neo4j-aura-graph-analytics-skill

When to Use

• Running GDS algorithms on Aura Business Critical (BC) or Virtual Dedicated Cloud (VDC)
• Processing graph data from non-Neo4j sources (Pandas, Spark, CSV)
• On-demand / pipeline workloads — ephemeral sessions, pay per session-minute
• Full isolation from the live database during analytics

When NOT to Use

• Aura Pro with embedded GDS plugin → neo4j-gds-skill
• Self-managed Neo4j with embedded GDS plugin → neo4j-gds-skill
• Writing Cypher queries → neo4j-cypher-skill
• Snowflake Graph Analytics → neo4j-snowflake-graph-analytics-skill

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Deployment Decision Table

Deployment	Skill
Aura Free	❌ AGA not available
Aura Pro	neo4j-gds-skill (embedded plugin)
Aura Business Critical	this skill
Aura Virtual Dedicated Cloud	this skill
Non-Neo4j data (Pandas, Spark)	this skill (standalone mode)

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Defaults

• graphdatascience >= 1.15 required; >= 1.18 for Spark
• Always call gds.verify_connectivity() after session creation
• Always estimate memory before creating a session for large graphs
• Always set TTL; default is 1 hour idle, max 7 days
• Close session when done — gds.delete() or sessions.delete(name) stops billing
• Use AuraAPICredentials.from_env() — never hardcode credentials

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Installation

pip install "graphdatascience>=1.15"

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Key Patterns

Step 1 — Authenticate

import os
from graphdatascience.session import AuraAPICredentials, GdsSessions

sessions = GdsSessions(api_credentials=AuraAPICredentials.from_env())
# Reads: AURA_CLIENT_ID, AURA_CLIENT_SECRET, AURA_PROJECT_ID (optional)
# Create API credentials in Aura Console → Account → API credentials

If member of multiple projects, set AURA_PROJECT_ID or pass project_id= explicitly.

Step 2 — Estimate Memory

from graphdatascience.session import AlgorithmCategory, SessionMemory

memory = sessions.estimate(
    node_count=1_000_000,
    relationship_count=5_000_000,
    algorithm_categories=[
        AlgorithmCategory.CENTRALITY,
        AlgorithmCategory.NODE_EMBEDDING,
        AlgorithmCategory.COMMUNITY_DETECTION,
    ],
)
# Returns a SessionMemory tier, e.g. SessionMemory.m_8GB
# Fixed tiers: m_2GB … m_256GB — see references/limitations.md

Step 3 — Create Session

Mode A — AuraDB connected:

from graphdatascience.session import DbmsConnectionInfo, SessionMemory, CloudLocation
from datetime import timedelta

db_connection = DbmsConnectionInfo(
    username=os.environ["NEO4J_USERNAME"],
    password=os.environ["NEO4J_PASSWORD"],
    aura_instance_id=os.environ["AURA_INSTANCEID"],  # from Aura Console URL
)

gds = sessions.get_or_create(
    session_name="my-analysis",
    memory=memory,
    db_connection=db_connection,
    ttl=timedelta(hours=2),
)
gds.verify_connectivity()

Mode B — Self-managed Neo4j:

db_connection = DbmsConnectionInfo(
    uri=os.environ["NEO4J_URI"],          # e.g. "bolt://my-server:7687"
    username=os.environ["NEO4J_USERNAME"],
    password=os.environ["NEO4J_PASSWORD"],
)
gds = sessions.get_or_create(
    session_name="my-analysis-sm",
    memory=SessionMemory.m_8GB,
    db_connection=db_connection,
    ttl=timedelta(hours=2),
    cloud_location=CloudLocation("gcp", "europe-west1"),
)
gds.verify_connectivity()

Mode C — Standalone (no Neo4j DB):

gds = sessions.get_or_create(
    session_name="my-standalone",
    memory=SessionMemory.m_4GB,
    ttl=timedelta(hours=1),
    cloud_location=CloudLocation("gcp", "europe-west1"),
)
gds.verify_connectivity()

get_or_create() is idempotent — reconnects to existing session by name.

Step 4 — Project Graph

From connected Neo4j (remote projection):

G, result = gds.graph.project(
    "my-graph",
    """
    CALL () {
        MATCH (p:Person)
        OPTIONAL MATCH (p)-[r:KNOWS]->(p2:Person)
        RETURN p AS source, r AS rel, p2 AS target,
               p {.age, .score} AS sourceNodeProperties,
               p2 {.age, .score} AS targetNodeProperties
    }
    RETURN gds.graph.project.remote(source, target, {
        sourceNodeLabels:     labels(source),
        targetNodeLabels:     labels(target),
        sourceNodeProperties: sourceNodeProperties,
        targetNodeProperties: targetNodeProperties,
        relationshipType:     type(rel)
    })
    """,
)
print(f"Projected {G.node_count()} nodes, {G.relationship_count()} relationships")

CALL () { ... } is required for multi-pattern MATCH. Use UNION inside CALL for multiple labels/rel types.

From Pandas DataFrames (standalone mode):

import pandas as pd

nodes_df = pd.DataFrame([
    {"nodeId": 0, "labels": "Person", "age": 30},
    {"nodeId": 1, "labels": "Person", "age": 25},
])
rels_df = pd.DataFrame([
    {"sourceNodeId": 0, "targetNodeId": 1, "relationshipType": "KNOWS"},
])

G = gds.graph.construct("my-graph", nodes_df, rels_df)
# Multiple DataFrames: gds.graph.construct("g", [nodes1, nodes2], [rels1, rels2])

Required columns — nodes: nodeId (int), labels (str). Relationships: sourceNodeId, targetNodeId, relationshipType. String node properties not supported — drop before construct().

Step 5 — Run Algorithms

# Mutate — chain results without writing to DB
gds.pageRank.mutate(G, mutateProperty="pagerank", dampingFactor=0.85)
gds.fastRP.mutate(G,
    mutateProperty="embedding",
    embeddingDimension=128,
    featureProperties=["pagerank"],
    randomSeed=42,
)

# Stream — inspect results as DataFrame
df = gds.pageRank.stream(G)
print(df.sort_values("score", ascending=False).head(10))

# Write — persist to connected Neo4j DB (connected modes only)
gds.louvain.write(G, writeProperty="community")

All GDS algorithms work in AGA except topological link prediction. See neo4j-gds-skill for the full algorithm reference.

Step 6 — Async Job Polling

Algorithm calls may return a job handle for long-running computations. Poll until done:

import time

job = gds.pageRank.mutate(G, mutateProperty="pagerank")

# If job object returned (async mode), poll explicitly:
if hasattr(job, "status"):
    while job.status() not in ("RUNNING_DONE", "FAILED", "CANCELLED"):
        time.sleep(5)
        print(f"Job status: {job.status()}")
    if job.status() != "RUNNING_DONE":
        raise RuntimeError(f"Algorithm job failed: {job.status()}")

Do NOT assume immediate completion on large graphs. Check .status() before reading results.

Step 7 — Retrieve Results

# Stream node properties — one column per property
result_df = gds.graph.nodeProperties.stream(
    G,
    node_properties=["pagerank", "embedding"],
    separate_property_columns=True,
    db_node_properties=["name"],   # pull from connected DB for context (connected modes only)
)
result_df.head(10)

Standalone mode — no db_node_properties; join back to source DataFrame:

result_df = gds.graph.nodeProperties.stream(G, ["pagerank"], separate_property_columns=True)
result_df.merge(nodes_df[["nodeId", "name"]], how="left")

Step 8 — Write Back and Clean Up

# Write multiple node properties to connected Neo4j
gds.graph.nodeProperties.write(G, ["pagerank", "embedding"])

# Write relationship properties
gds.graph.relationshipProperties.write(G, G.relationship_types(), ["score"])

# Run Cypher against connected DB from within session
gds.run_cypher("MATCH (n:Person) RETURN count(n)")

# Drop projected graph (frees session memory)
G.drop()

# Delete session — stops billing
sessions.delete(session_name="my-analysis")
# or: gds.delete()

Write before deleting — results not written back are lost when session closes.

Session Management

# List active sessions
from pandas import DataFrame
DataFrame(sessions.list())

# Reconnect to existing session
gds = sessions.get_or_create(session_name="my-analysis", memory=..., db_connection=...)

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Common Errors

Error	Cause	Fix
AuthenticationError / 401	Wrong CLIENT_ID/CLIENT_SECRET	Regenerate in Aura Console → Account → API credentials
SessionNotFoundError	Session expired (TTL exceeded) or name typo	sessions.list() to check; recreate session
GraphNotFoundError	Projection dropped or session reconnected without re-projecting	Re-run gds.graph.project() or gds.graph.construct()
Algorithm job FAILED	Memory limit exceeded or unsupported algorithm	Increase SessionMemory; check topological link prediction not used
MemoryEstimationExceeded	Graph larger than estimated	Re-estimate with actual counts; pick next tier up
Results empty after session reconnect	Results not written before session was closed	Always write/stream before gds.delete()
String node properties not supported	String column in nodes DataFrame	Drop string columns before gds.graph.construct()
AGA not enabled for project	AGA feature not activated	Enable in Aura Console → project settings

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References

Load on demand:

• references/workflows.md — full AuraDB and standalone workflow examples, Spark integration
• references/limitations.md — AGA vs embedded GDS feature table, SessionMemory tiers, cloud locations

WebFetch

Need	URL
AGA Python client docs	https://neo4j.com/docs/graph-data-science-client/current/aura-graph-analytics/
AuraDB tutorial notebook	https://github.com/neo4j/graph-data-science-client/blob/main/examples/graph-analytics-serverless.ipynb
GDS algorithm reference	https://neo4j.com/docs/graph-data-science/current/algorithms/

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Checklist

• Aura API credentials created and set in environment (AURA_CLIENT_ID, AURA_CLIENT_SECRET)
• AGA feature enabled for Aura project (Aura Console → project settings)
• Memory estimated before session creation (sessions.estimate(...))
• Cloud location chosen near data source
• gds.verify_connectivity() called after session creation
• TTL set to avoid unexpected costs on idle sessions
• Async algorithm jobs polled until RUNNING_DONE before reading results
• Results written back (connected modes) or streamed and persisted (standalone) before deletion
• Session deleted when done (sessions.delete(...) or gds.delete())