Visual Graph Explorer

Overview

The Visual Graph Explorer is a read-only Dataiku webapp designed for business users and analysts to perform in-depth visual exploration of graphs exposed through the webapp.

These graphs can come from Dataiku Folders published from Visual Graph and, when configured, unmanaged Neo4j databases.

Note

Get started by following this Explorer webapp tutorial.

Key features

• Schema overview

  View the graph’s structure, including all node and edge groups.
• Visual exploration

  Visualize graphs with different layouts, merge parallel edges to simplify dense views, expand neighbors to explore relationships, apply conditional styling based on node and edge properties, and inspect query results in graph or table views.
• Saved queries

  Execute a library of saved Cypher queries prepared by data scientists to answer common business questions.
• Interactive querying

  Search managed graphs by keywords or graph patterns, write Cypher queries with schema-aware autocompletion, or use AI search to ask questions in natural language.
• Dashboard insights

  Create a static insight from the current query result and add it to a dashboard.

Note

Managed graphs, schema design, data mapping, and default group styling are configured in the Visual Graph Editor webapp before publication.

For unmanaged Neo4j databases, the Explorer reads the schema from the database and generates default group styles. No published configuration or Dataiku Folder is required.

Settings

Graph databases

• Managed databases: select one or multiple Dataiku Folders containing graph databases published from Visual Graph. Leave this empty if you only want to expose unmanaged Neo4j databases directly in the Explorer.

• Neo4j connection: if some selected folders represent a Neo4j graph database, or if you want to expose unmanaged Neo4j databases built outside Visual Graph, configure the connection to be used by the webapp. For a Per-user OIDC preset, each user must connect their Neo4j identity.

• Unmanaged Neo4j databases: select one or multiple unmanaged Neo4j databases to expose in the Explorer through the selected Neo4j connection. No Dataiku Folder materialization is required for these databases.

Note

Only one Neo4j connection can be used for all selected folders and unmanaged Neo4j databases in a given Explorer webapp.

To access Neo4j databases available through different connections, you will need to create separate Explorer webapps for each connection.

AI assistant

• LLM connection to use (Optional): select an LLM connection to enable AI search. It helps users construct complex Cypher queries using natural language.

• LLM history dataset (Optional): select the dataset storing the history of all questions asked by users in AI search. It can be used for auditing or analysis.

Advanced settings

• Query and search timeout (seconds): set a maximum execution time for Cypher queries and searches run within the Explorer. A search that runs several queries shares this limit. The default is 30 seconds.

• Max threads: limit the number of threads used by the built-in graph database. Use 0 for the database default.

• Log level: configure the verbosity of the logs. Select INFO for standard operational logging (recommended for production) or DEBUG for detailed diagnostic information while troubleshooting issues.

Note

Not configuring optional settings will simply disable the associated feature.

Visual Graph Explorer Interface

Landing Page

The landing page displays a list of all available graphs exposed through the selected graph database folders and, when configured, the selected unmanaged Neo4j databases.

For graphs published from the Editor, metadata such as the last build time is shown to indicate data freshness.

Graph Exploration Page

Left-side panel

Graph information

The top of the panel displays the graph’s name.

For graphs published from the Editor, it also displays the last build time and any comment saved with the published configuration.

Groups

All node and edge groups are listed with their respective colors.

Graph statistics

For each group, two types of counts are shown:

• visible: The number of nodes/edges currently displayed.

• total: The total number of nodes/edges for that group in the entire graph database.

View controls

For each node and edge group, you can toggle its visibility on or off to show or hide all elements of that group in the current view.

Search bar

The search bar replaces the query panel at the bottom of the Explorer in earlier plugin versions.

The search bar provides Smart search, AI search, and Cypher query. For managed graphs, it also provides the saved queries published from the Editor. AI search requires an LLM connection in the webapp settings.

Unmanaged Neo4j databases support Cypher query and AI search. Smart search, including graph patterns, and saved queries are not available. See Searching a graph for matching rules, requirements, and limits.

Central panel

In the Graph view, you can click on any node or edge to inspect its details, including its identifier, name, and properties.

In the Table view, query results are rendered as typed cells. See Query table results for supported table value types.

Create an insight

Click Create insight to capture the current query result and view as a static project insight, which you can then add to a dashboard. This action is only available to users with permission to write dashboards in the project.

The snapshot is not refreshed. Viewers see the captured data regardless of their Neo4j permissions; Dataiku project and dashboard permissions control access. See Neo4j single sign-on.

When a node is selected, an additional Neighbors tab is available. It provides an overview of all directly connected nodes, displaying the total neighbor count and a breakdown by node group.

From here, you can selectively expand all neighbors or only those belonging to a specific group to explore the graph’s structure interactively.

Edge merging

To keep dense multigraph results readable, Visual Graph can merge parallel edges between the same source node, target node, and edge group.

A merged edge shows how many individual edges it represents. Edge merging is enabled by default for groups of at least 10 parallel edges.

You can change the threshold, disable merging, expand a merged edge back to its individual edges, or browse the individual edges from the selected-edge details.

Graph layouts

Switch between different layouts to optimize the visualization of your graph based on its structure.

Options include gravity (the default layout), tree for hierarchical data, circle or square grid grouping to cluster nodes per group, and Map for geographic data.

Warning

Tree layout is computationally intensive. It is not recommended for large graphs.

Conditional styling

Enhance the visual analysis of your graph by styling nodes or edges based on the values of a selected property.

You can define color, size, or icon rules per node group, and color or size rules per edge group. For numerical values, you can work with ranges and gradients. For categorical values, you can assign styles to specific values.

You can also define Focus rules to highlight nodes matching a condition and their incident edges.

It helps identify patterns, clusters, or outliers within the graph based on specific attributes.

Note

The Explorer stores conditional styling, layout, group visibility, edge-merging settings, and the last executed query in browser storage for each graph. These settings are restored when you reopen the graph and are not shared with other users.

Conditional styling is a view-level aid for exploration. It does not change the underlying graph configuration, and it is only available for groups with displayed elements and available properties. Changes apply automatically to the current view.