Neo4j is normally accessed as a standalone server, either directly through a REST interface or through a language-specific driver. More information about Neo4j server is found in Chapter 17, Neo4j Server. For running the server and embedded installations in high availability mode, see Chapter 22, High Availability.

Neo4j can be embedded directly in a server application by including the appropriate Java libraries. When programming, you can refer to the GraphDatabaseService API. To switch from a single instance to multiple highly available instances, simply switch from the concrete EmbeddedGraphDatabase to the HighlyAvailableGraphDatabase.