examples · graph · 5 / 7

5. dijkstra - weighted shortest path

what this does

Finds the minimum-cost single path from src to dst using your edge weights. Returns the total cost. If the destination is unreachable, returns null.

when to use it

Routing / cost minimisation - latency, price, distance.
"Cheapest connection" answers where edges aren't equally costly.
When BFS hop-count isn't the right metric, but you still only need one path.

schema requirement

The relation must be declared in the schema's [[relations]] block. See schemas/reference#relations.

the request

weights_json is a URL-encoded JSON object keyed by "src|dst" with a numeric weight. An empty {} means "every edge weighs 1" and Dijkstra degenerates to shortest hop-count.

GET /v1/tenants/:t/graph/:schema/dijkstra?rel=...&src=...&dst=...&weights_json=...

WEIGHTS='{"o001|p014":1.0,"p014|u091":0.5,"u091|p001":2.0}'

curl -G "https://$OC_HOST/v1/tenants/$OC_TENANT/graph/shop.orders/dijkstra" \
  --data-urlencode "rel=bought_product" \
  --data-urlencode "src=o001" \
  --data-urlencode "dst=p001" \
  --data-urlencode "weights_json=$WEIGHTS" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $OC_TOKEN"

weights = {
    "o001|p014": 1.0,
    "p014|u091": 0.5,
    "u091|p001": 2.0,
}

result = db.graph.dijkstra(
    "shop.orders",
    rel="bought_product",
    src="o001",
    dst="p001",
    weights=weights,
)

const weights = {
  "o001|p014": 1.0,
  "p014|u091": 0.5,
  "u091|p001": 2.0,
};

const result = await db.graph.dijkstra("shop.orders", {
  rel: "bought_product",
  src: "o001",
  dst: "p001",
  weights,
});

weights := map[string]float64{
    "o001|p014": 1.0,
    "p014|u091": 0.5,
    "u091|p001": 2.0,
}

result, _ := db.Graph().Dijkstra(ctx, "shop.orders", originchain.DijkstraRequest{
    Rel:     "bought_product",
    Src:     "o001",
    Dst:     "p001",
    Weights: weights,
})

what you get back

{ "cost": 3.5 }

One field: cost: number | null. null means no path exists. The endpoint returns the cost only - if you need the path itself, use all_simple_paths.

how it works

Classic Dijkstra over a min-heap, expanding the cheapest frontier node.
Edges missing from weights_json fall back to a weight of 1.
For top-K paths instead of a single shortest, use the k-shortest endpoint (different route).

common mistakes

Negative weights. Dijkstra assumes non-negative edges. Negative weights produce undefined results - reformulate as a positive cost, or pick a different algorithm.
Forgetting to URL-encode weights_json. The JSON contains {}, quotes, and the | separator - use --data-urlencode or your SDK's helper rather than concatenating into the URL.