Neo4j Snowflake Graph Analytics Skill

Snowflake Native App — graph algorithm power inside Snowflake. Data stays in Snowflake; project into a graph, run algorithms via SQL CALL, results written back to Snowflake tables.

Docs: https://neo4j.com/docs/snowflake-graph-analytics/current/

When to Use

• Running graph algorithms / GDS in Snowflake
• Data already lives in Snowflake tables
• On-demand / pipeline workloads — ephemeral sessions, pay per session-minute
• Full isolation from the live database during analytics

When NOT to Use

• Aura Pro with embedded GDS plugin → neo4j-gds-skill
• Aura Graph Analytics → neo4j-aura-graph-analytics-skill
• Self-managed Neo4j with embedded GDS plugin → neo4j-gds-skill
• Writing Cypher queries → neo4j-cypher-skill

The End-to-End Flow

This is the flow that works. Don't jump straight to a CALL — most failures come from skipping the data-preparation step.

1. Explore the source data — inspect table DDLs to learn columns and types.
2. Prepare projection views — create node/relationship views that expose the required key columns and cast every property to a supported type (see the strict rules below). This is the step that matters most.
3. Project → Compute → Write — run the algorithm with a single CALL, assembling the project, compute, and write config.
4. Inspect & look up names — join numeric results back to the source table to get human-readable labels.

Step 1 — Explore the Source Data

Look at the table definitions before designing the graph:

SELECT GET_DDL('TABLE', 'MY_DATABASE.MY_SCHEMA.MY_TABLE');
-- or inspect columns/types:
SELECT COLUMN_NAME, DATA_TYPE
FROM MY_DATABASE.INFORMATION_SCHEMA.COLUMNS
WHERE TABLE_SCHEMA = 'MY_SCHEMA' AND TABLE_NAME = 'MY_TABLE';

Decide which tables are nodes and which represent relationships (edges) between them.

Step 2 — Prepare Projection Views (the important part)

The graph engine is strict about column names and types. Snowflake views inherit the source column type by default, so you MUST add explicit CASTs — never SELECT col without one for a property column.

Create views that reshape your tables into the node/relationship format:

CREATE OR REPLACE VIEW MY_DATABASE.MY_SCHEMA.MY_NODES_VW AS
SELECT ... FROM MY_DATABASE.MY_SCHEMA.MY_TABLE;

Node views

• Key column: expose the primary key as NODEID. It must be BIGINT or STRING. Always alias and cast explicitly: SOURCE_COL::BIGINT AS NODEID or SOURCE_COL::STRING AS NODEID.
• Allowed node property types (exactly): BIGINT, DOUBLE, ARRAY, VECTOR(FLOAT, n). Anything else must be cast to one of these or dropped.
• Composite keys: concatenate parts with '++'.
• Naming: <table>_NODES_VW.

Source-type → view-type casting rules

Apply these when projecting columns from your tables (keep the original column name unless renaming):

Lowest-common-denominator policy: by default include only safe columns (numeric → BIGINT/DOUBLE, ARRAY, VECTOR). Booleans and time-like columns require explicit opt-in. When you drop columns, briefly tell the user which and why, so they can ask for them back.

Relationship views

• Key columns: expose SOURCENODEID and TARGETNODEID, cast with the same rules as NODEID (SOURCE_COL::BIGINT AS SOURCENODEID, etc.). Every value must match an existing NODEID in a node view.
• Allowed relationship property types (narrower): BIGINT, DOUBLE, INT only. No ARRAY, no VECTOR. (The docs describe relationship properties as FLOAT; the engine accepts these whole/fractional numeric casts and treats them as weights — keep them numeric.)
• Naming: <table>_RELATIONSHIPS_VW.

Example node + relationship views:

CREATE OR REPLACE VIEW MY_DATABASE.MY_SCHEMA.USER_NODES_VW AS
SELECT user_id::BIGINT AS NODEID,
       CAST(age AS BIGINT)        AS age,
       CAST(balance AS DOUBLE)    AS balance
FROM MY_DATABASE.MY_SCHEMA.USERS;

CREATE OR REPLACE VIEW MY_DATABASE.MY_SCHEMA.TRANSFERS_RELATIONSHIPS_VW AS
SELECT from_user::BIGINT AS SOURCENODEID,
       to_user::BIGINT   AS TARGETNODEID,
       CAST(amount AS DOUBLE) AS amount
FROM MY_DATABASE.MY_SCHEMA.TRANSFERS;

The required logical column names are nodeId / sourceNodeId / targetNodeId — Snowflake folds unquoted identifiers to uppercase, so NODEID etc. match. Casting explicitly is what matters.

Step 3 — Project → Compute → Write

Every run is a single CALL whose first argument is the compute pool and second is a JSON config with three parts. Note JSON uses single quotes in Snowflake SQL.

