Create or drop indexes and constraints during import
Enterprise EditionIntroduced in 2025.02

Creating and dropping indexes and constraints during the import process is supported only by block format.

You can use the --schema option to create, populate, drop, or change the graph type during import by providing a Cypher script containing the respective Cypher commands, which will be parsed and executed during the import process. You can specify individual constraint statements, or starting with Neo4j 2026.05 for full import and 2026.06 for incremental import, you can specify a graph type using an ALTER CURRENT GRAPH TYPE statement. For more information on graph types, see CypherManual → Graph types.

The following table summarizes the supported commands and their availability per import type and version:

Table 1. Supported schema operations per import type and Neo4j and Cypher version
Import type Supported commands Neo4j version Cypher version

Full import

CREATE INDEX|CONSTRAINT

5.24 and later

Cypher 5 & Cypher 25

ALTER CURRENT GRAPH TYPE (only SET)

2026.05 and later

Cypher 25

Incremental import

CREATE INDEX|CONSTRAINT

2025.02 and later

Cypher 5 & Cypher 25

DROP INDEX|CONSTRAINT

2025.02 and later

Cypher 5 & Cypher 25

ALTER CURRENT GRAPH TYPE (ADD, DROP, ALTER)

2026.06 and later

Cypher 25

Supported index and constraint types

The import tool supports the following index and constraint types:

Supported index types
Supported constraint types

  • Property uniqueness constraints: ensure that the combined property values are unique for all nodes with a specific label or all relationships with a specific type.

  • Property existence constraints: ensure that a property exists either for all nodes with a specific label or for all relationships with a specific type.

  • Property type constraints: ensure that a property has the required property type for all nodes with a specific label or for all relationships with a specific type.

  • Key constraints: ensure that all properties exist and that the combined property values are unique for all nodes with a specific label or all relationships with a specific type.

Supported constraint types via graph types

  • Node label existence: ensure that a particular label exists on a node.

  • Relationship source and target label constraints: ensure that specific relationship types have target and source nodes with specific labels.

For more information on the constraint types, see Cypher Manual → Constraint types explained.

Create indexes and constraints during full import

You can use the --schema option to create and populate indexes/constraints during full import by providing a Cypher script containing CREATE INDEX|CONSTRAINT and ALTER CURRENT GRAPH TYPE (Introduced in 2026.05) commands to be parsed and executed. For more information on graph types, see CypherManual → Graph types.

Full import does not support dropping indexes and constraints. For graph type, it supports only SET operations.

For example:

schema.cypher script
CREATE INDEX PersonNameIndex IF NOT EXISTS FOR (p:Person) ON (p.name);
CREATE CONSTRAINT PersonAgeConstraint IF NOT EXISTS FOR (c:Person) REQUIRE c.age IS :: INTEGER;
CREATE CONSTRAINT PersonAgeRequiredConstraint IF NOT EXISTS FOR (c:Person) REQUIRE c.age IS NOT NULL;

This file uses ; as a separator.

Introduced in 2026.05 Cypher 25

schema.cypher script
CYPHER 25
CREATE INDEX PersonNameIndex IF NOT EXISTS FOR (p:Person) ON (p.name);
ALTER CURRENT GRAPH TYPE SET {
    (p: person => { age :: INTEGER NOT NULL })
};

This file uses ; as a separator. Only SET is supported by the full importer.

Then, use the following example commands to run the import:

bin/neo4j-admin database import full \
--nodes=import/movies.csv \
--nodes=import/actors.csv \
--relationships=import/roles.csv \
--schema=import/schema.cypher \
neo4j

Create and drop indexes and constraints during incremental import
Introduced in 2026.02

You can use the --schema option to create and populate, and drop indexes/constraints during an incremental import by providing a Cypher script containing CREATE INDEX|CONSTRAINT, DROP INDEX|CONSTRAINT, and ALTER CURRENT GRAPH TYPE (Introduced in 2026.06) commands to be parsed and executed. Incremental import supports ADD, DROP, and ALTER operations for graph types and allows only one ALTER CURRENT GRAPH TYPE statement per script. For more information on graph types, see CypherManual → Graph types.

You cannot drop indexes that are backing constraints. You must drop the constraints themselves, which will drop the underlying indexes.

You must stop your database before performing an incremental import with a single command. If you cannot afford a full downtime of your database, split the operation into several stages. See Incremental import stages for details.

For example:

schema.cypher script
DROP INDEX PersonNameIndex IF EXISTS;
CREATE CONSTRAINT person_name IF NOT EXISTS FOR (p:Person) REQUIRE p.name IS UNIQUE;
DROP CONSTRAINT PersonAgeConstraint IF EXISTS;
CREATE CONSTRAINT movie_title IF NOT EXISTS FOR (m:Movie) REQUIRE m.title IS UNIQUE;

This file uses ; as a separator.

Introduced in 2026.06 Cypher 25

schema.cypher script
CYPHER 25
DROP INDEX PersonNameIndex IF EXISTS;
ALTER CURRENT GRAPH TYPE DROP {
   (p: person => {age :: INTEGER NOT NULL}
}

This file uses ; as a separator. Only ADD, DROP, ALTER are supported by the incremental importer.

Then, use the following example commands to run the import:

bin/neo4j-admin database import incremental \
--stage=all \
--nodes=import/movies.csv \
--nodes=import/actors.csv \
--relationships=import/roles.csv \
--schema=import/schema.cypher

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).