Installation

Neo4j Desktop is free to download and includes a Neo4j Enterprise Edition Developer license. This gives you access to all the capabilities and features of Neo4j Enterprise Edition, with the limitation that these can only be used by you and on a single machine.

System requirements

Table 1. Software requirements
macOS	10.10+ (Yosemite)
Ubuntu	22.04
Debian	11
Windows	10, with PowerShell 5.1+

Desktop comes bundled with the latest Neo4j Enterprise Edition DBMS version and the Java JDK version required by the DBMS. For MacOS, nothing is bundled but rather downloaded at runtime when needed.

Download and install

Neo4j Desktop can be found at the Neo4j Deployment center and is available on Mac, Linux, and Windows.

Go to Deployment Center and download, then see instructions below:

First, find the .dmg file in the Downloads folder and double-click it. This will open the Neo4j Desktop installer.

Second, drag and drop Neo4j Desktop to the Applications folder.

Lastly, open the Applications folder and double-click the Neo4j icon to launch Neo4j Desktop.

First, locate the newly downloaded AppImage file of Neo4j Desktop. Make the file executable by running the following command chmod +x FILE_NAME. Second, double-click the downloaded file to launch the Neo4j Desktop app.

First, locate the newly downloaded file and double-click it to begin the installation. Then follow the on-screen steps to complete the installation.

Custom data path

If you need to store your data in a different location, you can set a custom data path. This is done by setting the NEO4J_DESKTOP_DATA_PATH environment variable to the location your prefer. Note that any existing instances are not migrated to the new location. Your current path can be found on the instance card, see Data path for more information.

To set/unset a custom data path:

To set:

Create a new LaunchAgent plist file, /$HOME/Library/LaunchAgents/com.neo4j.desktop2.plist

Edit the file, updating the custom path:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
   <!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN"
    "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
   <plist version="1.0">
   <dict>
     <key>Label</key>
     <string>com.neo4j.desktop2.env</string>

     <key>ProgramArguments</key>
     <array>
       <string>/Applications/Neo4j Desktop 2.app/Contents/MacOS/Neo4j Desktop 2</string>
     </array>

     <key>EnvironmentVariables</key>
     <dict>
       <key>NEO4J_DESKTOP_DATA_PATH</key>
       <string>/[your custom path]/</string>
     </dict>

     <key>RunAtLoad</key>
     <true/>
   </dict>
   </plist>

Load the plist with launchctl in the terminal or your command line shell of choice:
```
launchctl load ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.neo4j.desktop2.plist
```
Relaunch Desktop

To unset (i.e. revert to default):

launchctl unload ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.neo4j.desktop2.plist

Add the following line to your .bashrc or .zshrc:

export NEO4J_DESKTOP_DATA_PATH=<path to custom location>

Or, provide the path when you launch the app:

NEO4J_DESKTOP_DATA_PATH=<path to custom location> ./path/to/neo4j-desktop-2*.AppImage

To unset (i.e. revert to default), remove the line from your .bashrc or .zshrc and reload the terminal. Alternatively, for the second option, omit the environment variable when you launch Desktop.

Using the Windows key, find the Environment Variables and select Edit the system environment variables.
Use the Environment Variables button and add a new user variable/system variable with the name NEO4J_DESKTOP_DATA_PATH and the value is your custom location, C:\Your\Custom\Path for example.
Use OK to close all dialogues.
Relaunch Desktop

Uninstall Desktop

For a full removal of Desktop, in addition to deleting the application, you need to manually remove the contents in Desktop’s data path. You can find the path listed on the instance card, see Data path for more information. The default location of these vary based on your platform and they are normally hidden:

/$HOME/Library/Application Support/neo4j-desktop/Application/*

$HOME/.config/neo4j-desktop/Application/

C:\%USERPROFILE%\.Neo4jDesktop2\