neo4j-driver-java-skill
Neo4j Java Driver v6 — driver lifecycle, Maven/Gradle setup, executableQuery,
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/neo4j-contrib/neo4j-skills /tmp/neo4j-driver-java-skill && cp -r /tmp/neo4j-driver-java-skill/neo4j-driver-java-skill ~/.claude/skills/neo4j-driver-java-skillSKILL.md
## When to Use
- Java/Kotlin code connecting to Neo4j (Aura or self-managed)
- Setting up driver, sessions, transactions in Maven/Gradle projects
- Debugging result handling, error recovery, connection pool issues
- Async (`CompletableFuture`) or reactive (Project Reactor / RxJava) Neo4j access
## When NOT to Use
- **Cypher query authoring/optimization** → `neo4j-cypher-skill`
- **Driver version upgrades** → `neo4j-migration-skill`
- **Spring Data Neo4j** (`@Node`, `@Relationship`, `Neo4jRepository`) → `neo4j-spring-data-skill`
---
## Dependency
### Maven
```xml
<dependency>
<groupId>org.neo4j.driver</groupId>
<artifactId>neo4j-java-driver</artifactId>
<version>6.1.0</version>
</dependency>
```
### Gradle
```groovy
implementation 'org.neo4j.driver:neo4j-java-driver:6.1.0'
```
Check latest: https://central.sonatype.com/artifact/org.neo4j.driver/neo4j-java-driver
---
## Environment Variables
Standard pattern for connection config — never hardcode credentials:
```java
String uri = System.getenv().getOrDefault("NEO4J_URI", "neo4j://localhost:7687");
String user = System.getenv().getOrDefault("NEO4J_USERNAME", "neo4j");
String password = System.getenv().getOrDefault("NEO4J_PASSWORD", "");
String database = System.getenv().getOrDefault("NEO4J_DATABASE", "neo4j");
```
Spring Boot: inject via `@Value("${spring.neo4j.uri}")` or `application.properties`:
```properties
spring.neo4j.uri=neo4j+s://xxx.databases.neo4j.io
spring.neo4j.authentication.username=neo4j
spring.neo4j.authentication.password=secret
```
---
## Driver Lifecycle
One `Driver` per application — thread-safe, expensive to create. Implement `AutoCloseable` or use try-with-resources.
```java
// Long-lived singleton
var driver = GraphDatabase.driver(
"neo4j+s://xxx.databases.neo4j.io", // Aura TLS+routing
AuthTokens.basic(user, password));
driver.verifyConnectivity(); // fail fast
// Short-lived (tests / CLI)
try (var driver = GraphDatabase.driver(uri, AuthTokens.basic(user, password))) {
driver.verifyConnectivity();
// ...
}
```
URI schemes:
| URI | Use |
|---|---|
| `neo4j://localhost` | Unencrypted, cluster routing |
| `neo4j+s://xxx.databases.neo4j.io` | TLS + cluster routing (Aura) |
| `bolt://localhost:7687` | Unencrypted, single instance |
| `bolt+s://localhost:7687` | TLS, single instance |
Auth options: `AuthTokens.basic(u,p)` · `AuthTokens.bearer(token)` · `AuthTokens.kerberos(b64)` · `AuthTokens.none()`
---
## Choosing the Right API
| API | When | Auto-retry | Streaming |
|---|---|:---:|:---:|
| `driver.executableQuery()` | Default for most queries | ✅ | ❌ eager |
| `session.executeRead/Write()` | Large results, callback control | ✅ | ✅ |
| `session.beginTransaction()` | Multi-method, external coordination | ❌ | ✅ |
| `session.run()` | Self-managing queries (`CALL IN TRANSACTIONS`) | ⚠️ one-shot [6.1+] | ✅ |
| `driver.asyncSession()` | Non-blocking `CompletableFuture` | ✅ | ✅ |
| `driver.rxSession()` | Reactor/RxJava backpressure | ✅ | ✅ |
`CALL { … } IN TRANSACTIONS` and `USING PERIODIC COMMIT` self-manage their transaction — use `session.run()` only. `executableQuery` and `executeRead/Write` will fail for these queries.
