Using Neo4j with Go
Learn to connect Go applications to Neo4j with the official Neo4j Go driver. Run Cypher from Golang, handle results, transactions, and errors.
In this 1-hour course, you will learn
Neo4j and Go connect through the official Neo4j Go driver, and this course teaches you how to use it in your own applications. You will install the driver package, connect to a Neo4j database, execute Full definition for Cypher (opens in a new tab)Neo4j's implementation of GQL, the ISO standard query language for graph databases. It is declarative: you describe the pattern to find, and the database decides how to find it. queries from Go code, work with the values they return, and apply the Full definition for transaction (opens in a new tab)A unit of work that either succeeds in full or leaves no trace. and error handling Full definition for pattern (opens in a new tab)A graph structure written in Cypher, such as a node joined to another node by a relationship. that production services depend on.
Go is a popular choice for the software that sits in front of a graph: HTTP APIs, microservices, and data processing tools that benefit from Go's concurrency and low overhead. The driver is the first-party library for all of them. It accepts a context.Context on every call, returns errors the way Go code expects, and manages connection pooling, routing, and retries for you, so what you learn here slots directly into idiomatic Golang projects.
Driver Life Cycle
Understand how the Neo4j Go driver manages connections, when to create and close the driver instance, and why reusing a single driver across your application matters.
Installing and Instantiation
Install the official Neo4j Go driver via Go modules and configure a driver instance with the correct URI, authentication credentials, and connection options.
Read and Write Transactions
Write explicit read and write transaction functions in Go to execute Cypher queries safely, handle results, and ensure data consistency under concurrent load.
Best Practices
Apply production-ready patterns for error handling, session management, and query parameterisation to build reliable, secure Go applications backed by Neo4j.
3 modules, 1 hour.
Who this course is for
Go developers who want to read and write Neo4j data from their own code — whether you are building a REST or gRPC API that serves graph data, adding Neo4j to an existing service, or writing command-line tools that move connected data in and out of the database. You should have a working knowledge of Go, including modules and
go get, and be comfortable with the basics of Neo4j and Full definition for Cypher (opens in a new tab)Neo4j's implementation of GQL, the ISO standard query language for graph databases. It is declarative: you describe the pattern to find, and the database decides how to find it. first — the prerequisite courses are listed beside this overview. No previous experience with the driver itself is needed; the course starts with installation and introduces one concept at a time.What you'll build and do
This is a hands-on course built from short lessons and challenges that check your understanding as you go. You will install the
github.com/neo4j/neo4j-go-driver/v5module, create a driver instance with aneo4j+s://connection string, and verify connectivity before you run anything else. From there you will execute Full definition for Cypher (opens in a new tab)Neo4j's implementation of GQL, the ISO standard query language for graph databases. It is declarative: you describe the pattern to find, and the database decides how to find it. statements withExecuteQuery, pass parameters instead of building query strings by hand, choose which database a query runs against, and read values from the records that come back.You will then work with the full Neo4j type system in Go: Full definition for node (opens in a new tab)A vertex in a graph. In a property graph it can carry labels and properties. and Full definition for relationship (opens in a new tab)A named, directed connection between two nodes. Every relationship has a type, a start node and an end node. and their Full definition for label (opens in a new tab)A tag on a node that groups it with other nodes of the same kind. A node can carry more than one., types, and Full definition for property (opens in a new tab)A named value stored on a node or a relationship., temporal values converted between Cypher and Go's native time handling, and 2D and 3D spatial points. The course closes with read and Full definition for write transaction (opens in a new tab)A transaction that changes data, and so is routed to the leader of a cluster. functions the driver retries automatically, and error handling code that inspects Neo4j error values to decide whether your application should retry, report, or fail fast.
Where to go next
The Full definition for Cypher (opens in a new tab)Neo4j's implementation of GQL, the ISO standard query language for graph databases. It is declarative: you describe the pattern to find, and the database decides how to find it. you send through the driver has more influence on your application's performance than any Go code around it, so Intermediate Cypher Queries is a strong next step. If you are also designing the graph your application queries, Graph Data Modeling Fundamentals teaches you how to shape Full definition for node (opens in a new tab)A vertex in a graph. In a property graph it can carry labels and properties. and Full definition for relationship (opens in a new tab)A named, directed connection between two nodes. Every relationship has a type, a start node and an end node. around the questions your code needs to answer. This course also counts toward your preparation for the Neo4j Certified Professional exam, which validates your knowledge of Neo4j fundamentals, Cypher, and application Full definition for pattern (opens in a new tab)A graph structure written in Cypher, such as a node joined to another node by a relationship. like the ones you practice here.