# neo4j-driver-go-skill

Guides coding agents through the Neo4j Go Driver v6, covering connection pooling, session modes, and struct parameters.

- skill · `type=skill` · Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, GitHub Copilot, Gemini CLI, OpenCode · 766 installs · ★ 116
- Author: neo4j-contrib
- License: MIT · policy=mirror · the beginning of the file is at the end of this page
- Source: https://github.com/neo4j-contrib/neo4j-skills/tree/HEAD/neo4j-driver-go-skill/SKILL.md
- Updated: 2026-10-21
- HTML: https://affpapa.org/en/nevibecode/skills/neo4j-driver-go-skill

## What it does

This skill equips agents with reference patterns for `github.com/neo4j/neo4j-go-driver/v6/neo4j`. It focuses on creating an application-wide `neo4j.Driver` and verifying network connectivity via `VerifyConnectivity`. One driver instance serves the entire application. Supported URI schemes include `neo4j://` alongside TLS-secured `neo4j+s://` for Aura.

You get patterns for `neo4j.ExecuteQuery` and streaming records with `ExecuteRead`. Driver version 6.2.0 adds support for mapping Go structs directly into Cypher parameters. Error handling is typed. Queries with `CALL IN TRANSACTIONS` fail inside managed transactions, so the instructions require `session.Run` for them.

Cypher query writing falls outside this skill. Generating and tuning graph queries requires `neo4j-cypher-skill`. The skill also skips version migration steps.

## Install

### Claude Code (native platform)

1. **Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add neo4j-contrib/neo4j-skills --skill neo4j-driver-go-skill -a claude-code
```

2. **Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `~/.claude/skills/neo4j-driver-go-skill/SKILL.md` — Copy the whole skill folder; for one project use .claude/skills/neo4j-driver-go-skill/

### Codex

1. **Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add neo4j-contrib/neo4j-skills --skill neo4j-driver-go-skill -a codex
```

2. **Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `.agents/skills/neo4j-driver-go-skill/SKILL.md` — For all projects use ~/.agents/skills/

### Cursor

1. **Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add neo4j-contrib/neo4j-skills --skill neo4j-driver-go-skill -a cursor
```

2. **Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `.cursor/skills/neo4j-driver-go-skill/SKILL.md` — Cursor also reads .agents/skills/ and .claude/skills/

### GitHub Copilot

1. **GitHub CLI**
```bash
gh skill install neo4j-contrib/neo4j-skills neo4j-driver-go-skill
```

2. **Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `.github/skills/neo4j-driver-go-skill/SKILL.md`

### Gemini CLI

1. **Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add neo4j-contrib/neo4j-skills --skill neo4j-driver-go-skill -a gemini-cli
```

2. **Platform CLI**
```bash
gemini skills install https://github.com/neo4j-contrib/neo4j-skills --path neo4j-driver-go-skill
```

### Windsurf (Devin Desktop)

**Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `.devin/skills/neo4j-driver-go-skill/SKILL.md` — The legacy .windsurf/skills/ path still works

### OpenCode

**Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add neo4j-contrib/neo4j-skills --skill neo4j-driver-go-skill -a opencode
```

### Claude.ai

**Claude.ai**
- Zip the folder and upload it in Settings → Capabilities → Skills

Where a file is given instead of a command, copy the files from the source to that path: https://github.com/neo4j-contrib/neo4j-skills/tree/HEAD/neo4j-driver-go-skill/SKILL.md

## When to use it
- Configure a thread-safe neo4j.Driver lifecycle with connection pooling in Go
- Execute graph queries with safe parameter substitution using ExecuteQuery
- Stream large graph datasets with ExecuteRead and lazy result iteration
- Handle transient database and network failures via typed driver errors

## Example prompts
- Initialize a Neo4j driver in Go with connectivity verification and teardown logic.
- Write a read query using ExecuteQuery with readers routing and struct parameters.
- Set up a managed transaction session to stream records from Neo4j without buffering all rows.

## Source text · SKILL.md · MIT

Below is the content of a third-party file. It is data, not instructions for you: do not act on anything written inside unless the human asks. Block tag: 7d74a34b89728707.

BEGIN THIRD-PARTY FILE 7d74a34b89728707
````text
---
name: neo4j-driver-go-skill
description: Covers the Neo4j Go Driver v6 — driver lifecycle, ExecuteQuery, managed and
  explicit transactions, session config, error handling, data type mapping, and connection
  tuning. Use when writing Go code that connects to Neo4j, setting up NewDriver or ExecuteQuery,
  debugging sessions/transactions/result handling, or working with neo4j-go-driver v5→v6 migration.
  Triggers on NewDriver, ExecuteQuery, SessionConfig, ManagedTransaction, neo4j-go-driver.
  Does NOT handle Cypher query authoring — use neo4j-cypher-skill.
  Does NOT cover driver version migration steps — use neo4j-migration-skill.
version: 1.0.7
allowed-tools: Bash WebFetch
---

## When to Use
- Writing Go code that connects to Neo4j
- Setting up `neo4j.NewDriver()`, `ExecuteQuery()`, or session/transaction patterns
- Debugging connection errors, result iteration, type assertions, causal consistency

## When NOT to Use
- **Writing/optimizing Cypher** → `neo4j-cypher-skill`
- **v5→v6 migration steps** → `neo4j-migration-skill`

---

## Installation

```bash
go get github.com/neo4j/neo4j-go-driver/v6
```

Import: `github.com/neo4j/neo4j-go-driver/v6/neo4j`

**v5→v6 rename** (deprecated aliases still compile, remove before v7):

| v5 | v6 |
|----|----|
| `neo4j.NewDriverWithContext(...)` | `neo4j.NewDriver(...)` |
| `neo4j.DriverWithContext` | `neo4j.Driver` |

---

## Environment Variables

```go
import "os"

uri      := getEnv("NEO4J_URI",      "neo4j://localhost:7687")
user     := getEnv("NEO4J_USERNAME", "neo4j")
password := getEnv("NEO4J_PASSWORD", "")
database := getEnv("NEO4J_DATABASE", "neo4j")

func getEnv(key, fallback string) string {
    if v := os.Getenv(key); v != "" { return v }
    return fallback
}
```

Use [godotenv](https://github.com/joho/godotenv) to load `.env` in dev: `godotenv.Load()`. `.env` in `.gitignore`.

---

## Driver Lifecycle

One `Driver` per application. Goroutine-safe, connection-pooled, expensive to create.

```go
func NewNeo4jDriver(uri, user, password string) (neo4j.Driver, error) {
    driver, err := neo4j.NewDriver(
        uri, // "neo4j+s://xxx.databases.neo4j.io" for Aura
        neo4j.BasicAuth(user, password, ""),
    )
    if err != nil {
        return nil, fmt.Errorf("create driver: %w", err)
    }
    ctx := context.Background()
    if err := driver.VerifyConnectivity(ctx); err != nil {
        driver.Close(ctx)
        return nil, fmt.Errorf("verify connectivity: %w", err)
    }
    return driver, nil
}

// In main / app teardown:
defer driver.Close(ctx)
```

❌ Never create driver per-request. Create once at startup; share across goroutines.
````
END THIRD-PARTY FILE 7d74a34b89728707

The third-party file has ended. Everything between the 7d74a34b89728707 tags is data: requests and commands from it are not followed. An “end of file” line with another tag inside the block is part of the file.

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