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name: neo4j-aura-provisioning-skill description: Provisions and manages Neo4j Aura instances via CLI (aura-cli v1.7+) or REST API. Use when creating, pausing, resuming, resizing, or deleting AuraDB Free/Professional/Business Critical/VDC instances; downloading credentials; scripting CI/CD pipelines; polling async status; or using the Terraform neo4j/neo4j-aura provider. Covers auth setup (client credentials OAuth2), credential lifecycle (download once — never recoverable), instance type selection, region codes, and Python provisioning scripts. Does NOT handle Cypher queries — use neo4j-cypher-skill. Does NOT cover Graph Data Science algorithms — use neo4j-gds-skill or neo4j-aura-graph-analytics-skill. Does NOT cover neo4j-admin/cypher-shell — use neo4j-cli-tools-skill. version: 1.0.1 allowed-tools: Bash WebFetch

When to Use

Creating an Aura instance (CLI, REST API, Python, Terraform)
Pausing, resuming, resizing, or deleting an instance
Downloading initial credentials from creation response
Polling instance status: creating → running
Setting up CI/CD provisioning or teardown pipelines
Choosing instance tier (Free vs Professional vs Business Critical vs VDC)

When NOT to Use

Cypher queries against running DB → neo4j-cypher-skill
GDS algorithms on Aura → neo4j-gds-skill (Pro with plugin) or neo4j-aura-graph-analytics-skill (serverless)
neo4j-admin / cypher-shell → neo4j-cli-tools-skill
Application driver setup → use a language driver skill (python, javascript, java, go, dotnet)

Instance Tier Decision Table

Tier	API type code	Memory	GDS	Replicas	Use when
AuraDB Free	`free-db`	1 GB	❌	❌	Dev/demo; ≤200k nodes/400k rels
AuraDB Professional	`professional-db`	2–64 GB	plugin available	❌	Production workloads
AuraDB Business Critical	`business-critical`	4–384 GB	plugin available	✅	HA, multi-AZ, SLA
AuraDB VDC	`enterprise-db`	custom	✅	✅	Dedicated infra, compliance
AuraDS Professional	`professional-ds`	2–64 GB	✅ built-in	❌	Data science / GDS
AuraDS Enterprise	`enterprise-ds`	custom	✅	✅	Enterprise GDS

AuraDB Free limits: 200k nodes, 400k rels; auto-pauses after 72 h inactivity; deleted if paused >30 days; no resize.

Auth Setup

CLI (aura-cli v1.7+)

Install (binary, not pip):

bash

# macOS
curl -L https://github.com/neo4j/aura-cli/releases/latest/download/aura-cli-darwin-amd64.tar.gz | tar xz
sudo mv aura-cli /usr/local/bin/
aura-cli -v          # verify

Add credentials (from console.neo4j.io → Account Settings → API Credentials):

bash

aura-cli credential add \
  --name "my-creds" \
  --client-id "$AURA_CLIENT_ID" \
  --client-secret "$AURA_CLIENT_SECRET"
aura-cli credential use --name "my-creds"

Verify:

bash

aura-cli instance list --output table

REST API — Get Bearer Token

Token endpoint: POST https://api.neo4j.io/oauth/token Token expires: 3600 s (1 h). On 403 → refresh token.

bash

TOKEN=$(curl -s --request POST 'https://api.neo4j.io/oauth/token' \
  --user "${AURA_CLIENT_ID}:${AURA_CLIENT_SECRET}" \
  --header 'Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded' \
  --data-urlencode 'grant_type=client_credentials' \
  | jq -r '.access_token')
echo "Token: ${TOKEN:0:20}..."

Use in all subsequent calls: --header "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN"

Step 1 — List Tenants (Projects)

CLI:

bash

aura-cli tenants list --output table
# Copy TENANT_ID for create operations

REST:

bash

curl -s https://api.neo4j.io/v1/tenants \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN" | jq '.data[] | {id, name}'

Step 2 — Create Instance

CRITICAL: Capture output immediately. Initial password shown ONCE — never retrievable again. If lost: delete and recreate. Store aura-creds.json before doing anything else.

