In REST API for neo4j, how to merge or create nodes?

Question

I am running a local instance of neo4j ("Community" edition) on a Windows 10 laptop. My client is in Java and uses the REST API (via port 7474) to talk with the neo4j database.

QUESTION: is there some way to get the equivalent of a MERGE/CREATE directive in cypher to happen via the REST API call to /db/data/node endpoint?

I'm guessing that I could impose a unique constraint on different node types and achieve the desired behavior. But out of the box, what I am hoping for is a single endpoint -- Eg, /db/data/node -- which either creates or merges the inbound data with any existing nodes in the graph.

Answer 1

You don't have to figure out how to get the "equivalent" of Cypher clauses like MERGE/CREATE. You can use Cypher directly via either of these REST endpoints:

• /db/data/transaction
• /db/data/cypher

[EDITED]

However, if you only want to use the /db/data/node endpoint, you can take advantage of unique indexing and use either the uniqueness=get_or_create or uniqueness=create_or_fail URL parameters.