Bart BroereandClaude Opus 5.5
9a25aa11c9
The columns could only be text, since a typed column makes Cypher writes fail on values of another type. Leave typed columns and views to the database administrator instead, and document how to set them up. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
154 lines
7.5 KiB
Markdown
154 lines
7.5 KiB
Markdown
# peo
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[neo4j-browser](https://github.com/neo4j/neo4j-browser) running on PostgreSQL, using
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[Apache AGE](https://github.com/apache/age) as the graph engine.
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Everything ships in one container image, together with
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[pgAdmin](https://www.pgadmin.org/) for working with the same data in SQL:
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```
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neo4j-browser (static files) peo bridge (Python) PostgreSQL + AGE
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┌──────────────────────┐ Bolt ┌──────────────────────────┐ SQL ┌────────────────┐
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│ in your web browser │───────▶│ Bolt server (TCP + WS) │──────▶│ cypher('g',$$ │
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│ served on :7474 │ :7687 │ Cypher → AGE translation │ :5432 │ ... $$) │
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└──────────────────────┘ │ emulated Neo4j procedures │ └────────────────┘
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└──────────────────────────┘
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```
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## Quick start
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```sh
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podman build -t peo .
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podman run -d --name peo -e POSTGRES_PASSWORD=secret \
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-p 7474:7474 -p 7687:7687 -p 5050:5050 -p 5432:5432 \
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-v peo-data:/var/lib/postgresql -v peo-pgadmin:/var/lib/pgadmin peo
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```
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| Port | Service | Log in with |
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| --- | --- | --- |
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| 7474 | neo4j-browser: <http://localhost:7474/> | PostgreSQL user `postgres` and `POSTGRES_PASSWORD` |
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| 7687 | Bolt, for Neo4j drivers and cypher-shell (`neo4j://localhost:7687`) | same as above |
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| 5050 | pgAdmin: <http://localhost:5050/> | `admin@example.com` and `POSTGRES_PASSWORD` |
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| 5432 | PostgreSQL, for `psql` and other SQL clients | same as neo4j-browser |
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pgAdmin comes with the bundled PostgreSQL server already registered as "peo";
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it asks for the PostgreSQL password the first time you open it. AGE stores each
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graph as a schema of the same name, with one table per label.
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`docker` works as a drop-in replacement for `podman` in the commands above.
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## How it works
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- **Databases are AGE graphs.** Every AGE graph shows up as a Neo4j database, and
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`:use <name>` switches between them. A graph named `neo4j` is created on first start
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(`PEO_DEFAULT_GRAPH`). `CREATE DATABASE x` and `DROP DATABASE x` on the `system`
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database call `create_graph` / `drop_graph`; AGE requires names of at least 3 characters.
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- **Queries** are sent to AGE as `SELECT * FROM cypher('<graph>', $$ <query> $$) AS (...)`.
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The bridge works out the result columns from the final `RETURN` clause and inlines
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query parameters as Cypher literals.
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- **Neo4j procedures** that neo4j-browser relies on (`dbms.components`, `SHOW DATABASES`,
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`db.labels`, `db.schema.visualization`, `SHOW PROCEDURES`, ...) are emulated from the
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AGE catalog.
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- **Workarounds for AGE**: neo4j-browser's "expand node" query uses a pattern
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comprehension, and its relationship lookup uses `id(n) IN [...]`, which AGE rejects
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for lists of more than one element. The bridge rewrites both into equivalent Cypher
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that AGE accepts.
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- **Authentication** is passed straight through: every Bolt connection opens its own
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PostgreSQL connection with the credentials you log in with.
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## Querying the graph from SQL
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AGE stores each node label and relationship type as a table in the graph's schema,
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with all properties in one `agtype` column, `properties`; `properties ->> 'key'::text`
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returns a property as text. For typed columns, add them yourself, either as a view or
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as a generated column:
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```sql
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CREATE VIEW neo4j.people AS
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SELECT id, properties ->> 'name'::text AS name, (properties ->> 'age'::text)::bigint AS age
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FROM neo4j."Person";
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ALTER TABLE neo4j."Person"
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ADD COLUMN age bigint GENERATED ALWAYS AS ((properties ->> 'age'::text)::bigint) STORED;
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```
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PostgreSQL keeps generated columns up to date on every Cypher `CREATE`, `MERGE`, `SET`
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and `REMOVE`, and they can be indexed. Some things to keep in mind:
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- A value that does not fit the column's type makes the Cypher write fail: with the
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column above, `CREATE (:Person {age: 'old'})` is rejected. A view only fails when it
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is read.