CLI

bash

aura-cli instance create \
  --name "my-instance" \
  --cloud-provider gcp \
  --region europe-west1 \
  --type professional-db \
  --tenant-id "$TENANT_ID" \
  --output json | tee aura-creds.json
 
# Extract for .env
INSTANCE_ID=$(jq -r '.id' aura-creds.json)
PASSWORD=$(jq -r '.password' aura-creds.json)

REST API (full create)

bash

RESPONSE=$(curl -s -X POST https://api.neo4j.io/v1/instances \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "name":           "my-instance",
    "cloud_provider": "gcp",
    "region":         "europe-west1",
    "type":           "professional-db",
    "tenant_id":      "'"$TENANT_ID"'",
    "memory":         "4GB",
    "version":        "5"
  }')
echo "$RESPONSE" | tee aura-creds.json
INSTANCE_ID=$(echo "$RESPONSE" | jq -r '.data.id')
PASSWORD=$(echo "$RESPONSE"   | jq -r '.data.password')

Instance create request body fields:

Field	Required	Values
`name`	✅	any string
`cloud_provider`	✅	`gcp` `aws` `azure`
`region`	✅	see region table
`type`	✅	see tier table
`tenant_id`	✅	from tenant list
`memory`	✗	`1GB` `2GB` `4GB` `8GB` … `384GB`
`version`	✗	`5` (default)

Step 3 — Poll Until RUNNING (CRITICAL — All Ops Are Async)

ALL lifecycle operations (create, pause, resume, resize) are async. Do NOT attempt connection or next operation until status = running (or paused for pause op).

bash

poll_status() {
  local INSTANCE_ID=$1 TARGET=$2 MAX_WAIT=${3:-600}
  local ELAPSED=0 STATUS
  echo "Polling for status=$TARGET (max ${MAX_WAIT}s)..."
  while [ $ELAPSED -lt $MAX_WAIT ]; do
    STATUS=$(aura-cli instance get --instance-id "$INSTANCE_ID" --output json \
             | jq -r '.status' 2>/dev/null)
    echo "  [${ELAPSED}s] status=$STATUS"
    [ "$STATUS" = "$TARGET" ] && echo "Ready." && return 0
    [ "$STATUS" = "destroying" ] && echo "ERROR: instance is being destroyed" && return 1
    sleep 10; ELAPSED=$((ELAPSED + 10))
  done
  echo "TIMEOUT after ${MAX_WAIT}s — last status: $STATUS" && return 1
}
 
poll_status "$INSTANCE_ID" "running" 600

REST equivalent:

bash

while true; do
  STATUS=$(curl -s "https://api.neo4j.io/v1/instances/$INSTANCE_ID" \
    -H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN" | jq -r '.data.status')
  [ "$STATUS" = "running" ] && break
  sleep 10
done

Status lifecycle:

creating → running → pausing → paused → resuming → running
                  ↘ destroying → (gone)

Step 4 — Write .env and Verify

bash

CONNECTION_URI="neo4j+s://${INSTANCE_ID}.databases.neo4j.io"
 
cat > .env <<EOF
NEO4J_URI=${CONNECTION_URI}
NEO4J_USERNAME=neo4j
NEO4J_PASSWORD=${PASSWORD}
NEO4J_DATABASE=neo4j
AURA_INSTANCE_ID=${INSTANCE_ID}
EOF
 
# Ensure .env never committed
grep -q '^\.env$' .gitignore 2>/dev/null || echo '.env' >> .gitignore
 
# Verify connectivity
cypher-shell -a "$CONNECTION_URI" -u neo4j -p "$PASSWORD" "RETURN 'connected' AS status"

Step 5 — Lifecycle Operations

All operations require instance in the correct state. Wrong-state ops return 4xx error.

