use-merge-to-avoid-duplicate-nodes - SKILL.md Agent Skill

name: Use MERGE to avoid duplicate nodes description: Use MERGE for idempotent upserts with ON CREATE and ON MATCH clauses to avoid duplicates

Use MERGE to avoid duplicate nodes

Use MERGE for idempotent upserts that create nodes only if they don't exist.

Usage

Use MERGE when you want to ensure a node exists without creating duplicates. Combine with ON CREATE and ON MATCH clauses to set properties conditionally.

Example

redis-cli GRAPH.QUERY social "MERGE (u:User {id: 42})
ON CREATE SET u.name = 'Dana'
ON MATCH SET u.last_seen = timestamp()"

Notes

MERGE creates the node if it doesn't exist, or matches it if it does
ON CREATE SET runs only when a new node is created
ON MATCH SET runs only when an existing node is matched
This ensures idempotent operations that can be safely repeated