• 2.3.0, latest (2.3.0/Dockerfile)
• 2.3.0-enterprise, enterprise (2.3.0-enterprise/Dockerfile)

For more information about this image and its history, please see the relevant manifest file (library/neo4j). This image is updated via pull requests to the docker-library/official-images GitHub repo.

For detailed information about the virtual/transfer sizes and individual layers of each of the above supported tags, please see the neo4j/tag-details.md file in the docker-library/docs GitHub repo.

Neo4j is a highly scalable, robust, native graph database. It is used in mission-critical apps by thousands of leading startups, enterprises, and governments around the world. You can learn more here.

The image exposes two ports (7474 and 7473) for HTTP and HTTPS access to the Neo4j API and a volume (/data) to allow the database to be persisted outside its container.

docker run \
    --detach \
    --publish=7474:7474 \
    --volume=$HOME/neo4j-data:/data \
    neo4j

Point your browser at http://localhost:7474.

Please note that by default Neo4j requires authentication. You have to login with neo4j/neo4j at the first connection and set a new password.

The Neo4j comes in two editions: Community and Enterprise.

Neo4j Enterprise Edition is designed for commercial deployments where scale and availability are important. Use of Neo4j Enterprise Edition requires a commercial license agreement with Neo Technology. Please see Neo4j licensing for details.

Tags are available for both editions. Enterprise tags have an -enterprise suffix, Community tags have no suffix.

Neo4j may use a large number of file descriptors if many indexes are in use or there is a large number of simultaneous database connections.

Docker controls the number of open file descriptors in a container; the limit depends on the configuration of your system. We recommend a limit of at least 40000 for running Neo4j.

To check the limit on your system, run this command:

docker run neo4j \
    bash -c 'echo Soft limit: $(ulimit -Sn); echo Hard limit: $(ulimit -Hn)'

To override the default configuration for a single container, use the --ulimit option like this:

docker run \
    --detach \
    --publish=7474:7474 \
    --volume=$HOME/neo4j-data:/data \
    --ulimit=nofile=40000:40000
    neo4j

The image provides a usable default configuration for learning about Neo4j, but it is not suitable for production use. You can read more about configuring Neo4j in the manual.

There are three ways to modify the configuration depending on how much you need to customize the image.

Pass environment variables to the container when you run it.

docker run \
    --detach \
    --publish=7474:7474 \
    --volume=$HOME/neo4j-data:/data \
    --env=NEO4J_CACHE_MEMORY=4G \
    neo4j

The following environment variables are available:

• NEO4J_CACHE_MEMORY: the size of Neo4j's native-memory cache, defaults to 512M
• NEO4J_HEAP_MEMORY: the size of Neo4j's heap in MB, defaults to the JVM default for your system
• NEO4J_KEEP_LOGICAL_LOGS: the retention policy for logical logs, defaults to 100M size
• NEO4J_AUTH: controls authentication, set to none to disable authentication or neo4j/<password> to override the default password (see documentation here)
• NEO4J_THIRDPARTY_JAXRS_CLASSES: URI mappings for unmanaged extensions (see below)

The following settings control features that are only available in the Enterprise Edition of Neo4j.

• NEO4J_DATABASE_MODE: the database mode, defaults to SINGLE, set to HA to create a cluster
• NEO4J_SERVER_ID: the id of the server, must be unique within a cluster
• NEO4J_HA_ADDRESS: the address which a server advertises to other members of a cluster in HA mode, this must be resolvable by all cluster members
• NEO4J_INITIAL_HOSTS: comma-separated list of other members of the cluster

To make arbitrary modifications to the Neo4j configuration, provide the container with a /conf volume.

docker run \
    --detach \
    --publish=7474:7474 \
    --volume=$HOME/neo4j-data:/data \
    --volume=$HOME/neo4j-conf:/conf \
    neo4j

The /conf volume will override all configuration provided by the image and must therefore contain a complete, valid set of Neo4j configuration files.

To generate an initial set of configuration files, run the image with the dump-config command.

docker run --rm\
    --volume=$HOME/neo4j-conf:/conf \
    neo4j dump-config

For more complex customization of the image you can create a new image based on this one.

FROM neo4j

(This feature is only available in Neo4j Enterprise Edition.)

In order to run Neo4j in HA mode under Docker you need to wire up the containers in the cluster so that they can talk to each other. Each container must have a network route to each of the others and the NEO4J_HA_ADDRESS and NEO4J_INITIAL_HOSTS environment variables must be set according (see above).

Within a single Docker host, this can be achieved using container names and links as follows.

docker run --name=instance1 --detach --publish 7474:7474 \
    --env=NEO4J_DATABASE_MODE=HA --env=NEO4J_HA_ADDRESS=instance1 --env=NEO4J_SERVER_ID=1 \
    --env=NEO4J_INITIAL_HOSTS=instance1:5001,instance2:5001,instance3:5001 \
    neo4j:enterprise

docker run --name=instance2 --detach --publish 7475:7474 \
    --link instance1:instance1 \
    --env=NEO4J_DATABASE_MODE=HA --env=NEO4J_HA_ADDRESS=instance2 --env=NEO4J_SERVER_ID=2 \
    --env=NEO4J_INITIAL_HOSTS=instance1:5001,instance2:5001,instance3:5001 \
    neo4j:enterprise

docker run --name=instance3 --detach --publish 7476:7474 \
    --link instance1:instance1 --link instance2:instance2 \
    --env=NEO4J_DATABASE_MODE=HA --env=NEO4J_HA_ADDRESS=instance3 --env=NEO4J_SERVER_ID=3 \
    --env=NEO4J_INITIAL_HOSTS=instance1:5001,instance2:5001,instance3:5001 \
    neo4j:enterprise

To install a plugin or unmanaged extension, provide a /plugins volume containing the jars. For unmanged extensions you also need to provide an environment variable specifying a URI mapping.

docker run --publish 7474:7474 --volume=/tmp/neo4j-plugins:/plugins \
    --env=NEO4J_THIRDPARTY_JAXRS_CLASSES=com.example.extension=/example
    neo4j

See the manual for more details on plugins and unmanaged extensions.

The Neo4j shell can be run locally within a container using a command like this:

docker exec --interactive <container> bin/neo4j-shell

This image is officially supported on Docker version 1.9.0.

Support for older versions (down to 1.6) is provided on a best-effort basis.

Please see the Docker installation documentation for details on how to upgrade your Docker daemon.

Documentation for this image is stored in the neo4j/ directory of the docker-library/docs GitHub repo. Be sure to familiarize yourself with the repository's README.md file before attempting a pull request.

If you have any problems with or questions about this image, please contact us through a GitHub issue.

For general Neo4j questions, please ask on StackOverflow.

We welcome pull requests on GitHub.