Guides
Relationships
Relationships connect entity types and describe how they relate to each other.
Create a relationship
Select the source entity type on the canvas. In the Relationships tab of the properties panel, click Add relationship. Choose:
- Target — the entity type this relationship points to
- Name — a verb or label (e.g.
BELONGS_TO,has,authored_by) - Cardinality — how many of each entity can participate
You can also drag from one entity type's handle to another on the canvas to create a relationship visually.
Cardinality
| Value | Meaning |
|---|---|
1:1 | One source maps to exactly one target |
1:N | One source maps to many targets |
N:1 | Many sources map to one target |
N:M | Many sources map to many targets |
Relationship properties
Relationships can carry their own properties — useful for edge metadata in graph databases. Select a relationship and use the Properties tab to add fields, the same way as entity type properties.
For example, a PURCHASED relationship between Customer and Product might have a quantity (number) and purchasedAt (datetime) property.
Self-referencing relationships
A relationship can have the same entity type as both source and target. This is common for hierarchies — e.g. a Category with a PARENT_OF relationship back to Category.
Direction
Relationships in OWB are directed (source → target). The direction is reflected in graph exports like Neo4j Cypher and affects how relationship names are interpreted in docs exports.
Delete a relationship
Select the relationship edge on the canvas and press Delete/Backspace, or use the Delete button in the properties panel.