Neo4j GraphQL Library
Frequently Asked Questions

Benefits of the Neo4j GraphQL Library:

• Schema-first paradigm avoids duplicate schema work
• Auto-generation of resolvers to simplify a lot of boilerplate code
• Nested mutations for efficient transactions
• Extensibility to include your own custom business logic in resolvers
• Access to the power of Cypher query language in GraphQL
• Built-in Auth to start with a secure API from the beginning

Benefits of the Neo4j graph database:

• Native graph model mapping for the “graph” in the GraphQL schema
• Use of relationship pointers to quickly traverse recursive or variable length paths that are difficult to impossible in non-graph data models
• High query performance, especially for connected data queries that would require complex joins in relational databases
• Power of Cypher query language to eliminate unnecessary database calls (aka, the “n+1 problem”)

• The library translates GraphQL queries into a single Cypher query. Developers using this library can focus solely on building applications while writing minimal backend code – the library handles the rest.
• The library simplifies modernizing applications for exceptional performance, business results, and user engagement. Developers can create predictive, mission-critical, and context-aware apps with data-rich APIs that are more secure (using Auth) and reliable.
• The library generates Cypher from GraphQL, GraphQL CRUD API from type definitions, auto-generated resolvers, and custom logic with @cypher schema directive. The library also comes with powerful authorization to secure your GraphQL API, nested mutations, and an OGM (Object-Graph-Mapper).
• The library has a low learning curve, helping developers quickly build API-driven applications across open source frameworks (React, Vue, Angular, and Others) and achieve exceptional flexibility to deploy across on-prem, cloud, or in a serverless setup.

Read the Neo4j GraphQL Library documentation

The Neo4j GraphQL Library is available from NPM at @neo4j/graphql. Simply require it as a package dependency in your server-side JavaScript code.

• The Neo4j GraphQL Library (aka @neo4j/graphql) is an officially supported product of Neo4j. It has a dedicated product engineering team that works on improvements, updates, and fixes on a regular basis. The neo4j-graphql.js library was developed in Neo4j Labs as an experimental integration set out to validate new use cases and technologies. As such, it did not offer any guarantee of improvements and updates and was only developed on an ad-hoc basis. Neo4j-graphql.js is no longer maintained or supported, and the GRANDstack framework now uses the Neo4j GraphQL Library (@neo4j/graphql).
• In terms of features, the Neo4j GraphQL library offers powerful authorization, nested mutations, and the OGM. You can read more about these features and other details on the differences here.

• Neo4j 4.1 and above, Community and Enterprise edition downloads, Docker and cloud marketplace images and with the Neo4j AuraDB, a fully managed graph database as a cloud service.

Yes

Yes

• The Neo4j GraphQL Library targets JavaScript API implementations. We found the JavaScript implementations to be more common within the GraphQL ecosystem and have started with an official Javascript-based product first.
• In case you have to implement for Java, there is neo4j-graphql-java available as a Neo4j Labs project. Please keep in mind that it is not an official product and does not enjoy the same benefits of support, regular updates, and feature requests as provided by the official JavaScript library.