App name: Neo4j_Graph_Analytics is only the default installation name. If the app was installed under a different name, replace it everywhere — in the procedure call (<APP>.graph.<algo>), the USE DATABASE <APP> statement, and the privilege grants below. Check with SHOW APPLICATIONS;.

USE ROLE MY_CONSUMER_ROLE;

CALL Neo4j_Graph_Analytics.graph.wcc('CPU_X64_XS', {
    'defaultTablePrefix': 'MY_DATABASE.MY_SCHEMA',
    'project': {
        'nodeTables': ['USER_NODES_VW'],
        'relationshipTables': {
            'TRANSFERS_RELATIONSHIPS_VW': {
                'sourceTable': 'USER_NODES_VW',
                'targetTable': 'USER_NODES_VW',
                'orientation': 'NATURAL'
            }
        }
    },
    'compute': { 'consecutiveIds': true },
    'write': [{
        'nodeLabel': 'USER_NODES_VW',
        'outputTable': 'result_wcc_user_communities'
    }]
});

SELECT * FROM MY_DATABASE.MY_SCHEMA.result_wcc_user_communities;

Config parts

• defaultTablePrefix — set to the database + schema where your views and output tables live (DB.SCHEMA); lets you reference them by short name.
• project — nodeTables (array; each maps to a label) and relationshipTables (map; each key maps to a type, with sourceTable/targetTable/orientation).
• compute — algorithm parameters. Omit any parameter whose value would be null.
• write — a list of write targets. nodeLabel (or sourceLabel/targetLabel) is the table/view name of the nodes being written. For relationship results use relationshipType.

Orientation

Set orientation per relationship table in relationshipTables:

• NATURAL (default) — directed, source → target (as stored in the table).
• UNDIRECTED — treated as bidirectional (each relationship is included in both directions).
• REVERSE — direction flipped, target → source.

Choose based on the algorithm:

• UNDIRECTED — community detection that treats edges symmetrically: WCC, Louvain, Leiden, Label Propagation. Triangle Count requires UNDIRECTED.
• NATURAL — directed-flow and ranking: PageRank, Article Rank, Dijkstra and the other pathfinding algorithms, Max Flow. Node Similarity expects a bipartite graph (two disjoint node sets) projected NATURAL; use REVERSE to compare the other node set instead.
• KNN ignores relationships entirely — similarity comes from node properties, so orientation has no effect on it (and K-Means likewise uses only node properties).

Compute pools (first CALL argument)

Prefer CPU_X64_XS unless the user asks otherwise or GraphSAGE makes a GPU pool appropriate. See Estimating Jobs.

Result table naming

Name output tables result_<algotag>_<short_description>, underscores only, no spaces/special chars (e.g. result_louvain_customer_segments). When writing multiple node labels, use a distinct table per label.

Step 4 — Inspect & Look Up Names

What the algorithm produces depends on its type — check the algorithm's write config:

• Node-property results (centrality, community detection, k-means, embeddings, FastPath) — a table keyed by NODEID.
• Relationship results (Node Similarity, KNN, Dijkstra & other pathfinding, Max Flow) — a table keyed by SOURCENODEID / TARGETNODEID. BFS and other heterogeneous writes also add SOURCELABEL / TARGETLABEL, with the node IDs stored as strings.
• A model (GraphSAGE training) — no output table; it writes to the model catalog. Use the model later for prediction, which then produces a node-property table.

VARCHAR labels were dropped during projection, so join the result back to the source table on the key column(s) to get readable names. For node-property results, join on NODEID:

SELECT u.name, u.country, r.score
FROM MY_DATABASE.MY_SCHEMA.result_page_rank_influence r
JOIN MY_DATABASE.MY_SCHEMA.USERS u
  ON r.NODEID = u.user_id
ORDER BY r.score DESC
LIMIT 10;

For relationship results, join the source table twice — once on SOURCENODEID and once on TARGETNODEID.

Available Algorithms

Procedure = Neo4j_Graph_Analytics.graph.<name>. Names below are exact.

For complete algorithm compute/write parameter reference, see references/algorithms.md.

Community Detection

Centrality

Pathfinding

Similarity

Node Embeddings

GraphSAGE (Graph ML)

Model catalog (GraphSAGE)

show_models, model_exists, drop_model.

Algorithm-Specific Notes

GraphSAGE

• Projected node tables used by GraphSAGE must not contain ARRAY property columns — use VECTOR(FLOAT, n) for multi-valued numeric features. (ARRAY is fine for non-GraphSAGE algorithms.)
• Feature columns must be non-NULL and finite — filter, impute, or exclude nullable feature columns in the view. For gs_nc_train, the targetProperty is a label (not a feature) and may be NULL.
• Before running, list the node properties GraphSAGE will use per node table: all non-NODEID columns; for gs_nc_train exclude the targetProperty.
• Training (gs_nc_train, gs_unsup_train) can be slow and may use a GPU pool (GPU_NV_S). Show the exact CALL and get explicit confirmation before running training.

