Graph snapshots overview (preview)

2025-05-28

Applies to: ✅ Microsoft Fabric ✅ Azure Data Explorer

Note

This feature is currently in public preview. Functionality and syntax are subject to change before General Availability.

A graph snapshot is a database entity that represents a materialized instance of a graph model at a specific point in time. While a graph model defines the structure and data sources, a snapshot is the queryable graph implementation.

Overview

Graph snapshots provide:

Model linkage: Connected to a specific graph model
Point-in-time materialization: Represents the graph state at creation time
Persistence: Stored in the database until explicitly dropped
Direct querying: Enables queries without rebuilding the graph
Metadata storage: Contains creation time and model information

Multiple snapshots from the same graph model enable historical analysis and temporal comparison of graph data.

Graph snapshot structure

Each graph snapshot contains two primary components:

Metadata

Name: Unique snapshot identifier
SnapshotTime: Creation timestamp
Model information:
- ModelName: Source graph model name
- ModelVersion: Model version at snapshot creation
- ModelCreationTime: Source model creation timestamp

Graph data

Nodes: Materialized nodes from the model's AddNodes operations
Edges: Materialized relationships from the model's AddEdges operations
Properties: Node and edge properties as defined in the model

Example snapshot configuration

{
  "Metadata": {
    "Name": "UserInteractionsSnapshot",
    "SnapshotTime": "2025-04-28T10:15:30Z"
  },
  "ModelInformation": {
    "ModelName": "SocialNetworkGraph",
    "ModelVersion": "v1.2",
    "ModelCreationTime": "2025-04-15T08:20:10Z"
  }
}

Management commands

Use these commands to manage graph snapshots:

Command	Purpose
.make graph_snapshot	Create a snapshot from an existing graph model
.drop graph_snapshot	Remove a snapshot from the database
.show graph_snapshots	List available snapshots in the database

Querying snapshots

Query graph snapshots using the graph() function:

Query the latest snapshot

graph("SocialNetworkGraph") 
| graph-match (person)-[knows]->(friend)
  where person.age > 30
  project person.name, friend.name

Query a specific snapshot

graph("SocialNetworkGraph", "UserInteractionsSnapshot") 
| graph-match (person)-[knows]->(friend)
  where person.age > 30
  project person.name, friend.name

For advanced pattern matching and traversals, see Graph operators.

Key benefits