In modern data ecosystems, the ability to explore relationships visually and respond to evolving data in (near) real time is increasingly important. Pairing a high-performance streaming graph database like Memgraph with a rich visualization and analytics front end like Graphlytic yields a powerful architecture for interactive graph-driven applications. When integrated, Graphlytic can connect to a Memgraph instance (cloud or on-premises) and provide real-time visual feedback on the changing graph.
Why combine Graphlytic and Memgraph?
At a high level, the Memgraph + Graphlytic combination bridges two complementary capabilities:
- Memgraph is engineered for real-time graph computation, supporting streaming ingestion, fast Cypher-based queries, and built-in graph algorithms for things like PageRank, community detection, path search, and more.
- Graphlytic is a web-based platform for graph visualization, exploration, query templates, dashboards, and collaborative graph projects. It abstracts away the details of the graph backend and gives analysts and non-technical users a visually guided interface.
Getting Started: Workflow and Connection
One of the appealing aspects of this integration is its relative simplicity:
- Deploy Memgraph - https://memgraph.com/download
- Deploy Graphlytic - https://graphlytic.com/doc/latest/Installation_manual.html
- Configure the connection in Graphlytic - https://graphlytic.com/doc/latest/Graph_Connections.html
- Optional: Enable auto-refresh / live dashboards in Graphlytic. Since Memgraph is built for streaming updates, Graphlytic's "auto-refresh" mode lets dashboards and visualizations automatically pull fresh graph state on a configurable interval. In effect, you get live graph dashboards that evolve with your incoming data.
From there, analysts can build visualizations, feed in Cypher templates or use query templates, build filters, set permissions, and so on.
Blog post - https://graphlytic.com/blog/how-to-connect-graphlytic-to-memgraph
Standout Features of the Combined Architecture
Here are some of the key features and benefits that emerge when using Graphlytic with Memgraph:
Real-time visualization of streaming data
Because Memgraph supports streaming ingestion (e.g. via Kafka or other event pipelines) and incremental updates, you can use Graphlytic's auto-refresh to see changes propagate visually without manual reloading.
Rich visualization and exploration
Graphlytic brings features such as:
- Customizable layouts and styling
- Query templates (for users who may not want to write raw Cypher)
- Virtual properties, schema restrictions, filtering, and timeline views
- Geo map visualizations (if spatial data is present)
- Multiple user groups, permissions, REST API, SSO, and email/notification integration
These features ease the job of turning raw graph data into actionable dashboards.
Collaboration & team workflows
Graphlytic supports multi-user projects, user groups, and access control over different graph "projects" (connections). This enables teams (analysts, domain experts, data engineers) to share, comment, and iterate.
Low configuration overhead
Because Graphlytic abstracts the graph backend, connecting to Memgraph requires minimal setup (just connection details). Users do not need to build custom dashboards from scratch; Graphlytic provides visualization tooling out of the box.
Leverage Memgraph's algorithmic capabilities
Graphlytic doesn't replace graph computation-rather, it visualizes and interacts with it. By using Memgraph as the compute engine, you can run graph algorithms (e.g. community detection, centrality, path search) and then immediately inspect results visually in Graphlytic.
Flexible deployment & scaling
Memgraph supports local, containerized, or managed cloud deployments, giving you flexibility depending on your needs. Graphlytic itself can be scaled independently as your user base grows.
Instant feedback & monitoring
With auto-refresh and real-time updates, this architecture is well-suited for use cases like fraud detection, IT network monitoring, anomaly detection, and any domain where relationships evolve over time and insights must keep pace.
Use Cases & Scenarios
Some of the application domains where this architecture shines include:
- Fraud / Risk detection - visualize suspicious transaction networks, monitor emerging patterns live
- IT network / infrastructure monitoring - track outages, dependency graphs, root cause paths
- Supply chain & logistics - model interdependencies and see how changes or disruptions propagate
- Knowledge graphs / semantic networks - allow domain experts to visually explore relationships, annotations, and layers of meaning
- Social / communication networks - watch evolving relationships, clusters, influence paths
In each scenario, the real-time data ingestion and live visualization provide a feedback loop that helps teams react and reason dynamically.
Advantages & Considerations
Pros
- Speed & interactivity: You get nearly instant feedback when underlying data changes.
- Lower barrier for non-technical users: Graphlytic enables exploration without needing to write raw queries.
- Separation of concerns: Memgraph handles computation and data plumbing; Graphlytic handles UI/UX and presentation.
- Scalability & flexibility: You can scale or upgrade components independently.
- Collaboration built-in: Teams can share visualizations, manage permissions, and maintain consistent dashboards.
Potential Challenges / Things to Mind
- Latency vs scale tradeoffs: For very large graphs or high update rates, one needs to tune refresh intervals and ensure Memgraph is provisioned sufficiently.
- Security & access control: The integration must ensure secure connectivity (TLS, authentication) and correct mapping of user permissions.
- Version compatibility: As noted earlier, certain Memgraph versions require special flags (e.g. "bolt-server-name-for-init") for Graphlytic to connect properly. Check the Graph Connections documentation for more information.
Conclusion
Pairing Graphlytic with Memgraph offers a compelling architecture for building real-time, visually driven graph applications. Memgraph gives you the raw engine for streaming graph computation and query power, while Graphlytic turns that into accessible, visual, and collaborative graph insights.