Creating sharded property databases
InfinigraphNot available on AuraIntroduced in 2025.12

You can create a sharded property database using the Cypher command CREATE DATABASE (requires Cypher 25, introduced alongside Neo4j 2025.06.0).

Starting from Neo4j 2026.02, the distributed neo4j.conf explicitly sets db.query.default_language=CYPHER_25. As a result, new deployments using the provided configuration file default to Cypher 25 for newly created databases. If you are using an older version of Neo4j, you need to explicitly set the default Cypher version to Cypher 25 when creating the database or by prefixing your Cypher queries with CYPHER_25 to be able to use the sharding features. For details on configuring the Cypher version, see Configure the Cypher default version.

Syntax

Command Syntax

Command	Syntax
`CREATE DATABASE`	`CREATE DATABASE name [IF NOT EXISTS] [[SET] DEFAULT LANGUAGE CYPHER {5\|25}] [[SET] GRAPH SHARD { [TOPOLOGY n PRIMAR{Y\|IES} [m SECONDAR{Y\|IES}]] }] [SET] PROPERTY SHARD[S] { COUNT n [TOPOLOGY m REPLICA[S]] } [OPTIONS "{" option: value[, ...] "}"] [WAIT [n [SEC[OND[S]]]]\|NOWAIT]`

CREATE DATABASE

CREATE DATABASE name [IF NOT EXISTS]
[[SET] DEFAULT LANGUAGE CYPHER {5|25}]
[[SET] GRAPH SHARD {
  [TOPOLOGY n PRIMAR{Y|IES} [m SECONDAR{Y|IES}]]
}]
[SET] PROPERTY SHARD[S] {
  COUNT n [TOPOLOGY m REPLICA[S]]
}
[OPTIONS "{" option: value[, ...] "}"]
[WAIT [n [SEC[OND[S]]]]|NOWAIT]

When creating a sharded property database, the following are created:

A virtual sharded property database <name>.
A single graph shard with the name <name>-g000.
A number of property shards with the name <name>-p<index>, where <index> ranges from 000 to 999. The count property in SET PROPERTY SHARDS specifies the number of property shards.

CREATE OR REPLACE does not replace an existing sharded property database.

Options

The CREATE DATABASE command supports only the options seedURI, seedConfig, seedSourceDatabase, seedRestoreUntil, and txLogEnrichment when creating a sharded property database.

When using with seedURI, you can specify the seed URI in different ways, depending on how your seed data is organized and where it is stored:

A path to folder containing a data seed, e.g., OPTIONS {seedURI: "s3://bucket/folder/"}, where the folder contains the backup for each shard. The folder notation only works for backups, not dumps, because the DBMS relies on the metadata in the backup files to allocate the data to the correct databases.
A map of shard names to data seed URIs, e.g., OPTIONS {key: 'value'}. Because the DBMS relies on the provided key-value pairs to allocate the data to the correct databases, the seed data can be in either backup or dump format.
Introduced in 2026.04 A list of server URIs, e.g., OPTIONS {seedURI: ["server://server0/seeds/", "server://server1/seeds/"]}. This allows seed data to be distributed across multiple servers, which is useful when the data cannot fit on a single server or is already stored across several locations. Does not support dumps, use URI map approach instead.

When specifying each artifact manually the key of the map is the name of the shard, where the graph shard name = databaseName-g000 and the property shards = databaseName-p000 with the last property shard name being databaseName-px where x = numShards -1.

Default numbers for topology

The sharded property databases use the Neo4j cluster topology. Therefore, you need to consider how the following settings will affect the creation of your sharded property database. initial.dbms.default_primaries_count and initial.dbms.default_secondaries_count affect only the graph shard

Configuration setting Default value Valid values Description

Configuration setting	Default value	Valid values	Description
`initial.dbms.default_primaries_count`	`1`	`[1-11]`	The initial default number of primaries for the standard databases. Initialized at the first DBMS startup. If the user does not specify the number of primaries in `CREATE DATABASE`, this value will be used unless overwritten by the `dbms.setDefaultAllocationNumbers` procedure.
`initial.dbms.default_secondaries_count`	`0`	`[0-20]`	The initial default number of secondaries for the standard databases. Initialized at the first DBMS startup. If the user does not specify the number of secondaries in `CREATE DATABASE`, this value will be used unless overwritten by the `dbms.setDefaultAllocationNumbers` procedure.
`initial.dbms.default_property_shard_replica_count`	`1`	`[1-20]`	The initial default number of replicas of property shards. Initialized at the first DBMS startup. If the user does not specify the number replicas of property shards in `CREATE DATABASE`, this value will be used unless overwritten by the `dbms.setDefaultAllocationNumbers` procedure.

initial.dbms.default_primaries_count

1

[1-11]

The initial default number of primaries for the standard databases. Initialized at the first DBMS startup. If the user does not specify the number of primaries in CREATE DATABASE, this value will be used unless overwritten by the dbms.setDefaultAllocationNumbers procedure.

initial.dbms.default_secondaries_count

0

[0-20]

The initial default number of secondaries for the standard databases. Initialized at the first DBMS startup. If the user does not specify the number of secondaries in CREATE DATABASE, this value will be used unless overwritten by the dbms.setDefaultAllocationNumbers procedure.

initial.dbms.default_property_shard_replica_count

1

[1-20]

The initial default number of replicas of property shards. Initialized at the first DBMS startup. If the user does not specify the number replicas of property shards in CREATE DATABASE, this value will be used unless overwritten by the dbms.setDefaultAllocationNumbers procedure.

Creating an empty sharded property database

You can create an empty sharded database using the CREATE DATABASE command. The command allows you to specify the number of property shards and the topology of the graph shard. The following examples show how to create an empty sharded database with different configurations.

