Neo4j MCP Server

A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that provides read-only access to your Neo4j database. This server allows you to connect Cursor IDE to your Neo4j database and run safe, read-only Cypher queries with comprehensive database exploration tools.

🚀 Quick Start

Installation

# Install globally
npm install -g neo4j-mcp-readonly

# Or use with npx (no installation required)
npx neo4j-mcp-readonly --help

Basic Usage

# Start with command line arguments
neo4j-mcp-readonly --neo4j-uri bolt://localhost:7687 --neo4j-username neo4j --neo4j-password mypassword

# Or use environment variables
NEO4J_URI=bolt://localhost:7687 NEO4J_USERNAME=neo4j NEO4J_PASSWORD=mypassword neo4j-mcp-readonly

📋 Features

• 🔒 Read-only queries: Only allows safe read operations (MATCH, RETURN, WITH, UNWIND, etc.)
• 🛡️ Query validation: Automatically blocks dangerous operations like CREATE, DELETE, SET, MERGE
• 🔍 Schema exploration: Get database schema information including labels, relationships, and properties
• 📊 Database statistics: Node/relationship counts, property analysis, and more
• 🧪 Connection testing: Built-in connection testing functionality
• ⚡ CLI support: Easy command-line configuration
• 🐳 Docker ready: Example Docker Compose configuration included
• 🔧 Flexible auth: Support for environment variables and command-line arguments

🛠️ Configuration Methods

Method 1: Command Line Arguments

neo4j-mcp-readonly \
  --neo4j-uri bolt://localhost:7687 \
  --neo4j-username neo4j \
  --neo4j-password your_password

Method 2: Environment Variables

export NEO4J_URI=bolt://localhost:7687
export NEO4J_USERNAME=neo4j
export NEO4J_PASSWORD=your_password
neo4j-mcp-readonly

Method 3: Mixed Approach

# Environment for sensitive data, CLI for the rest
export NEO4J_PASSWORD=your_secure_password
neo4j-mcp-readonly --neo4j-uri bolt://myserver:7687 --neo4j-username myuser

🎯 Usage with Cursor IDE

Option 1: Using npx (Recommended)

Add this to your Cursor MCP settings:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "neo4j": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "neo4j-mcp-readonly",
        "--neo4j-uri", "bolt://localhost:7687",
        "--neo4j-username", "neo4j",
        "--neo4j-password", "your_password_here"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Option 2: Using Environment Variables

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "neo4j": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["neo4j-mcp-readonly"],
      "env": {
        "NEO4J_URI": "bolt://localhost:7687",
        "NEO4J_USERNAME": "neo4j",
        "NEO4J_PASSWORD": "your_password_here"
      }
    }
  }
}

Option 3: Minimal Setup (Password Only)

For simple local setups where you only need to specify the password:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "neo4j": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["neo4j-mcp-readonly", "--neo4j-password", "your_password_here"]
    }
  }
}

This assumes default values: bolt://localhost:7687 and username neo4j.

Configuration Steps

1. Install the package (if not using npx):

   npm install -g neo4j-mcp-readonly

2. Add MCP server to Cursor:

   • Open Cursor IDE
   • Go to Cursor Settings (Cmd/Ctrl + ,)
   • Search for "MCP" or go to Extensions > MCP
   • Add the configuration (see examples above)

3. Restart Cursor for changes to take effect

4. Start querying:

   Can you show me the schema of my Neo4j database?
   How many User nodes do I have?
   Show me sample data for the Movie label

🛠️ Available Tools

Core Tools

Analysis Tools

Schema Analysis Tools

💡 Example Queries

Basic Data Exploration

MATCH (n:Person) RETURN n.name, n.age LIMIT 10

Relationship Analysis

MATCH (p:Person)-[r:FRIENDS_WITH]->(f:Person) 
RETURN p.name, f.name, r.since

Property-based Filtering

MATCH (m:Movie) 
WHERE m.year > 2000 
RETURN m.title, m.year 
ORDER BY m.year DESC

🔒 Security Features

Allowed Operations

• MATCH - Pattern matching
• RETURN - Return results
• WITH - Chain query parts
• UNWIND - Expand lists
• SHOW - Show database metadata
• Read-only CALL procedures (schema, labels, etc.)

