Plain JSON

Plain JSON is the default result format. It returns results as JSON, with the query results embedded within the data object.

To request this format, set Accept: application/json in the request headers (or omit it entirely, as it is the default if no Accept header is provided).

JSON output format prototype

{
  "data": {
    "fields": [   field1, field2, ... ],  (1)
    "values": [ [ entity1, entity2, ... ] ]  (2)
  }
}

1	Query fields, i.e. keys for the returned objects
2	Query results. The outer array represents a single result (or row) where the inner array contains the individual values for that result (the inner structure of each element depends on the object type).

Examples

Example 1. Return a node and a property

Example request

POST http://localhost:7474/db/neo4j/query/v2
Authorization: Basic bmVvNGo6dmVyeXNlY3JldA==
Content-Type: application/json

{
  "statement": "MERGE (p:Person {name: $name}) RETURN p AS person, p.name AS name",
  "parameters": {
    "name": "Phil"
  }
}

Example response

202: Accepted
Content-Type: application/json

{
  "data": {
    "fields": [
      "person",
      "name"
    ],
    "values": [
      [
        {
          "elementId": "4:ff04df25-ff2b-4b55-98f8-6888297b025e:2",
          "labels": [
            "Person"
          ],
          "properties": {
            "name": "Phil"
          }
        },
        "Phil"
      ]
    ]
  },
  "bookmarks": [
    "FB:kcwQ/wTfJf8rS1WY+GiIKXsCXg6Q"
  ]
}

Type mapping

Cypher types are mapped to the closest JSON type, with the complex ones (temporal, spatial, binary) serialized to string.

Cypher type Query API type Example

NULL

null

null

BOOLEAN

boolean

true

INTEGER

number

FLOAT

number

4.56

STRING

string

"Hello World"

BYTE ARRAY

string (base64)

"A2+/"

LIST

array

[123, 456]

MAP

object

{
  "fieldA": "A value",
  "fieldB": "Another value"
}

Temporal (DATE, ZONED TIME, LOCAL TIME, ZONED DATETIME, LOCAL DATETIME, DURATION)

string (ISO-8601)

"2015-03-26"
"12:50:35.556+01:00"
"12:50:35.556"
"2015-11-21T21:40:32.142Z[Antarctica/Troll]"
"2015-07-04T19:32:24"
"P14DT16H12M"

POINT

string (WKT)

"SRID=7203;POINT (1.2 3.4)"

NODE

object

{
  "elementId": "4:ff04df25-ff2b-4b55-98f8-6888297b025e:0",
  "labels": [
    "Person"
  ],
  "properties": {
    "name": "Alice",
    "age": 42
  }
}

RELATIONSHIP

object

{
  "elementId": "5:ff04df25-ff2b-4b55-98f8-6888297b025e:2",
  "startNodeElementId": "4:ff04df25-ff2b-4b55-98f8-6888297b025e:0",
  "endNodeElementId": "4:ff04df25-ff2b-4b55-98f8-6888297b025e:2",
  "type": "LIKES",
  "properties": {
    "since": "forever!"
  }
}

PATH

object

[
  {
    "elementId": "4:ff04df25-ff2b-4b55-98f8-6888297b025e:0",
    "labels": [
      "Person"
    ],
    "properties": {
      "name": "Alice",
      "age": 42
    }
  },
  {
    "elementId": "5:ff04df25-ff2b-4b55-98f8-6888297b025e:2",
    "startNodeElementId": "4:ff04df25-ff2b-4b55-98f8-6888297b025e:0",
    "endNodeElementId": "4:ff04df25-ff2b-4b55-98f8-6888297b025e:2",
    "type": "LIKES",
    "properties": {
      "since": "forever!"
    }
  },
  {
    "elementId": "4:ff04df25-ff2b-4b55-98f8-6888297b025e:2",
    "labels": [
      "Person"
    ],
    "properties": {
      "name": "Phil"
    }
  }
]

The direction of the relationship in a path is only encoded in the start and end node element IDs. The order of returned nodes and relationships is not representative of the direction of relationships.

VECTOR

array

[123, 456]

Enterprise Edition Introduced in 2025.10

VECTOR values can only be retrieved from the database, but cannot be passed as parameters in Plain JSON. To create vectors, use the Cypher vector constructor, or use the Typed JSON result format.