Neo4j Cypher Cheatsheet - Neo4j Graph Database Command Reference

For developers modeling connected data — friends, dependencies, fraud rings — where a JOIN would be clumsy. Cypher is ASCII-art patterns that read as the shape of the graph you want. By the end you can create nodes and typed relationships, query multi-hop patterns with variable-length paths, enforce uniqueness with constraints and speed lookups with indexes, and aggregate over matched paths.

Databases·40 commands·Last updated 2026-07-21

Create Nodes & Relationships 5

CREATE (n:Person {name: "Alice"})

Create a node

CREATE (a:Person)-[:KNOWS]->(b:Person)

Create a relationship

CREATE (a:Person {name: "Alice"})-[:KNOWS {since: 2020}]->(b:Person {name: "Bob"})

Create node & relationship with properties

MERGE (n:Person {name: "Alice"})

Match if exists, else create

MERGE (a)-[:KNOWS]->(b) ON CREATE SET a.created = timestamp()

MERGE with onCreate

Query & Match 9

MATCH (n:Person) RETURN n

Match all Person nodes

MATCH (n:Person {name: "Alice"}) RETURN n

Match by property

MATCH (n:Person) WHERE n.age > 18 RETURN n

WHERE filter

MATCH (a:Person)-[:KNOWS]->(b:Person) RETURN a, b

Match a relationship

MATCH (a:Person)-[:KNOWS*2]->(b:Person) RETURN a, b

2-hop relationship

MATCH (a:Person)-[:KNOWS*1..3]->(b:Person) RETURN a, b

1-3 hop relationship

MATCH (n) OPTIONAL MATCH (n)-[:KNOWS]->(m) RETURN n, m

Optional match (null if no rel)

MATCH path = (a)-[*]->(b) RETURN path

Match a path

MATCH path = shortestPath((a)-[:KNOWS*]->(b)) RETURN path

Shortest path

WITH & Subqueries 5

MATCH (n:Person) WITH n WHERE n.age > 18 RETURN n.name

WITH filter & pass

MATCH (n:Person)-[:KNOWS]->(m) WITH n, count(m) AS friends RETURN n.name, friends

WITH aggregate & pass

UNWIND [1, 2, 3] AS x RETURN x

Unwind array into rows

CALL { MATCH (n:Person) RETURN n ORDER BY n.name LIMIT 5 } RETURN count(*)

CALL subquery

MATCH (n:Person) RETURN n.name AS name UNION MATCH (n:Company) RETURN n.name AS name

UNION merge results

Update & Delete 6

MATCH (n:Person {name: "Alice"}) SET n.age = 30

Update a property

MATCH (n:Person {name: "Alice"}) SET n += {age: 30, city: "Beijing"}

Update multiple props

MATCH (n:Person {name: "Alice"}) REMOVE n.age

Remove a property

MATCH (n:Person {name: "Alice"}) DELETE n

Delete node (must have no rels)

MATCH (n:Person {name: "Alice"}) DETACH DELETE n

Delete node and its relationships

MATCH (a)-[r:KNOWS]->(b) DELETE r

Delete a relationship

Aggregation & Order 9

MATCH (n:Person) RETURN count(n)

Count

MATCH (n:Person) RETURN DISTINCT n.city

Distinct

MATCH (n:Person) RETURN n.name, n.age ORDER BY n.age DESC

Order by

MATCH (n:Person) RETURN n.age, count(*) ORDER BY n.age

Group & count

MATCH (n:Person) RETURN collect(n.name)

Collect into array

MATCH (n:Person) RETURN avg(n.age), min(n.age), max(n.age)

Aggregate functions

MATCH (n:Person) RETURN percentileCont(n.age, 0.5)

Median (percentile)

MATCH (n:Person) RETURN n LIMIT 10

Limit results

MATCH (n:Person) RETURN n SKIP 5 LIMIT 10

Pagination

Index & Constraint 6

CREATE INDEX ON :Person(name)

Create an index

CREATE CONSTRAINT ON (n:Person) ASSERT n.name IS UNIQUE

Unique constraint

CREATE CONSTRAINT ON (n:Person) ASSERT exists(n.name)

Existence constraint

DROP INDEX ON :Person(name)

Drop an index

DROP CONSTRAINT ON (n:Person) ASSERT n.name IS UNIQUE

Drop a constraint

CALL db.indexes()

List all indexes

Tips

Run EXPLAIN before MATCH to avoid full-graph scans.
MERGE is safer than CREATE — it avoids duplicating nodes.
Long path queries (*1..10) can be slow; add LIMIT or use graph algorithms.

Official References

Each command links to its official documentation below, so you can verify the latest usage and read deeper.

Official Docs

Maintained by LaoHand

Publicly updated on Jul 21, 2026, continuously proofread against official docs.

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