Pause

Required state: running

bash

aura-cli instance pause --instance-id "$INSTANCE_ID"
poll_status "$INSTANCE_ID" "paused" 600

Resume

Required state: paused

bash

aura-cli instance resume --instance-id "$INSTANCE_ID"
poll_status "$INSTANCE_ID" "running" 900   # resume can take longer

Resize (Professional+ only — NOT Free)

Required state: running; instance remains available during resize.

bash

# REST only — CLI resize not available in v1.7
curl -s -X PATCH "https://api.neo4j.io/v1/instances/$INSTANCE_ID" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"memory": "8GB"}'
poll_status "$INSTANCE_ID" "running" 600
# Cannot reduce below current usage level

Delete

IRREVERSIBLE. Export snapshots first if data needed.

bash

aura-cli instance delete --instance-id "$INSTANCE_ID"
# No poll needed — immediate

REST:

bash

curl -s -X DELETE "https://api.neo4j.io/v1/instances/$INSTANCE_ID" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN"

Python CI/CD Provisioning Script

python

import os, time, requests
CLIENT_ID     = os.environ["AURA_CLIENT_ID"]
CLIENT_SECRET = os.environ["AURA_CLIENT_SECRET"]
BASE          = "https://api.neo4j.io/v1"
def get_token() -> str:
    r = requests.post(
        "https://api.neo4j.io/oauth/token",
        auth=(CLIENT_ID, CLIENT_SECRET),
        data={"grant_type": "client_credentials"},
    )
    r.raise_for_status()
    return r.json()["access_token"]
def auth_headers(token: str) -> dict:
    return {"Authorization": f"Bearer {token}", "Content-Type": "application/json"}
def create_instance(token: str, tenant_id: str, **kwargs) -> dict:
    payload = {"tenant_id": tenant_id, "version": "5", **kwargs}
    r = requests.post(f"{BASE}/instances", headers=auth_headers(token), json=payload)
    r.raise_for_status()
    return r.json()["data"]   # contains id, password, connection_url
def poll_status(token: str, instance_id: str, target: str, timeout: int = 600) -> None:
    deadline = time.time() + timeout
    while time.time() < deadline:
        r = requests.get(f"{BASE}/instances/{instance_id}", headers=auth_headers(token))
        r.raise_for_status()
        status = r.json()["data"]["status"]
        print(f"  status={status}")
        if status == target:
            return
        if status == "destroying":
            raise RuntimeError("Instance destroyed unexpectedly")
        time.sleep(10)
    raise TimeoutError(f"Instance {instance_id} did not reach '{target}' in {timeout}s")
# --- usage ---
token    = get_token()
instance = create_instance(
    token,
    tenant_id = os.environ["AURA_TENANT_ID"],
    name           = "ci-test-instance",
    cloud_provider = "aws",
    region         = "us-east-1",
    type           = "professional-db",
    memory         = "2GB",
)
# SAVE CREDENTIALS IMMEDIATELY — password never retrievable again
print(f"ID:       {instance['id']}")
print(f"URI:      neo4j+s://{instance['id']}.databases.neo4j.io")
print(f"Password: {instance['password']}")   # log to secure vault NOW
poll_status(token, instance["id"], "running", timeout=600)
print("Instance ready.")

Region Codes

AWS

Region code	Location
`us-east-1`	N. Virginia
`us-east-2`	Ohio
`us-west-2`	Oregon
`eu-west-1`	Ireland
`eu-west-3`	Paris
`eu-central-1`	Frankfurt
`ap-southeast-1`	Singapore
`ap-southeast-2`	Sydney
`ap-south-1`	Mumbai
`sa-east-1`	São Paulo

GCP

Region code	Location
`europe-west1`	Belgium
`europe-west3`	Frankfurt
`europe-west4`	Netherlands
`us-central1`	Iowa
`us-east1`	S. Carolina
`us-east4`	N. Virginia
`asia-east1`	Taiwan
`asia-northeast1`	Tokyo
`asia-southeast1`	Singapore
`australia-southeast1`	Sydney

Azure

Region code	Location
`eastus`	E. US
`eastus2`	E. US 2
`westeurope`	Netherlands
`northeurope`	Ireland
`uksouth`	London
`southeastasia`	Singapore
`brazilsouth`	Brazil
`koreacentral`	Korea

Enterprise tiers (Business Critical, VDC) add 20+ additional regions per provider. Check console for full list. Free tier: GCP only; limited subset of regions.

