Neo4j Cypher Guide

What it does

When your agent uses it

• DevOps & Cloud work in your project

Example prompts

• “/neo4j-cypher-guide”

Workflow steps

5 steps, taken from the first numbered list in SKILL.md.

1. 1Use modern syntax patterns - QPP for complex traversals, CALL subqueries for complex reads
2. 2Optimize during traversal - Filter early within patterns, not after expansion
3. 3Always filter nulls when sorting - Add IS NOT NULL checks for sorted properties
4. 4Explicit is better than implicit - Always use explicit grouping and type checking
5. 5Write set-based, not per-node - One query with a WHERE/property condition beats fetching

What it can do on your machine

Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit 460d724. It shows what the files ask for, not the result of running them.

• Tool permissions

  Pre-approves nothing: there is no allowed-tools line, so your agent's usual permission prompts apply.

  From allowed-tools in the SKILL.md frontmatter.

• Runs code

  No scripts in the folder and no shell commands in SKILL.md (its code samples are cypher).

  From the folder's file list and the shell code blocks in SKILL.md.

• Network

  No URLs in SKILL.md.

  From URLs in SKILL.md, links to its own repository left out.

• Credentials

  Names no API keys, tokens, secrets or passwords.

  From names ending in _API_KEY, _TOKEN, _SECRET, _KEY or _PASSWORD in SKILL.md.

Context cost

Neo4j Cypher Guide loads about 1.8k tokens when it runs, and up to ~5.3k if it reads all its reference files. Until then it costs about 90 tokens; SKILL.md has 613 words of instructions outside code blocks.

Always · name and description, kept in context so the agent knows when to use it

~90

When it runs · the whole SKILL.md, loaded when a task matches

~1.8k

With references · SKILL.md plus every file in references/, read only if the agent opens them

~5.3k

Estimates: characters ÷ 4, the usual rule of thumb; real counts depend on the model's tokenizer. Scripts and assets cost tokens only if the agent reads them.

Safety

Automated static check — not a guarantee. Review scripts before installing. It scans the text of SKILL.md for risky patterns (piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files, hidden Unicode, destructive commands); files beside SKILL.md are not scanned.

SKILL.md

The full file from opsmill/infrahub at commit 460d724, republished under its Apache-2.0 licence (© opsmill). 613 words, ~1,821 tokens.

name

neo4j-cypher-guide

description

Comprehensive guide for writing modern Neo4j Cypher queries. Essential for text2cypher MCP tools and LLMs generating Cypher queries. Covers removed/deprecated syntax, modern replacements, CALL subqueries for reads, COLLECT patterns, sorting best practices, set-based writes, and Quantified Path Patterns (QPP) for efficient graph traversal.

// WRONG - May include null values
MATCH (n:Node)
RETURN n.name, n.value
ORDER BY n.value

// CORRECT - Filter nulls before sorting
MATCH (n:Node)
WHERE n.value IS NOT NULL
RETURN n.name, n.value
ORDER BY n.value

MATCH (n:Label {property: value})
WHERE n.otherProperty IS :: STRING
RETURN n

// Instead of: MATCH (a)-[*1..5]->(b)
// Use: MATCH (a)-[]-{1,5}(b)

// With filtering:
MATCH (a)((n WHERE n.active)-[]->(m)){1,5}(b)

MATCH (p:Person)
WHERE count{(p)-[:KNOWS]->()} > 5
RETURN p.name,
       exists{(p)-[:MANAGES]->()} AS isManager

MATCH (d:Department)
CALL (d) {
  MATCH (d)<-[:WORKS_IN]-(p:Person)
  WHERE p.salary IS NOT NULL  // Filter nulls
  WITH p ORDER BY p.salary DESC
  LIMIT 3
  RETURN collect(p.name) AS topEarners
}
RETURN d.name, topEarners

// Old: RETURN size((n)-[]->())
// Modern: RETURN count{(n)-[]->()}

// Old: WHERE exists((n)-[:REL]->())
// Modern: WHERE EXISTS {MATCH (n)-[:REL]->()}
// Also valid: WHERE exists{(n)-[:REL]->()}

// Old: WHERE id(n) = 123
// Modern: WHERE elementId(n) = "4:abc123:456"
// Note: elementId returns a string, not integer

// Always add null check
MATCH (n:Node)
WHERE n.sortProperty IS NOT NULL
RETURN n
ORDER BY n.sortProperty

// Or use NULLS LAST
MATCH (n:Node)
RETURN n
ORDER BY n.sortProperty NULLS LAST

// Problem: RETURN n.prop, count(*) + n.other
// Solution: WITH n.prop AS prop, n.other AS other, count(*) AS cnt
//          RETURN prop, cnt + other

// Use elementId() but note it returns a string, not integer

// Problem: MATCH (a)-[r*]->(), (b)-[r*]->()
// Solution: MATCH (a)-[r1*]->(), (b)-[r2*]->()

WHERE n:Label1|Label2  // OR
WHERE n:Label1&Label2  // AND
WHERE n:!Archived      // NOT

MATCH (n:$($label))                    // dynamic node label
MATCH (a)-[r:$($rel_type)]->(b)        // dynamic relationship type

WHERE n.prop IS :: STRING
WHERE n.value IS :: INTEGER NOT NULL
WHERE n.data IS :: LIST<STRING>

© opsmill, Apache-2.0. Rendered from Markdown: HTML in the file is shown as text, images as links, and headings moved down two levels. Raw file

Files

SKILL.md and 3 other files (references) in .agents/skills/neo4j-cypher-guide of opsmill/infrahub.

• SKILL.md
• references/deprecated-syntax.md
• references/qpp.md
• references/subqueries.md

Open the folder on GitHubat commit 460d724

Used in 1 other repository

We found 2 copies of this SKILL.md (exact, near-identical or edited) in other folders, from 1 other GitHub owner. This page covers the copy in opsmill/infrahub, which our catalogue first saw on October 7, 2026.

• hanamizuki/solopreneurskills/neo4j-dev/neo4j-cypher-guideplugins/claude/neo4j-dev/skills/neo4j-cypher-guide