Local Neo4j Database Setup Guide

Prerequisites

System Requirements

Java Requirements:

• Neo4j 5.x requires Java 17 or Java 21
• Neo4j 4.x requires Java 11
• Check your Java version: java -version

Install Java (if needed):

• (instructions coming soon)

Downloading Neo4j Tarballs

Official Download Locations

Primary Source: Neo4j Deployment Center

Direct Download URLs:

Neo4j tarballs follow this URL pattern:

https://dist.neo4j.org/neo4j-{edition}-{version}-unix.tar.gz

Verifying Downloads

Always verify the integrity of downloaded files using SHA-256 checksums:

# Download checksum file
wget https://dist.neo4j.org/neo4j-community-5.25.0-unix.tar.gz.sha256

# Verify (Linux)
sha256sum -c neo4j-community-5.25.0-unix.tar.gz.sha256

# Verify (macOS)
shasum -a 256 -c neo4j-community-5.25.0-unix.tar.gz.sha256

Setting Up Multiple Versions

Recommended Directory Structure

Create a dedicated directory to store all your Neo4j installations:

# Create main Neo4j directory
mkdir -p ~/neo4j-instances
cd ~/neo4j-instances

Installing Multiple Versions

If you are only installing one instance of Neo4j, just choose one .tar.gz file from the 3 options below.

If you are installing multiple instances of Neo4j with the same version number (for instance, because you want multiple databases on your system but don't want to troubleshoot multiple Neo4j versions), then this is also possible, but you'll need to vary the directory names to ensure uniqueness. For example, if you already have an existing neo4j-community-4.4.35-unix directory and are creating a second one, then you should first rename the existing directory (e.g., to neo4j-community-4.4.35-unix_original) to avoid changing its contents when extracting the new instance.

Download and extract multiple versions:

# Download versions
wget https://dist.neo4j.org/neo4j-community-5.25.0-unix.tar.gz
wget https://dist.neo4j.org/neo4j-community-5.18.0-unix.tar.gz
wget https://dist.neo4j.org/neo4j-community-4.4.35-unix.tar.gz

# Extract each version
tar -xzf neo4j-community-5.25.0-unix.tar.gz
tar -xzf neo4j-community-5.18.0-unix.tar.gz
tar -xzf neo4j-community-4.4.35-unix.tar.gz

# Remove tarballs to save space
rm *.tar.gz

Your directory structure should now look like:

~/neo4j-instances/
├── neo4j-community-5.25.0/
├── neo4j-community-5.18.0/
└── neo4j-community-4.4.35/

Directory Structure

Each Neo4j installation contains the following key directories:

neo4j-community-{version}/
├── bin/              # Executables (neo4j, cypher-shell, neo4j-admin)
├── certificates/     # SSL/TLS certificates
├── conf/            # Configuration files (neo4j.conf)
├── data/            # Database data (default location)
├── import/          # Default import directory for CSV/files
├── lib/             # Java libraries
├── licenses/        # License files
├── logs/            # Log files
└── plugins/         # Plugin JARs (APOC, GDS, etc.)

Setting Initial Password

Before first use, set the initial password:

# For Neo4j 5.x
cd ~/neo4j-instances/neo4j-community-5.25.0
bin/neo4j-admin dbms set-initial-password your_password

# For Neo4j 4.x
cd ~/neo4j-instances/neo4j-community-4.4.35
bin/neo4j-admin set-initial-password your_password

Starting and Stopping Instances

Console Mode (Foreground)

Start Neo4j in console mode to see output directly:

cd ~/neo4j-instances/neo4j-community-5.25.0
bin/neo4j console

Stop with Ctrl+C.

Background Mode

# Start
cd ~/neo4j-instances/neo4j-community-5.25.0
bin/neo4j start

# Check status
bin/neo4j status

# Stop
bin/neo4j stop

# Restart
bin/neo4j restart

Switching Between Versions

Simply specify the full path to the version you want:

# Use version 5.25.0
~/neo4j-instances/neo4j-community-5.25.0/bin/neo4j start

# Use version 5.18.0
~/neo4j-instances/neo4j-community-5.18.0/bin/neo4j start

Importing Data with :source

The :source command in Cypher Shell allows you to execute Cypher statements from a file.

Prerequisites

1. Your Neo4j instance must be running
2. You need a .cypher file containing valid Cypher statements
3. Each statement in the file should end with a semicolon (;)

The downloadable file at the top of this page fulfills requirements 2 & 3.

Using :source in Cypher Shell

Data can be imported either interactively (showing each step), or in the background. Note that due to the large size of the EMERGE Database, this import will likely take awhile.

Method 1: Interactive Shell with :source

# Start cypher-shell (connect to running instance)
cd ~/neo4j-instances/neo4j-community-5.25.0
bin/cypher-shell -a bolt://localhost:7687 -u neo4j -p your_password

# Once in the shell, use :source
neo4j@neo4j> :source /path/to/data.cypher

Example:

$ bin/cypher-shell -a bolt://localhost:7687 -u neo4j -p mypassword
Connected to Neo4j at bolt://localhost:7687 as user neo4j.
Type :help for a list of available commands or :exit to exit the shell.

neo4j@neo4j> :source ~/neo4j-data/imports/data.cypher
0 rows
Added 1 constraints
0 rows
Added 1 constraints
0 rows
Added 1 nodes, Set 3 properties, Added 1 labels
...

Method 2: Non-Interactive with File Argument

You can also pipe the file directly without entering interactive mode:

cat data.cypher | bin/cypher-shell -a bolt://localhost:7687 -u neo4j -p your_password

Or using input redirection:

bin/cypher-shell -a bolt://localhost:7687 -u neo4j -p your_password < data.cypher

Additional Resources

• Neo4j Documentation: https://neo4j.com/docs/
• Neo4j Operations Manual: https://neo4j.com/docs/operations-manual/current/
• Cypher Manual: https://neo4j.com/docs/cypher-manual/current/
• Neo4j Community Forum: https://community.neo4j.com/
• APOC Documentation: https://neo4j.com/docs/apoc/current/
• Information on node labels and properties specific to the EMERGE-DB:
  • Comprehensive overview of the graph database structure
  • Full list of definitions for standardized labels and properties

Summary

This setup allows you to:

• Create a local copy of the EMERGE Database
• Test applications against different Neo4j versions
• Migrate databases between versions safely
• Run different projects with version-specific requirements
• Experiment without affecting production data