Blocked Operations

• CREATE - Creating nodes/relationships
• DELETE / DETACH DELETE - Deleting data
• MERGE - Creating or matching
• SET - Setting properties
• REMOVE - Removing properties/labels
• DROP - Dropping indexes/constraints
• ALTER - Altering schema
• Most CALL procedures (except read-only ones)

🐳 Docker Setup

Use the provided Docker Compose example:

# Copy the example
cp examples/docker-compose.yml .

# Edit password in docker-compose.yml
# Then start Neo4j
docker-compose up -d

# Connect with MCP server
neo4j-mcp-readonly --neo4j-password your_password_here

🔧 Development

Local Development

git clone https://github.com/ThisIsVoid/neo4j-mcp-readonly.git
cd neo4j-mcp-readonly
npm install
npm run build
npm run dev

Building

npm run build

Testing

# Test connection
neo4j-mcp-readonly --help

# Test with your database
NEO4J_PASSWORD=test neo4j-mcp-readonly

📚 Advanced Configuration

Custom Neo4j Configurations

# Neo4j Aura
neo4j-mcp-readonly \
  --neo4j-uri neo4j+s://xxxx.databases.neo4j.io \
  --neo4j-username neo4j \
  --neo4j-password your_aura_password

# Neo4j Enterprise with custom port
neo4j-mcp-readonly \
  --neo4j-uri bolt://enterprise-server:7687 \
  --neo4j-username readonly_user \
  --neo4j-password readonly_password

# Local Neo4j with custom database
neo4j-mcp-readonly \
  --neo4j-uri bolt://localhost:7687/movies \
  --neo4j-username neo4j \
  --neo4j-password mypassword

Environment File Setup

Create a .env file:

NEO4J_URI=bolt://localhost:7687
NEO4J_USERNAME=neo4j
NEO4J_PASSWORD=your_secure_password

Then run:

source .env
neo4j-mcp-readonly

🚨 Troubleshooting

Connection Issues

1. Verify Neo4j is running:

   # Check if Neo4j is listening
   netstat -an | grep 7687

2. Test direct connection:

   # Use Neo4j's cypher-shell
   cypher-shell -u neo4j -p your_password

3. Check firewall/network:

   • Ensure port 7687 is accessible
   • Check if authentication is required

Configuration Issues

1. Invalid credentials:

   Configuration error:
     neo4j.password: Password is required

   Solution: Provide password via --neo4j-password or NEO4J_PASSWORD

2. Connection refused:

   Failed to connect to Neo4j: ServiceUnavailable

   Solution: Check URI and ensure Neo4j is running

MCP Issues

1. Server not found in Cursor:

   • Verify npx can find the package: npx neo4j-mcp-readonly --help
   • Check Cursor MCP configuration syntax
   • Restart Cursor after configuration changes

2. Query blocked:

   Query contains forbidden operations

   Solution: Ensure query only contains allowed read operations

📄 License

MIT License - see LICENSE file for details.

🤝 Contributing

1. Fork the repository
2. Create your feature branch (git checkout -b feature/amazing-feature)
3. Commit your changes (git commit -m 'Add some amazing feature')
4. Push to the branch (git push origin feature/amazing-feature)
5. Open a Pull Request

📊 Publishing to NPM

Publishing to NPM is free for open source packages. Here's how to publish:

First Time Setup

1. Create NPM account: Visit npmjs.com and sign up
2. Login locally:

   npm login

3. Update package.json: Change repository URLs to your GitHub repo

Publishing

# Build the package
npm run build

# Publish (runs prepublishOnly script automatically)
npm publish

# For beta versions
npm publish --tag beta

Updating

# Update version
npm version patch  # or minor, major

# Publish update
npm publish

🌟 Star History

If this project helps you, please consider giving it a star on GitHub!

📞 Support

• 🐛 Bug Reports: GitHub Issues
• 💬 Discussions: GitHub Discussions
• 📖 Documentation: This README and inline code comments
• 🎯 Examples: Check the /examples directory

Made with ❤️ for the Neo4j and Cursor communities