Configuration

🚀 Configure Vector and Graph Stores

You can configure the vector and graph stores using the environment variables in your .env file or programmatically. We use Pydantic Settings 

We have a global configuration object (cognee.config) and individual configurations on pipeline and data store levels

Check available configuration options:

from cognee.infrastructure.databases.vector import get_vectordb_config
from cognee.infrastructure.databases.graph.config import get_graph_config
from cognee.infrastructure.databases.relational import get_relational_config
from cognee.infrastructure.llm.config import get_llm_config
print(get_vectordb_config().to_dict())
print(get_graph_config().to_dict())
print(get_relational_config().to_dict())
print(get_llm_config().to_dict())

Setting the environment variables in your .env file, and Pydantic will pick them up:

GRAPH_DATABASE_PROVIDER = 'lancedb'

Otherwise, you can set the configuration yourself:

cognee.config.set_llm_provider('ollama')

Make sure to keep your API keys secure and never commit them to version control.

🏆 .env settings for the most used engines

Relational Engines

The default SQLite does not need much.

DB_PROVIDER=sqlite

A local Postgres instance would require more.

DB_PROVIDER=postgres
DB_HOST=127.0.0.1
DB_PORT=5432
DB_USERNAME=cognee
DB_PASSWORD=cognee

Vector Engines

LanceDB is the default local, file-based vector store.

VECTOR_DB_PROVIDER="lancedb"

PGVector sits in a PostGres, so a PSQL + PGVector is a natural choice.

VECTOR_DB_PROVIDER="pgvector"

If you’re using an AWS hosted Postgres you need to run CREATE EXTENSION vector; before first use.

Graph Engines

NetworkX only needs

GRAPH_DATABASE_PROVIDER="networkx"

It will persist the data in cognee/.cognee_system/databases/cognee_graph.pkl JSON file.

The same way Kuzu only needs

GRAPH_DATABASE_PROVIDER="kuzu"

Its persistance is slightly different as it will write files to the cognee/.cognee_system/databases/cognee_graph.pkl directory.

Neo4J needs more, a default for a local instance would look like this.

GRAPH_DATABASE_PROVIDER="neo4j"
GRAPH_DATABASE_URL=bolt://localhost:7687
GRAPH_DATABASE_USERNAME=neo4j
GRAPH_DATABASE_PASSWORD=pleaseletmein

Don’t forget to install apoc and graph-data-science plugins.