The node and relationship aspects introduce (via AspectJ ITD - inter type declaration) several methods to the entities. Persisting the node entity after creation and after changes outside of a transaction. Participates in an open transaction, or creates its own implicit transaction otherwise. nodeEntity.persist() Accessing node and relationship IDs nodeEntity.getNodeId() and relationshipEntity.getRelationshipId() Accessing the node or relationship backing the entity entity.getPersistentState() equals() and hashCode() are delegated to the underlying state entity.equals() and entity.hashCode() Creating relationships to a target node entity, and returning the relationship entity instance nodeEntity.relateTo(targetEntity, relationshipClass, relationshipType) Retrieving a single relationship entity nodeEntity.getRelationshipTo(targetEntity, relationshipClass, relationshipType) Creating relationships to a target node entity and returning the relationship nodeEntity.relateTo(targetEntity, relationshipType) Retrieving a single relationship nodeEntity.getRelationshipTo(targetEnttiy, relationshipType) Removing a single relationship nodeEntity.removeRelationshipTo(targetEntity, relationshipType) Remove the node entity, its relationships, and all index entries for it nodeEntity.remove() and relationshipEntity.remove() Project entity to a different target type, using the same backing state entity.projectTo(targetClass) Traverse, starting from the current node. Returns end nodes of traversal converted to the provided type. nodeEntity.findAllByTraversal(targetType, traversalDescription) Traverse, starting from the current node. Returns EntityPaths of the traversal result bound to the provided start and end-node-entity types Iterable<EntityPath> findAllPathsByTraversal(traversalDescription) Executes the given query, replacing %start with the node-id and returning the results converted to the target type. <T> Iterable<T> NodeBacked.findAllByQuery(final String query, final Class<T> targetType) Executes the given query, replacing %start with the node-id and returning the original result, but with nodes and relationships replaced by their appropriate entities. Iterable<Map<String,Object>> NodeBacked.findAllByQuery(final String query) Executes the given query, replacing %start with the node-id and returns a single result converted to the target type. <T> T NodeBacked.findByQuery(final String query, final Class<T> targetType)