Create an empty sharded database with the default topology (1 primary, no secondaries, and 1 replica per property shard)

CYPHER 25 CREATE DATABASE `foo-sharded`
PROPERTY SHARDS { COUNT 3 };

Create an empty sharded database with a custom topology

CYPHER 25 CREATE DATABASE `foo-sharded`
 SET GRAPH SHARD { TOPOLOGY 1 PRIMARY 0 SECONDARIES }
 SET PROPERTY SHARDS { COUNT 3 TOPOLOGY 1 REPLICAS };

Create an empty sharded database with a custom high-availability topology

CYPHER 25 CREATE DATABASE `foo-sharded`
 SET GRAPH SHARD { TOPOLOGY 3 PRIMARY 0 SECONDARIES }
 SET PROPERTY SHARDS { COUNT 3 TOPOLOGY 2 REPLICAS };

Creating a sharded property database from a URI (online)

You can create a sharded property database from an existing sharded property database by seeding it with data from one or more URIs. This is useful when you want to create a sharded property database as a copy of an existing database, for example, for testing or staging purposes, or your seed data is from another source, for example, a backup with a different name, or when your seed data is in a dump format, or already stored across several locations.

For more information on how seed from a URI works, see the Create a database from a URI.

The following examples show how to create a sharded property database by seeding data from one URI, multiple URIs, and multiple server URIs.

Create a sharded property database by seeding from a single URI

Create a sharded property database by seeding from a single URI, which is a path to a folder containing the backup files for each shard. This approach relies on the metadata in the backup files to allocate the data to the correct databases. Therefore, the seed data must be in backup format, and the DBMS looks for foo-sharded-g000.backup, foo-sharded-p001.backup, foo-sharded-p002.backup, and so on at the specified location.

Create a sharded database by seeding from single URI, which is a folder containing the backup files for each shard

CYPHER 25 CREATE DATABASE `foo-sharded`
PROPERTY SHARDS { COUNT 3 }
OPTIONS { seedURI: “s3://bucket/folder/” };

Create a sharded database by seeding data from a backup with a different name

CYPHER 25 CREATE DATABASE `foo-sharded`
PROPERTY SHARDS { COUNT 3 }
OPTIONS { seedURI: “s3://bucket/folder/”, seedSourceDatabase: “other-database” };

Create a sharded property database by seeding from multiple URIs

When seeding from multiple URIs, you specify different URIs for each shard, by using a map where the key is the shard name and the value is the URI where the seed for that shard can be found. The DBMS looks for the seeds at the specified locations for each shard, and all seeds can be in the same location or spread across multiple locations. Because the DBMS relies on the provided key-value pairs to allocate the data to the correct databases, the seed data can be in either backup or dump format.

Create a sharded database by seeding data from dumps

CYPHER 25 CREATE DATABASE `foo-sharded`
PROPERTY SHARDS { COUNT 3 }
OPTIONS { seedUri: {
  `foo-sharded-g000`: "s3://bucket/folder/foo-g000.dump",
  `foo-sharded-p000`: "s3://bucket/folder/foo-p001.dump",
  `foo-sharded-p001`: "s3://bucket/folder/foo-p002.dump",
  `foo-sharded-p002`: "s3://bucket/folder/foo-p003.dump"
 } };

Create a sharded database by seeding data that is spread across multiple locations

CYPHER 25 CREATE DATABASE `foo-sharded`
PROPERTY SHARDS { COUNT 3 }
OPTIONS {
  seedUri: {
    `foo-sharded-g000`: "s3://bucket/folder1/foo-g000.backup",
    `foo-sharded-p000`: "s3://bucket/folder2/foo-p001.backup",
    `foo-sharded-p001`: "s3://bucket/folder3/foo-p002.backup",
    `foo-sharded-p002`: "s3://bucket/folder4/foo-p003.backup"
  }
 };

Seeding from multiple server URIs
Introduced in 2026.04

You can specify multiple server URIs as a list in the seedUri options when creating a sharded property database. This allows seed data to be distributed across multiple servers, which is useful when the data cannot fit on a single server or is already stored across several locations. For each shard, the DBMS selects a suitable seed from the provided URIs. Only one URI is expected to contain the required artefact for a given seed. When using a backup chain to create a database, all backups in the same chain must be located within a single directory, i.e., the backup chain for foo-p000 cannot be spread across server-0 and server-1. There can only be one backup chain per-shard existing across the directories. This approach also does not support specifying artefact names, for example,[“server://server-0/seeds/foo-g000.backup”,“server://server-2/seeds/foo-p000.backup”], or mixing URI formats, for example, [“server://server-0/seeds/”,“s3://bucket/folder/”]. Dumps are not supported, use URI map approach instead.

Create a sharded database by seeding data from multiple server URIs

CYPHER 25 CREATE DATABASE `foo-sharded`
SET GRAPH SHARD { TOPOLOGY 1 PRIMARIES 0 SECONDARIES }
SET PROPERTY SHARDS { COUNT 2 TOPOLOGY 1 REPLICA }
OPTIONS {
  seedUri: ["server://server0/seeds/", "server://server1/seeds/"] };

Create a sharded database without specifying server URIs

CREATE DATABASE spd
SET GRAPH SHARD { TOPOLOGY 1 PRIMARIES 0 SECONDARIES }
SET PROPERTY SHARDS { COUNT 2 TOPOLOGY 1 REPLICA }
OPTIONS { seedUri: [] }

In this case, the DBMS looks for seeds on all known servers in the cluster.

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).

Creating sharded property databasesInfinigraphNot available on AuraIntroduced in 2025.12