Neo4j Laravel

A Laravel package that provides integration with Neo4j graph database.

Warning

Database Configuration Recommendations:

Laravel uses the default database connection for authentication, sessions, and other core features. While you can use Neo4j as your default database, we recommend:

1. Use a traditional database (SQLite, MySQL, PostgreSQL, etc.) as your default database connection
2. Use Neo4j as a secondary connection for your graph data

If you choose to use Neo4j as your default database:

• Set SESSION_DRIVER=file in your .env file
• Laravel Authentication will not work as it relies on Eloquent ORM
• Other features that depend on the default database connection may be affected

These limitations will be addressed in future releases.

Installation

composer require neo4j-php/neo4j-laravel

Configuration

Environment Variables

Add the following to your .env file:

DB_CONNECTION=neo4j
NEO4J_URL=bolt://localhost:7687
NEO4J_USERNAME=neo4j
NEO4J_PASSWORD=your_password
NEO4J_DATABASE=neo4j

Query log flushing (NEO4J_QUERY_CHANNEL)

Each Neo4j connection keeps an in-memory query log (the same entries getQueryLog() returns; queries are still recorded by the existing logQuery() path with timing—nothing is double-logged at execution time). After each HTTP request finishes (or when a console command ends), that buffer is flushed once to Laravel’s logger as debug lines, then cleared.

Variable	Behavior
NEO4J_QUERY_CHANNEL unset or empty	Each log line is written with Log::debug(...) (no ::channel()), so messages use your app’s default log stack from config('logging.default') (usually stack → single / laravel.log).
NEO4J_QUERY_CHANNEL=neo4j_queries (non-empty)	If config('logging.channels.neo4j_queries') exists, lines are written with Log::channel('neo4j_queries')->debug(...). Define that channel in config/logging.php (e.g. a daily file dedicated to Neo4j). If the name is set but not defined under logging.channels, the package falls back to the same behavior as an empty value (default logger).

To tune or disable logging per environment, configure the channel itself in config/logging.php (e.g. level, a null driver, or omitting the channel from your production LOG_STACK).

Example: dedicated daily channel in config/logging.php:

'neo4j_queries' => [
    'driver' => 'daily',
    'path' => storage_path('logs/neo4j-queries.log'),
    'level' => env('LOG_LEVEL', 'debug'),
    'days' => 14,
],

Then in .env:

NEO4J_QUERY_CHANNEL=neo4j_queries

Database Configuration

Add the Neo4j connection configuration to your config/database.php:

'neo4j' => [
    'driver' => 'neo4j',
    'url' => env('NEO4J_URL', 'bolt://localhost:7687'),
    'username' => env('NEO4J_USERNAME', 'neo4j'),
    'password' => env('NEO4J_PASSWORD', ''),
    'database' => env('NEO4J_DATABASE', 'neo4j'),
    'auth_scheme' => env('NEO4J_AUTH_SCHEME', 'basic'),
    'ssl' => [
        'mode' => env('NEO4J_SSL_MODE', 'from_url'),
        'verify_peer' => env('NEO4J_SSL_VERIFY_PEER', true),
    ],
    'connection' => [
        'timeout' => env('NEO4J_CONNECTION_TIMEOUT', 30),
        'max_pool_size' => env('NEO4J_MAX_POOL_SIZE', 100),
    ],
    'transaction' => [
        'timeout' => env('NEO4J_TRANSACTION_TIMEOUT', 30),
    ],
],

Usage

Using Laravel's DB Facade

use Illuminate\Support\Facades\DB;

// Basic query
$result = DB::connection('neo4j')->select('MATCH (n) RETURN n');

// With parameters
$result = DB::connection('neo4j')->select(<<<'CYPHER'
    MATCH (m:Movie {title: $title})
    RETURN m
CYPHER, ['title' => 'The Matrix']);

// Transactions
DB::connection('neo4j')->beginTransaction();
try {
    // Your queries here
    DB::connection('neo4j')->commit();
} catch (\Exception $e) {
    DB::connection('neo4j')->rollBack();
    throw $e;
}

Using Neo4j Client Interface

use Laudis\Neo4j\Contracts\SessionInterface;

class YourController extends Controller
{
    public function index(SessionInterface $session)
    {
        $result = $session->run(<<<'CYPHER'
            MATCH (n)
            RETURN n
        CYPHER);
        return response()->json($result->toArray());
    }
}

Example: Movie Management

// Create a movie
$result = DB::connection('neo4j')->statement(<<<'CYPHER'
    CREATE (m:Movie {
        title: $title,
        released: $released,
        tagline: $tagline,
        created_at: datetime()
    })
    RETURN m
CYPHER, [
    'title' => 'The Matrix',
    'released' => 1999,
    'tagline' => 'Welcome to the Real World'
]);

// Add an actor to a movie
$result = DB::connection('neo4j')->select(<<<'CYPHER'
    MATCH (m:Movie {title: $movieTitle})
    MERGE (a:Person {name: $actorName})
    MERGE (a)-[r:ACTED_IN]->(m)
    SET r.roles = $roles
    RETURN m, a, r
CYPHER, [
    'movieTitle' => 'The Matrix',
    'actorName' => 'Keanu Reeves',
    'roles' => ['Neo']
]);

// Find similar movies
$result = DB::connection('neo4j')->select(<<<'CYPHER'
    MATCH (m:Movie {title: $title})<-[:ACTED_IN]-(a:Person)-[:ACTED_IN]->(other:Movie)
    WHERE m <> other
    WITH other, count(distinct a) as commonActors
    RETURN other, commonActors
    ORDER BY commonActors DESC
    LIMIT 5
CYPHER, ['title' => 'The Matrix']);

Example: User Management

// Create a user
$result = $session->run(<<<'CYPHER'
    CREATE (u:User {
        name: $name,
        email: $email,
        created_at: datetime()
    })
    RETURN u
CYPHER, [
    'name' => 'John Doe',
    'email' => 'john@example.com'
]);

// Update a user
$result = $session->run(<<<'CYPHER'
    MATCH (u:User {email: $email})
    SET u.name = $name, u.updated_at = datetime()
    RETURN u
CYPHER, [
    'email' => 'john@example.com',
    'name' => 'John Smith'
]);

Features

• Seamless integration with Laravel's database layer
• Support for both DB Facade and Neo4j Client Interface
• Transaction support
• Parameterized queries
• SSL configuration options
• Connection pooling
• Timeout settings for connections and transactions

License

This package is open-sourced software licensed under the MIT license.