File locations
Default file locations
The following table lists the default location of the Neo4j files, per type and distribution.
| File type | Description | Linux / macOS / Docker | Windows | Debian / RPM | Neo4j Desktop [1] |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Bin |
The Neo4j running script and built-in tools, such as, cypher-shell and neo4j-admin. |
<neo4j-home>/bin |
<neo4j-home>\bin |
/usr/bin |
From the Open dropdown menu of your Neo4j instance, select Terminal, and navigate to <installation-version>/bin. |
Configuration [2] |
The Neo4j configuration settings and the JMX access credentials. |
<neo4j-home>/conf/neo4j.conf |
<neo4j-home>\conf\neo4j.conf |
/etc/neo4j/neo4j.conf |
From the Open dropdown menu of your Neo4j instance, select Terminal, and navigate to <installation-version>/conf/neo4j.conf. |
Data [3] |
All data-related content, such as databases, transactions, cluster-state (if applicable), and dumps. |
<neo4j-home>/data |
<neo4j-home>\data |
/var/lib/neo4j/data |
From the Open dropdown menu of your Neo4j instance, select Terminal, and navigate to <installation-version>/data. |
Import |
All CSV files that the command |
<neo4j-home>/import |
<neo4j-home>\import |
/var/lib/neo4j/import |
From the Open dropdown menu of your Neo4j instance, select Terminal, and navigate to <installation-version>/import. |
Labs [4] |
Contains APOC Core. |
<neo4j-home>/labs |
<neo4j-home>\labs |
/var/lib/neo4j/labs |
From the Open dropdown menu of your Neo4j instance, select Terminal, and navigate to <installation-version>/labs. |
Lib |
All Neo4j dependencies. |
<neo4j-home>/lib |
<neo4j-home>\lib |
/usr/share/neo4j/lib |
From the Open dropdown menu of your Neo4j instance, select Terminal, and navigate to <installation-version>/lib. |
Logs |
The Neo4j log files. |
<neo4j-home>/logs [5] |
<neo4j-home>\logs |
/var/log/neo4j/ [6] |
From the Open dropdown menu of your Neo4j instance, select Terminal, and navigate to <installation-version>/logs. |
Metrics |
The Neo4j built-in metrics for monitoring the Neo4j DBMS and each individual database. |
<neo4j-home>/metrics |
<neo4j-home>\metrics |
/var/lib/neo4j/metrics |
From the Open dropdown menu of your Neo4j instance, select Terminal, and navigate to <installation-version>/metrics. |
Plugins |
Custom code that extends Neo4j, for example, user-defined procedures, functions, and security plugins. |
<neo4j-home>/plugins |
<neo4j-home>\plugins |
/var/lib/neo4j/plugins |
From the Open dropdown menu of your Neo4j instance, select Terminal, and navigate to <installation-version>/plugins. |
Run |
The processes IDs. |
<neo4j-home>/run |
<neo4j-home>\run |
/var/lib/neo4j/run |
From the Open dropdown menu of your Neo4j instance, select Terminal, and navigate to <installation-version>/run. |
1. Applicable to all operating systems where Neo4j Desktop is supported. 2. For details about neo4j.conf, see: The neo4j.conf file. 3. The data directory is internal to Neo4j and its structure is subject to change between versions without notice.
4. The
5. To view neo4j.log in Docker, use
6. To view the neo4j.log for Debian and RPM, use |
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Customize your file locations
The file locations can also be customized by using environment variables and options.
The locations of <neo4j-home> and conf can be configured using environment variables:
| Location | Default | Environment variable | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
<neo4j-home> |
parent of bin |
|
Must be set explicitly if bin is not a subdirectory. |
conf |
<neo4j-home>/conf |
|
Must be set explicitly if it is not a subdirectory of <neo4j-home>. |
The rest of the locations can be configured by uncommenting the respective setting in the conf/neo4j.conf file and changing the default value.
#dbms.directories.data=data
#dbms.directories.plugins=plugins
#dbms.directories.logs=logs
#dbms.directories.lib=lib
#dbms.directories.run=run
#dbms.directories.metrics=metrics
#dbms.directories.transaction.logs.root=data/transactions
#dbms.directories.dumps.root=data/dumps