Indexes overview

An index is a data structure that speeds up queries by providing quick access to specific data.

GQL supports the following types of indexes:

Index type	Main purpose	Creation method
Primary key index	Quickly retrieve specific nodes.	Automatically created when the primary key is defined
Type index	Quickly find specific node types or edge types.	Automatically created
Normal index	Quickly retrieve nodes or edges based on one or more properties.	CREATE NORMAL INDEX
Vertex-centric index	Quickly locate associated edges centered on a node. Suitable for edge filtering on super nodes. A special usage of normal indexes.	Vertex-centric index
Vector index	Quickly find similar vectors.	CREATE VECTOR INDEX
Spatial index	Quickly retrieve spatial data.	CREATE SPATIAL INDEX
Full-text index	Quickly search for specific words or phrases within STRING properties.	CREATE FULLTEXT INDEX

Property value types and index support

The following table shows whether each property value type can be used to form a primary key and which explicitly created property indexes it supports. ✅ indicates supported, and ❌ indicates not supported. Primary key indexes are created automatically. Type indexes apply to node and edge types rather than property values and are therefore not included in the table.

Property value type	Can be a primary key	Normal index (including vertex-centric indexes)	Vector index	Spatial index	Full-text index
Numeric	✅	✅	❌	❌	❌
STRING	✅	✅	❌	❌	✅
Boolean	✅	✅	❌	❌	❌
Temporal instant types	✅	✅	❌	❌	❌
DURATION	✅	❌	❌	❌	❌
VECTOR	❌	❌	✅	❌	❌
GEOGRAPHY	❌	❌	❌	✅	❌
LIST	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌
SET and MAP	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌

Note

• LIST, SET, MAP, VECTOR, and GEOGRAPHY properties cannot be used to form a primary key. For all primary key constraints, see PRIMARY KEY.
• Although normal indexes do not support VECTOR or GEOGRAPHY properties, you can create vector indexes on VECTOR properties and spatial indexes on GEOGRAPHY properties.
• DURATION, LIST, SET, and MAP properties do not support any currently available explicitly created property index.
• NODE, EDGE, PATH, RECORD, TABLE, and NULL cannot be used as node or edge property types and therefore do not apply to this table.

Caution

SET and MAP cannot currently be used in a primary key. A graph type definition may not reject them, but writing nodes with such a primary key is not supported.

Apart from creating indexes, GQL also provides the following statements and commands to manage indexes:

• DROP INDEX: Deletes indexes.
• SHOW (ALL) INDEXES: Lists indexes.