties combination. They can be dropped by using their name.

New

CREATE CONSTRAINT
...
OPTIONS "{" indexProvider: 'range-1.0' "}"

Allows creating node key and property uniqueness constraints backed by range indexes by providing the range index provider in the OPTIONS map.

New

CREATE POINT INDEX ...

Allows creating point indexes on nodes or relationships with a particular label or relationship type, and property combination. They can be dropped by using their name.

New
New privilege:

IMPERSONATE

New privilege that allows a user to assume privileges of another one.

New

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

Show transactions on the current server.

The transaction-id is a comma-separated list of one or more quoted STRING values, a STRING parameter, or a list parameter.

This replaces the procedures dbms.listTransactions and dbms.listQueries.

New

TERMINATE TRANSACTION[S] transaction-id[,...]

Terminate transactions on the current server.

The transaction-id is a comma-separated list of one or more quoted STRING values, a STRING parameter, or a list parameter.

This replaces the procedures dbms.killTransaction, dbms.killTransactions, dbms.killQuery, and dbms.killQueries.

New

ALTER DATABASE ...  [IF EXISTS]
SET ACCESS {READ ONLY | READ WRITE}

New Cypher command for modifying a database by changing its access mode.

New
New privilege:

ALTER DATABASE

New privilege that allows a user to modify databases.

New
New privilege:

SET DATABASE ACCESS

New privilege that allows a user to modify database access mode.

New

CREATE ALIAS ... [IF NOT EXISTS]
FOR DATABASE ...

New Cypher command for creating an alias for a database name. Remote aliases are only supported from Neo4j 4.4.8.

New

CREATE OR REPLACE ALIAS ...
FOR DATABASE ...

New Cypher command for creating or replacing an alias for a database name. Remote aliases are only supported from Neo4j 4.4.8.

New

ALTER ALIAS ... [IF EXISTS]
SET DATABASE ...

New Cypher command for altering an alias. Remote aliases are only supported from Neo4j 4.4.8.

New

DROP ALIAS ... [IF EXISTS] FOR DATABASE

New Cypher command for dropping a database alias.

New

SHOW ALIASES FOR DATABASE

New Cypher command for listing database aliases. Only supported since Neo4j 4.4.8.

New
New privilege:

ALIAS MANAGEMENT

New privilege that allows a user to create, modify, delete and list aliases. Only supported since Neo4j 4.4.8.

New
New privilege:

CREATE ALIAS

New privilege that allows a user to create aliases. Only supported since Neo4j 4.4.8.

New
New privilege:

ALTER ALIAS

New privilege that allows a user to modify aliases. Only supported since Neo4j 4.4.8.

New
New privilege:

DROP ALIAS

New privilege that allows a user to delete aliases. Only supported since Neo4j 4.4.8.

New
New privilege:

SHOW ALIAS

New privilege that allows a user to show aliases. Only supported since Neo4j 4.4.8.

New

MATCH (n:N {prop1: 42} WHERE n.prop2 > 42)

New syntax that enables inlining of WHERE clauses inside node patterns.