`session.run()` retry [6.1+]: single immediate retry on idempotent errors only (enabled by default). Disable per driver or per session:
```java
// Driver-level — disable for all sessions
var config = Config.builder().withAutoCommitRetriesDisabled(true).build();
// Session-level — overrides driver
var sessionConfig = SessionConfig.builder()
.withAutoCommitRetriesMode(AutoCommitRetriesMode.DISABLED) // DEFAULT = follow driver
.build();
```
---
## `executableQuery` — Default
```java
// Read — route to replicas
var result = driver.executableQuery("""
MATCH (p:Person {name: $name})-[:KNOWS]->(friend)
RETURN friend.name AS name
""")
.withParameters(Map.of("name", "Alice"))
.withConfig(QueryConfig.builder()
.withDatabase("neo4j") // always specify — avoids home-db round-trip
.withRouting(RoutingControl.READ)
.build())
.execute();
result.records().forEach(r -> System.out.println(r.get("name").asString()));
long ms = result.summary().resultAvailableAfter(TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS);
// Write
driver.executableQuery("CREATE (p:Person {name: $name, age: $age})")
.withParameters(Map.of("name", "Bob", "age", 30))
.withConfig(QueryConfig.builder().withDatabase("neo4j").build())
.execute();
```
Never string-interpolate Cypher. Always `.withParameters(Map.of(...))`.
---
## Managed Transactions (`executeRead` / `executeWrite`)
Sessions are NOT thread-safe — one per request/thread, always close.
```java
try (var session = driver.session(SessionConfig.builder()
.withDatabase("neo4j").build())) {
// Read → replica routing
var names = session.executeRead(tx -> {
var result = tx.run(
"MATCH (p:Person) WHERE p.name STARTS WITH $prefix RETURN p.name AS name",
Map.of("prefix", "Al"));
return result.stream().map(r -> r.get("name").asString()).toList(); // collect INSIDE
});
// Write → leader routing
session.executeWriteWithoutResult(tx ->
tx.run("CREATE (p:Person {name: $name})", Map.of("name", "Carol"))
);
}
```
### Result must be consumed INSIDE the callback
`Result` is a lazy cursor tied to the open transaction. Transaction closes when callback returns — any read after that throws `ResultConsumedException`.
```java
// ❌ Returns Result — already closed by the time caller uses it
var result = session.executeRead(tx ->
tx.run("MATCH (p:Person) RETURN p.name AS name"));
result.stream().forEach(...); // throws ResultConsumedException
// ✅ Collect to List inside callback
var names = session.executeRead(tx ->
tx.run("MATCH (p:Person) RETURN p.name AS name")
.stream().map(r -> r.get("name").asString()).toList());
```
### Callback rules
- ConsumAuthoritative reference for the neo4j-agent-memory Python package — a graph-native memory system for AI agents built on Neo4j — and for the hosted service (NAMS) at memory.neo4jlabs.com. Use this skill whenever the user mentions neo4j-agent-memory, agent memory with Neo4j, context graphs, the POLE+O model, MemoryClient/MemorySettings, the memory MCP server, or any of the framework integrations (LangChain, PydanticAI, CrewAI, AWS Strands, Google ADK, Microsoft Agent Framework, OpenAI Agents, LlamaIndex). Also use when the user mentions the hosted service at memory.neo4jlabs.com, NAMS, the Neo4j Agent Memory Service, the `nams_` API key prefix, or the hosted MCP endpoint. Also use when writing documentation, blog posts, tutorials, PRDs, or code samples for the project, when comparing agent memory approaches, or when positioning graph-native memory against vector-only approaches — even if the user doesn't explicitly name the package.
Manages Neo4j Aura Agents via the v2beta1 REST API — create, list, get, update, delete,
Serverless Aura Graph Analytics (AGA) GDS Sessions — covers GdsSessions,
Provisions and manages Neo4j Aura instances via CLI (aura-cli v1.7+) or REST API.
Use when working with Neo4j command-line tools — neo4j-cli (modern unified
Generates, optimizes, and validates Cypher 25 queries for Neo4j 2025.x and 2026.x.
Ingests unstructured and semi-structured documents into Neo4j as a knowledge graph.
Neo4j .NET Driver v6 — IDriver lifecycle, DI registration (singleton), ExecutableQuery