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Define relationships

Relationship is a link that indicates how the entities are connected in meaning. This article explains how to define and manage relationships.

Create relationship​

Data tab in Relationship Details panel — select relationship (ordered) in node selection, relationship instance row (customer_id·order_id·ordered_at) and pagination

You can easily create relationships on the canvas screen of Builder.

  1. Click and start dragging the mouse on the source entity, then release it on the target entity.
  2. The Create relationship dialog opens.

Relationship properties​

  • Source Entity: The side (subject) where the relationship begins.
  • Target Entity: This is the direction toward which the relationship is directed.
  • Type: Enter the relationship name in lower_snake_case, beginning with a lowercase letter and using only lowercase letters, digits, and underscores, such as knows or contains. Cypher uses this name.
  • Alias: The name that will be displayed on the screen.
  • Description: A description of the relationship (created automatically by AI).
  • Collection: The collection that will contain the relationship (required).

Schema — identification key / display column​

Relationships, like entities, also contain schema information.

  • Identifier key: If the relationship has a schema, select a key column that distinguishes relationship rows. A relationship can be created without its own schema or identifier key. The pipeline editor can show a key warning on a relationship node, so review the target schema and execution result before using it as input or output.
  • Display Column: This is the column to use as the name to represent each relationship.
Before creating a relationship

Both endpoint entities must have identifier keys before you can save the relationship. A schema and identifier key on the relationship itself are optional. After adding a relationship schema, you cannot delete or rename an existing property, change its type or nullability, or change the identifier key.

To change one of these fields, delete and recreate the relationship. Before deletion, review pipelines that reference it. After recreation, upload the file again or review pipeline connections and reload the data.

Load data​

On the relationship's Data tab, upload a CSV, JSON, or Parquet file, or connect code output to the relationship in a pipeline. Pipeline fields are not mapped automatically, so make the code output's column names and types match the relationship schema.

Data tab​

Review relationship data page by page. Columns appear in identifier-key, display-column, and remaining-property order. Refresh, upload, download, open in Graph Explorer, and initialize the table. See View rows on the entity Data tab for the initialization confirmation procedure.

Edit and delete relationships​

  • When you click an edge on the canvas, detailed information appears in the right panel.
  • You can edit alias, description, and tags in this panel. The relationship name and source and target entities are read-only.
  • Select the connection line and press the Delete key to delete the relationship.