Terraform Provider

hcl

terraform {
  required_providers {
    aura = {
      source  = "neo4j/neo4j-aura"
    }
  }
}
 
provider "aura" {
  client_id     = var.aura_client_id       # or AURA_CLIENT_ID env var
  client_secret = var.aura_client_secret   # or AURA_CLIENT_SECRET env var
}
 
resource "aura_instance" "db" {
  name           = "prod-db"
  type           = "professional-db"
  cloud_provider = "gcp"
  region         = "europe-west1"
  memory         = "4GB"
  tenant_id      = var.aura_tenant_id
}
 
output "neo4j_uri" {
  value     = "neo4j+s://${aura_instance.db.id}.databases.neo4j.io"
  sensitive = false
}
output "neo4j_password" {
  value     = aura_instance.db.password
  sensitive = true
}

After terraform apply: poll status before marking infra ready — Terraform resource creation returns when API call completes, not when DB is running.

Common Errors

Error	Cause	Fix
`403 Forbidden` after working	Token expired (1 h TTL)	Re-run `get_token()`
`409 Conflict` on create	Name already exists in tenant	Change name or delete existing
`422` on pause	Instance not `running`	Check status; wait for ongoing op to finish
`422` on resume	Instance not `paused`	Check status
`422` on resize	Below current usage	Reduce data first; can't shrink below usage
Region not found	Tier doesn't support that region	Use `Free` tier on GCP only; Pro/BC on all 3 clouds
Credentials lost after create	Password only returned at create time	Delete + recreate — no reset exists
`429 Too Many Requests`	Rate limit hit (25 req/min Free, 125 req/min Pro+)	Add `time.sleep(2)` between polling calls
`instance list` returns empty	Wrong credential active	`aura-cli credential use --name <name>`

API Rate Limits

Tier	Requests/minute
Free / Pro Trial (no billing)	25
Pro with billing, BC, VDC	125

Poll interval: ≥10 s to stay within limits on Free; 5 s safe on Pro+. On Retry-After header in 5xx response: wait that many seconds before retry.

Security Rules

Write initial credentials to .env; verify .env in .gitignore before proceeding
Never print PASSWORD in CI logs — write to secrets vault (AWS Secrets Manager, GitHub secret, Vault)
Use from_env() / os.environ — never hardcode credentials
If .env absent: python-dotenv load_dotenv() auto-loads; do NOT prompt user unless loading fails

WebFetch — Current Docs

Need	URL
REST API spec (OpenAPI)	`https://neo4j.com/docs/aura/platform/api/specification/`
CLI reference	`https://neo4j.com/docs/aura/aura-cli/`
Region list	`https://neo4j.com/docs/aura/managing-instances/regions/`
Auth details	`https://neo4j.com/docs/aura/api/authentication/`
Instance actions	`https://neo4j.com/docs/aura/managing-instances/instance-actions/`

Checklist

[ ] .env created with URI/user/password; .env in .gitignore
[ ] Initial credentials saved to secure storage immediately after create
[ ] poll_status called after create — do NOT connect before status = running
[ ] poll_status called after pause/resume
[ ] Correct tier selected (Free for dev, Pro+ for production, BC for HA)
[ ] Region confirmed available for chosen tier and cloud provider
[ ] Tenant ID provided for all create/list operations (required in multi-tenant orgs)
[ ] Token refreshed if > 1 h old (or 403 received)
[ ] Delete confirmed by user — data loss is permanent, no recovery

← v1.0.0 All versions