Dijkstra Source-Target (dijkstra)

Provide one of:

• single pair: sourceNode + sourceNodeTable, targetNode + targetNodeTable;
• one source, many targets: sourceNode + sourceNodeTable, targetNodes (list) + targetNodesTable;
• many pairs: sourceTargetNodePairsTable (table with SOURCENODEID/TARGETNODEID columns) + sourceNodeTable + targetNodeTable.

General

• Never use NODEID itself as an algorithm property.
• Omit any config parameter whose value is null.

Installation

1. Install Neo4j Graph Analytics from the Snowflake Marketplace (default app name Neo4j_Graph_Analytics).
2. Enable Event sharing when prompted.
3. Data Products → Apps → Neo4j Graph Analytics → Privileges → Grant: grant CREATE COMPUTE POOL and CREATE WAREHOUSE, then click Activate.

Privilege Setup (run once per database/schema)

USE ROLE ACCOUNTADMIN;

-- Consumer role for app users
CREATE ROLE IF NOT EXISTS MY_CONSUMER_ROLE;
GRANT APPLICATION ROLE Neo4j_Graph_Analytics.app_user TO ROLE MY_CONSUMER_ROLE;
SET MY_USER = (SELECT CURRENT_USER());
GRANT ROLE MY_CONSUMER_ROLE TO USER IDENTIFIER($MY_USER);

-- Database role granting the app access to your data
USE DATABASE MY_DATABASE;
CREATE DATABASE ROLE IF NOT EXISTS MY_DB_ROLE;
GRANT USAGE ON DATABASE MY_DATABASE TO DATABASE ROLE MY_DB_ROLE;
GRANT USAGE ON SCHEMA MY_DATABASE.MY_SCHEMA TO DATABASE ROLE MY_DB_ROLE;
GRANT SELECT ON ALL TABLES  IN SCHEMA MY_DATABASE.MY_SCHEMA TO DATABASE ROLE MY_DB_ROLE;
GRANT SELECT ON ALL VIEWS   IN SCHEMA MY_DATABASE.MY_SCHEMA TO DATABASE ROLE MY_DB_ROLE;
-- FUTURE grants let the app read tables/views it creates (needed for chaining)
GRANT SELECT ON FUTURE TABLES IN SCHEMA MY_DATABASE.MY_SCHEMA TO DATABASE ROLE MY_DB_ROLE;
GRANT SELECT ON FUTURE VIEWS  IN SCHEMA MY_DATABASE.MY_SCHEMA TO DATABASE ROLE MY_DB_ROLE;
GRANT CREATE TABLE ON SCHEMA MY_DATABASE.MY_SCHEMA TO DATABASE ROLE MY_DB_ROLE;
GRANT DATABASE ROLE MY_DB_ROLE TO APPLICATION Neo4j_Graph_Analytics;

-- Let the consumer role read output tables
GRANT USAGE ON DATABASE MY_DATABASE TO ROLE MY_CONSUMER_ROLE;
GRANT USAGE ON SCHEMA MY_DATABASE.MY_SCHEMA TO ROLE MY_CONSUMER_ROLE;
GRANT SELECT ON FUTURE TABLES IN SCHEMA MY_DATABASE.MY_SCHEMA TO ROLE MY_CONSUMER_ROLE;

USE ROLE MY_CONSUMER_ROLE;   -- run algorithms as the consumer role

Replace MY_DATABASE, MY_SCHEMA, MY_CONSUMER_ROLE, MY_DB_ROLE with your names throughout.

Common Patterns

Chaining algorithms

Because results write to tables (and the FUTURE TABLES grant lets the app read what it creates), feed one algorithm's output into the next:

-- 1. Embeddings
CALL Neo4j_Graph_Analytics.graph.fast_rp('CPU_X64_XS', { ... });
-- 2. KNN over the embedding output table (projected as a node view)
CALL Neo4j_Graph_Analytics.graph.knn('CPU_X64_XS', { ... });

Convert categorical data to numeric

The graph engine can't use VARCHAR as a property. Map categories to numbers in the view (e.g. CASE / a lookup join). To read results by their original label, join the output table back to the source table on the key.

Troubleshooting

Full guide: https://neo4j.com/docs/snowflake-graph-analytics/current/troubleshooting/

Further Reading

• Getting Started
• Running Jobs · Scaling Out · Estimating Jobs
• All Algorithms
• Administration
• Integration with Cortex Agent
• Basket Analysis Example on TPC-H Data

Checklist

• App installed; privileges granted on the database/schema
• Views expose NODEID / SOURCENODEID / TARGETNODEID, every property explicitly cast
• orientation matches the algorithm
• Single CALL ran without error; output table populated
• Results joined back to source table for readable labels

Source: neo4j-contrib/neo4j-skills — distributed by TomeVault.