getting-started

Getting Started

A hands-on tutorial that walks you through Graph Explorer using the air routes sample dataset. By the end, you will have searched for airports, explored connections between them, filtered the graph, styled nodes, and viewed data in a table.

Prerequisites

• Docker installed on your machine

Launch Graph Explorer

The fastest way to try Graph Explorer is with the Air Routes sample. It launches Graph Explorer and a Gremlin Server pre-loaded with sample data using Docker Compose — no database setup or AWS account required.

1. Clone the repository

   git clone https://github.com/aws/graph-explorer.git
   

2. Navigate to the sample directory and start the containers

   cd graph-explorer/samples/air_routes
   docker compose up
   

3. Open your browser and navigate to http://localhost:8080/explorer

Graph Explorer opens to the Graph page with a default connection already configured and connected to the Gremlin Server with the air routes data. The canvas is empty because no nodes have been added yet.

Tour the UI

Graph Explorer has four main pages, accessible from the navigation bar at the top:

• Graph — The main visualization canvas where you explore nodes and edges interactively.
• Data Table — A paginated table view of all nodes in the database, organized by type.
• Schema — A visual overview of the schema showing how node types and edge types relate to each other.
• Connections — Where you manage database connections.

Click Connections in the navigation bar to verify the "Default Connection" is active, then click Graph to return to the graph view.

On the right side of the graph view, you will see a vertical strip of sidebar icons. These open panels for Search, Details, Expand, Filters, and Node Label Styling. You will use each of these as you work through the tutorial.

Search for a Node

1. Click the Search icon (magnifying glass) in the right sidebar to open the Search panel.
2. In the Node Label dropdown, select airport.
3. In the Property dropdown, select code.
4. In the search text field, type AUS.
5. Click the result for Austin to expand it, then click the ⊕ button to add it to the graph canvas.

The node appears on the canvas. Click it to select it — the Details panel opens automatically in the right sidebar, showing its properties like city, country, and coordinates. You can zoom with the scroll wheel and pan by clicking and dragging the background.

Expand Neighbors

With the Austin airport node on the canvas, let's discover what it connects to.

1. Double-click the AUS node on the canvas.

Graph Explorer fetches up to 10 neighbors and adds them to the graph. The number on top of a node shows how many unexpanded neighbors remain. Double-click again to fetch the next batch.

Tip

You can also right-click a node and select Expand node from the context menu, or use the Expand sidebar panel for more control over which neighbor types to fetch.

Filter the Graph

As you expand nodes, the graph can get crowded. The Filters panel lets you focus on specific types.

1. Click the Filters icon in the right sidebar to open the Entities Filter panel.
2. You will see two tabs: Node Labels and Edge Labels. Each tab lists the types currently in the graph with checkboxes.
3. Try unchecking a node label to hide those nodes from the canvas. Check it again to bring them back.

This does not remove nodes from the graph — it only controls visibility. You can use this to temporarily focus on a subset of the data.

Table View

You can view the nodes and edges currently on the canvas in a table format without leaving the Graph page.

1. Click the grid icon in the navigation bar to toggle the Table View open.
2. Use the dropdown to switch between All Nodes and All Edges.
3. You can sort, filter, and export the table data to CSV or JSON.

This table only shows what is on the canvas — it is a different view of the same data you have been exploring.

Style Nodes

You can customize how each node type looks on the canvas.

1. Click the Node Label Styling icon in the right sidebar.
2. Find the airport type in the list.
3. Click Customize to open the style dialog.
4. Change the Display Name Property to code so each airport shows its IATA code.
5. Change the Display Description Property to city to see the city name underneath.
6. Change the Node Color to a color of your choice using the color picker.
7. Click Done to apply.

All airport nodes on the canvas update with the new labels and color. You can also change the shape, border, and icon.

Switch to the Data Table

The Data Table page lets you browse all nodes in the database without adding them to the graph first.

1. Click Data Table in the navigation bar.
2. The Node Label dropdown at the top left is pre-selected to airport. Use it to switch to other types like country or continent.
3. Browse the paginated table of all airports in the dataset.
4. To send a specific airport to the graph view, click the Send to Explorer button on its row.

Next Steps

Now that you have explored the basics, here are some directions to go next:

• Features — Explore all capabilities in depth
• Connecting to databases — Connect to Neptune, Gremlin Server, or BlazeGraph
• Deployment guides — Deploy with Docker, EC2, ECS Fargate, or SageMaker
• Configuration — Environment variables for application settings and default connections
• Development — Build from source for local development
• Troubleshooting — Common issues and workarounds
• Samples — More Docker Compose examples for different configurations