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- AGE does not allow dropping columns from its label tables, so a generated column
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cannot be removed again.
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- Adding a stored generated column rewrites the table and locks it while doing so.
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- AGE has no date or time types, so store those as ISO 8601 strings and cast them in
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SQL.
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## Configuration
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| Variable | Default | Purpose |
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| --- | --- | --- |
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| `POSTGRES_PASSWORD` | (required) | Password of the PostgreSQL superuser, see the [postgres image docs](https://hub.docker.com/_/postgres). `POSTGRES_USER` and `POSTGRES_DB` work too. |
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| `PEO_DEFAULT_GRAPH` | `neo4j` | Graph created at initialisation and used when a client does not pick a database. |
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| `PEO_PG_DATABASE` | `$POSTGRES_DB` | PostgreSQL database holding the graphs. |
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| `PEO_ADVERTISED_BOLT_PORT` | `7687` | Bolt port advertised to the browser; set it when you publish 7687 on another host port. |
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| `PEO_ADVERTISED_HOST` | `localhost` | Host reported in `SHOW DATABASES` and to clients that do not send a routing address. |
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| `PEO_LOG_LEVEL` | `INFO` | `DEBUG` logs every generated SQL statement. |
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| `PGADMIN_DEFAULT_EMAIL` | `admin@example.com` | pgAdmin login, created on first start. |
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| `PGADMIN_DEFAULT_PASSWORD` | `$POSTGRES_PASSWORD` | pgAdmin login password, set on first start. |
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| `PEO_PGADMIN` | `true` | Set to `false` to not start pgAdmin. |
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| `PEO_PGADMIN_PORT` | `5050` | Port pgAdmin listens on inside the container. |
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Build arguments: `AGE_IMAGE` (base image, default `apache/age:release_PG18_1.8.0`),
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`NEO4J_BROWSER_REF` (neo4j-browser commit to build) and `PGADMIN_VERSION` (default `9.18`).
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pgAdmin keeps its users and settings in `/var/lib/pgadmin`; changing
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`PGADMIN_DEFAULT_*` after the first start has no effect unless that directory is empty.
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## Limitations
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This is a first version. Things that do not work (yet):
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- `RETURN *`, `EXPLAIN` and `PROFILE`.
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- Write statistics: write queries report "(no changes, no records)" even when they
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changed the graph.
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- Anything AGE does not support, for example multiple labels per node, pattern
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comprehensions, temporal and spatial types, indexes and constraints through Cypher.
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- User and role management, `SHOW TRANSACTIONS`, `:sysinfo`.
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- TLS (`bolt+s://`, HTTPS).
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- Each query's full result is fetched from PostgreSQL before it is streamed to the
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client, so very large results use memory in the bridge.
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## Development
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The bridge is a dependency-light Python package in [`bridge/peo`](bridge/peo)
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(only `psycopg` 3). To run it outside the container against any AGE-enabled
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PostgreSQL:
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```sh
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pip install 'psycopg[binary]'
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cd bridge
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PEO_PG_HOST=localhost PEO_PG_DATABASE=postgres PEO_BROWSER_DIR=/path/to/neo4j-browser/dist \
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python -m peo
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```
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[`tests/smoke_test.py`](tests/smoke_test.py) runs end-to-end checks through the official
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Neo4j Python driver against a running instance:
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```sh
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pip install neo4j
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python tests/smoke_test.py neo4j://localhost:7687 postgres secret
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```
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## License
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peo is free software, licensed under the GNU General Public License v3.0 or
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later; see [LICENSE](LICENSE). The container image bundles third-party software
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under its own licenses, including neo4j-browser (GPL-3.0), Apache AGE
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(Apache-2.0), PostgreSQL and pgAdmin (PostgreSQL License). See
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[THIRD_PARTY_NOTICES.md](THIRD_PARTY_NOTICES.md) for the full list and where
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each license text and source archive is in the image.
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Neo4j is a trademark of Neo4j, Inc.; peo is not affiliated with or endorsed
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by Neo4j.
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