Part 4 — Using Indexes and Query Best Practices in Neo4j 4.x

Defining Constraints for your Data

• Create a uniqueness constraint for a node property in the graph.
• Create an existence constraint for a node property in the graph.
• Create a uniqueness constraint for a set of node properties in the graph.
• Manage constraints in the graph.

Using Indexes

• Describe when indexes are used in Cypher.
• Create a single property index.
• Create a multi-property index.
• Create a full-text schema index.
• Use a full-text schema index.
• Manage indexes:

1. List indexes.
2. Drop an index.
3. Drop a full-text schema index.

Using Query Best Practices

Use parameters in your Cypher statements

MATCH (p:Person)-[:ACTED_IN]->(m:Movie)
WHERE p.name = $actorName
RETURN m.released, m.title ORDER BY m.released DESC

Analyze Cypher execution

There are two Cypher keywords you can prefix a Cypher statement with to analyze a query:

• EXPLAIN provides estimates of the graph engine processing that will occur, but does not execute the Cypher statement.

Source: Neo4j

• PROFILE provides real profiling information for what has occurred in the graph engine during the query and executes the Cypher statement.

Source: Neo4j

Monitor queries

Source: Neo4j