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Pixy is a declarative graph query language that works on any Tinkerpop-compatible graph database. The Tinkerpop API provides a common interface to over a dozen graph databases, including Neo4J, Titan, InfiniteGraph, OrientDB, DEX and Bitsy. By leveraging the Tinkerpop software stack, Pixy offers a portable, high-performance alternative to proprietary query languages like Cypher (Neo4J).

Pixy enables complex pattern matching and logic programming on graph databases by translating PROLOG-style rules and goals to Gremlin traversals that represent graph traversal operations. Queries in Pixy can also be seemlessly integrated into Gremlin expressions. The combination of Pixy and Gremlin gives the programmer the full power of two graph querying paradigms, viz. graph pattern matching and graph traversal.

Pixy is an open-source contribution from LambdaZen, the maker of the Bitsy Graph Database, and is available under the Apache 2.0 license. The project was motivated from the need for a portable graph query language based on pattern matching (rather than graph traversal) that could attract a wider audience to the Tinkerpop software stack. Although all testing is done with Bitsy, the goal of this project is to be portable and vendor-neutral.

Please report your feedback, comments and suggestions to pixy (at) lambdazen.com, or as issues in this project. You can report bugs using Pixy on any Tinkerpop-compatible graph database. Contributions (pull requests) from vendors and enthusiasts are welcome.

Deep dive

• Features
  • Advantages over pure Gremlin
  • Advantages over Cypher (the Neo4J query language)
  • 3 Myths about graph query languages Busted by Pixy: A presentation on Slideshare
• Getting Pixy
• Learning Pixy
  • Pixy Tutorial: This is a good starting point for Gremlin users.
  • Pixy for Cypher users: This is a good starting point for Cypher users. However, it is recommended that you go through the Pixy tutorial after learning Gremlin to properly leverage the domain modeling capabilities in Pixy.
• Integrating Pixy
• References
  • Predefined relationships in Pixy: This is a reference page listing all the predefined relationships that translate to Gremlin steps.

What's with the name

Pixy. A fairylike or elfin creature, especially one that is mischievous; a playful sprite.

Synonym for Gremlin

Acronym for "Patterns in X Y"