Show configuration settings
Not available on Aura

This page describes showing configuration settings using the SHOW SETTINGS command. For general information about the SHOW command, see the Cypher Manual → SHOW.

  • SHOW SETTINGS returns settings on the executing server only. To retrieve settings on a specific server, you need to directly connect to it using bolt scheme. For more information, see the Bolt protocol documentation.

  • Configurations settings can also be shown using the dbms.listConfig() procedure.

Syntax

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

Action Syntax

List settings

 
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]]

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

Setting names must be supplied as one or more comma-separated quoted STRING values or as an expression resolving to a STRING or a LIST<STRING>. As of Neo4j 2026.05, using Cypher 25, any setting names that resolve to null are ignored instead of causing a type error exception. This behavior aligns with not returning anything when the given setting name does not exist.

Return columns

The SHOW SETTINGS command returns the following columns:

Table 1. Listing settings output
Column Description Type Default output

name

The name of the setting.

STRING

value

The current value of the setting.

STRING

isDynamic

Whether the value of the setting can be updated dynamically, without restarting the server. For dynamically updating a setting value, see Update dynamic settings.

BOOLEAN

defaultValue

The default value of the setting.

STRING

description

The setting description.

STRING

startupValue

The value of the setting at last startup.

STRING

isExplicitlySet

Whether the value of the setting is explicitly set by the user, either through configuration or dynamically.

BOOLEAN

validValues

A description of valid values for the setting.

STRING

isDeprecated

Whether the setting is deprecated.

BOOLEAN

Examples

The following examples show how to use the SHOW SETTINGS command to show configuration settings.

Show all settings with default return columns

SHOW SETTINGS

Show all settings with all return columns

SHOW SETTINGS YIELD *

Show all settings with specified return columns

SHOW SETTINGS YIELD name, defaultValue, startupValue

Show named settings

SHOW SETTINGS "server.bolt.enabled", "server.bolt.advertised_address", "server.bolt.listen_address"

Filter SHOW SETTINGS with WHERE

SHOW SETTINGS YIELD name, value, description
WHERE name STARTS WITH 'server'
RETURN name, value, description

Combine SHOW SETTINGS with general Cypher clauses
Cypher 25Introduced in Neo4j 2026.05

The SHOW SETTINGS command can be combined with general Cypher clauses in a single query.

For example, checking that the current value of a setting is valid.

Check if the current values of settings starting with db.checkpoint are valid
SHOW SETTINGS
YIELD name, value
WHERE name STARTS WITH 'db.checkpoint'
CALL dbms.checkConfigValue(name, value)
YIELD valid, message
RETURN name, value, valid, message;
Example output
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| name                             | value       | valid | message            |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| "db.checkpoint"                  | "PERIODIC"  | TRUE  | "requires restart" |
| "db.checkpoint.interval.time"    | "15m"       | TRUE  | "requires restart" |
| "db.checkpoint.interval.tx"      | "100000"    | TRUE  | "requires restart" |
| "db.checkpoint.interval.volume"  | "250.00MiB" | TRUE  | "requires restart" |
| "db.checkpoint.iops.limit"       | "600"       | TRUE  | ""                 |
| "db.checkpoint.throughput.limit" | NULL        | TRUE  | ""                 |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+

6 rows
ready to start consuming query after 46 ms, results consumed after another 13 ms

When combining SHOW SETTINGS 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).