Graph Data Modelling

Graph data modelling is the process of designing your data structure using nodes, relationships, properties, and labels. A well-designed graph model makes queries intuitive, performant, and easy to evolve.

---

The Building Blocks

Nodes

Nodes represent entities — the things in your domain:

• A person, a product, a city, an order, a device
• Nodes can have zero or more labels (e.g., :Person, :Employee)
• Nodes can have zero or more properties (key-value pairs)

(:Person {name: "Alice", age: 30})
(:Product {name: "Laptop", price: 999.99})
(:City {name: "London", country: "UK"})

Relationships

Relationships connect two nodes and represent how entities are related:

• Every relationship has a type (e.g., PURCHASED, LIVES_IN, MANAGES)
• Every relationship has a direction (from one node to another)
• Relationships can have properties

(Alice)-[:PURCHASED {date: "2024-01-15", quantity: 1}]->(Laptop)
(Alice)-[:LIVES_IN {since: 2018}]->(London)

Tip: Relationship types are written in UPPER_SNAKE_CASE by convention.

Properties

Properties are key-value pairs stored on nodes and relationships: