# Accessing the Neptune graph with SPARQL
<a name="access-graph-sparql"></a>

SPARQL is a query language for the Resource Description Framework (RDF), which is a graph data format designed for the web. Amazon Neptune is compatible with SPARQL 1.1. This means that you can connect to a Neptune DB instance and query the graph using the query language described in the [SPARQL 1.1 Query Language](https://www.w3.org/TR/sparql11-query/) specification.

 A query in SPARQL consists of a `SELECT` clause to specify the variables to return and a `WHERE` clause to specify which data to match in the graph. If you are unfamiliar with SPARQL queries, see [Writing Simple Queries](https://www.w3.org/TR/sparql11-query/#WritingSimpleQueries) in the [SPARQL 1.1 Query Language](https://www.w3.org/TR/sparql11-query/).

**Important**  
To load data, `SPARQL UPDATE INSERT` may work well for a small dataset, but if you need to load a substantial amount of data from a file, see [Using the Amazon Neptune bulk loader to ingest data](bulk-load.md).

For more information about the specifics of Neptune's SPARQL implementation, see [SPARQL standards compliance](feature-sparql-compliance.md).

Before you begin, you must have the following:
+ A Neptune DB instance. For information about creating a Neptune DB instance, see [Creating an Amazon Neptune cluster](get-started-create-cluster.md).
+ An Amazon EC2 instance in the same virtual private cloud (VPC) as your Neptune DB instance.

**Topics**
+ [Using the RDF4J console to connect to a Neptune DB instance](access-graph-sparql-rdf4j-console.md)
+ [Using RDF4J Workbench to connect to a Neptune DB instance](access-graph-sparql-rdf4j-workbench.md)
+ [Using Java to connect to a Neptune DB instance](access-graph-sparql-java.md)
+ [SPARQL HTTP API](sparql-api-reference.md)
+ [SPARQL query hints](sparql-query-hints.md)
+ [SPARQL DESCRIBE behavior with respect to the default graph](sparql-default-describe.md)
+ [SPARQL query status API](sparql-api-status.md)
+ [SPARQL query cancellation](sparql-api-status-cancel.md)
+ [Using the SPARQL 1.1 Graph Store HTTP Protocol (GSP) in Amazon Neptune](sparql-graph-store-protocol.md)
+ [Analyzing Neptune query execution using SPARQL `explain`](sparql-explain.md)
+ [SPARQL federated queries in Neptune using the `SERVICE` extension](sparql-service.md)