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Example apps

Neo4j

This guide shows you how to use Neo4j, one of the most popular open source graph databases. To run this example, follow these steps:

1. Install the unikraft CLI. You need a BuildKit builder. The easiest way to get one is via Docker. Alternatively, you can also directly set up and use BuildKit, see the quick start.

2. Clone the examples repository and cd into the examples/neo4j/ directory:

   Code
   git clone https://github.com/unikraft-cloud/examples
   cd examples/neo4j/

Make sure to log into Unikraft Cloud and pick a metro close to you. This guide uses fra (Frankfurt, 🇩🇪):

Code
unikraft login

When done, invoke the following command to deploy this app on Unikraft Cloud:

Code
unikraft build . --output <my-org>/neo4j:latest
unikraft run --metro fra \
  -m 2G \
  -p 443:7474/tls+http \
  -p 7687:7687/tls \
  --scale-to-zero policy=idle,cooldown-time=4000,stateful=true \
  -e "NEO4J_HOME=/var/lib/neo4j" \
  -e "JAVA_HOME=/opt/java/openjdk" \
  -e "LANG=C.UTF-8" \
  -e "NEO4J_EDITION=community" \
  -e "PATH=/var/lib/neo4j/bin:/opt/java/openjdk/bin:/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin" \
  --image <my-org>/neo4j:latest

The output shows the instance address and other details:

Code
metro:           fra
name:            neo4j-t117i
uuid:            c59f865e-e954-4bf8-8da8-7ee6f1c1aab2
state:           starting
image:           <my-org>/neo4j
resources:
  memory:        2GiB
  vcpus:         1
service:
  name:          fragrant-fog-pj1gi4jl
  uuid:          a3d29dfa-650b-4e8c-a8e6-055f59dd4c92
  domains:
  - fqdn:        fragrant-fog-pj1gi4jl.fra.unikraft.app
networks:
- uuid:          1a65f2c3-cbfd-48bf-b8db-5cb90ed62a7c
  private-ip:    10.0.1.73
  mac:           12:b0:0a:00:01:49
timestamps:
  created:       just now
scale-to-zero:
  enabled:       true
  policy:        idle
  stateful:      true
  cooldown-time: 4s

In this case, the instance name is neo4j-t117i and the address is https://fragrant-fog-pj1gi4jl.fra.unikraft.app They're different for each run.

Use curl to query the Unikraft Cloud Neo4j instance:

Code
curl https://fragrant-fog-pj1gi4jl.fra.unikraft.app

Code
{"bolt_routing":"neo4j://fragrant-fog-pj1gi4jl.fra.unikraft.app:7687","query":"https://fragrant-fog-pj1gi4jl.fra.unikraft.app:7687/db/{databaseName}/query/v2","transaction":"https://fragrant-fog-pj1gi4jl.fra.unikraft.app/db/{databaseName}/tx","bolt_direct":"bolt://fragrant-fog-pj1gi4jl.fra.unikraft.app:7687","neo4j_version":"2026.04.0","neo4j_edition":"community"}

Or even better, point a browser at it 😀. Make sure you have the protocol set to neo4j+s when logging in.

You can also try connecting to the instance using the cypher-shell CLI

Code
cypher-shell -a neo4j+s://fragrant-fog-pj1gi4jl.fra.unikraft.app:7687 -u neo4j

You can list information about the instance by running:

Code
unikraft instances list

Code
METRO  NAME            STATE    IMAGE              ARGS  MEMORY  VCPUS  FQDN                                     CREATED
fra    neo4j-t117i     standby  <my-org>/neo4j          2GiB    1      fragrant-fog-pj1gi4jl.fra.unikraft.app   just now

When done, you can remove the instance:

Code
unikraft instances delete neo4j-t117i

Using volumes

You can use volumes for data persistence for your neo4j instance. For that you would first create a volume:

Code
unikraft volume create --set metro=fra --set name=neo4j-store --set size=512M

Then start the neo4j instance and mount that volume:

Code
unikraft build . --output <my-org>/neo4j:latest
unikraft run --metro fra \
  -m 2G \
  -p 443:7474/tls+http \
  -p 7687:7687/tls \
  --scale-to-zero policy=idle,cooldown-time=4000,stateful=true \
  -e "NEO4J_HOME=/var/lib/neo4j" \
  -e "JAVA_HOME=/opt/java/openjdk" \
  -e "LANG=C.UTF-8" \
  -e "NEO4J_EDITION=community" \
  -e "PATH=/var/lib/neo4j/bin:/opt/java/openjdk/bin:/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin" \
  --volume neo4j-store:/data \
  --image <my-org>/neo4j:latest

Customize your app

To customize the app, update the files in the repository, listed below:

• Kraftfile: the Unikraft Cloud specification, including command-line arguments
• Dockerfile: In case you need to add files to your instance's rootfs

Learn more

Use the --help option for detailed information on using Unikraft Cloud:

Code
unikraft --help

Or visit the CLI Reference.