neo4j-driver-java-skill

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

<dependency>
    <groupId>org.neo4j.driver</groupId>
    <artifactId>neo4j-java-driver</artifactId>
    <version>6.2.1</version>
</dependency>

Gradle

implementation 'org.neo4j.driver:neo4j-java-driver:6.2.1'

Check latest: https://central.sonatype.com/artifact/org.neo4j.driver/neo4j-java-driver

6.2.0 [2026-06]: Neo4j UUID type + Bolt 6.1 support; QueryProfile in result summary. 6.2.1 [2026-08]: fixes Value#asObject() on UUID values — required if reading UUID properties generically. Neo4j 2026.07 server bundles 6.2.0.

---

Environment Variables

Standard pattern for connection config — never hardcode credentials:

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:

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.

// 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();
    // ...
}