Neo4j MCP (BETA)

Official Model Context Protocol (MCP) server for Neo4j.

Status

BETA - Active development; not yet suitable for production.

Prerequisites

• A running Neo4j database instance; options include Aura, neo4j–desktop or self-managed.
• APOC plugin installed in the Neo4j instance.
• Any MCP-compatible client (e.g. VSCode with MCP support)

Installation (Binary)

Releases: https://github.com/neo4j/mcp/releases

1. Download the archive for your OS/arch.
2. Extract and place neo4j-mcp in a directory present in your PATH variables (see examples below).

Mac / Linux:

chmod +x neo4j-mcp
sudo mv neo4j-mcp /usr/local/bin/

Windows (PowerShell / cmd):

move neo4j-mcp.exe C:\Windows\System32

Verify the neo4j-mcp installation:

neo4j-mcp -v

Should print the installed version.

Configure VSCode (MCP)

Create / edit mcp.json (docs: https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/copilot/customization/mcp-servers):

{
  "servers": {
    "neo4j": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "neo4j-mcp",
      "env": {
        "NEO4J_URI": "bolt://localhost:7687",
        "NEO4J_USERNAME": "neo4j",
        "NEO4J_PASSWORD": "password",
        "NEO4J_DATABASE": "neo4j",
        "NEO4J_READ_ONLY": "true" // Optional: disables write tools
      }
    }
  }
}

Restart VSCode; open Copilot Chat and ask: "List Neo4j MCP tools" to confirm.

Configure Claude Desktop

First, make sure you have Claude for Desktop installed. You can install the latest version here.

We’ll need to configure Claude for Desktop for whichever MCP servers you want to use. To do this, open your Claude for Desktop App configuration at:

• (MacOS/Linux) ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
• (Windows) $env:AppData\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json

in a text editor. Make sure to create the file if it doesn’t exist.

You’ll then add the neo4j-mcp MCP in the mcpServers key:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "neo4j-mcp": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "neo4j-mcp",
      "args": [],
      "env": {
        "NEO4J_URI": "bolt://localhost:7687",
        "NEO4J_USERNAME": "neo4j",
        "NEO4J_PASSWORD": "password",
        "NEO4J_DATABASE": "neo4j",
        "NEO4J_READ_ONLY": "true" // Optional: disables write tools
      }
    }
  }
}

Notes:

• Adjust env vars for your setup (defaults shown above).
• Set NEO4J_READ_ONLY=true to disable all write tools (e.g., write-cypher).
• When enabled, only read operations are available; write tools are not exposed to clients.
• Neo4j Desktop default URI: bolt://localhost:7687.
• Aura: use the connection string from the Aura console.

Tools & Usage

Provided tools:

Tool	ReadOnly	Purpose	Notes
get-schema	true	Introspect labels, relationship types, property keys	Provide valuable context to the client LLMs.
read-cypher	true	Execute arbitrary Cypher (read mode)	Rejects writes, schema/admin operations, and PROFILE queries. Use write-cypher instead.
write-cypher	false	Execute arbitrary Cypher (write mode)	Caution: LLM-generated queries could cause harm. Use only in development environments. Disabled if NEO4J_READ_ONLY=true.
list-gds-procedures	true	List GDS procedures available in the Neo4j instance	Help the client LLM to have a better visibility on the GDS procedures available

Readonly mode flag

Enable readonly mode by setting the NEO4J_READ_ONLY environment variable to true (for example, "NEO4J_READ_ONLY": "true"). When enabled, write tools (for example, write-cypher) are not exposed to clients.

Query Classification

The read-cypher tool performs an extra round-trip to the Neo4j database to guarantee read-only operations.

Important notes:

• Write operations: CREATE, MERGE, DELETE, SET, etc., are treated as non-read queries.
• Admin queries: Commands like SHOW USERS, SHOW DATABASES, etc., are treated as non-read queries and must use write-cypher instead.
• Profile queries: EXPLAIN PROFILE queries are treated as non-read queries, even if the underlying statement is read-only.
• Schema operations: CREATE INDEX, DROP CONSTRAINT, etc., are treated as non-read queries.

Example Natural Language Prompts

Below are some example prompts you can try in Copilot or any other MCP client:

• "What does my Neo4j instance contain? List all node labels, relationship types, and property keys."
• "Find all Person nodes and their relationships in my Neo4j instance."
• "Create a new User node with a name 'John' in my Neo4j instance."

Security tips:

• Use a restricted Neo4j user for exploration.
• Review generated Cypher before executing in production databases.

Documentation

📚 Contributing Guide – Contribution workflow, development environment, mocks & testing.

Issues / feedback: open a GitHub issue with reproduction details (omit sensitive data).