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AppBinding

What is AppBinding

An AppBinding is a Kubernetes CustomResourceDefinition (CRD) that points to an application endpoint and its access credentials.

If you deploy a Neo4j database using KubeDB, KubeDB automatically creates an AppBinding for that database. This object is used by tools like KubeStash to discover connection information and database credentials.

AppBinding CRD Specification

Like other Kubernetes resources, an AppBinding has TypeMeta, ObjectMeta, and Spec sections. It does not have a Status section.

An AppBinding created by KubeDB for a Neo4j database looks like this:

apiVersion: appcatalog.appscode.com/v1alpha1
kind: AppBinding
metadata:
  name: neo4j-test
  namespace: demo
  labels:
    app.kubernetes.io/component: database
    app.kubernetes.io/instance: neo4j-test
    app.kubernetes.io/managed-by: kubedb.com
    app.kubernetes.io/name: neo4js.kubedb.com
spec:
  appRef:
    apiGroup: kubedb.com
    kind: Neo4j
    name: neo4j-test
    namespace: demo
  clientConfig:
    service:
      name: neo4j-test
      port: 7687
      scheme: neo4j
  secret:
    apiGroup: ""
    kind: Secret
    name: neo4j-test-auth
  type: kubedb.com/Neo4j
  version: 2025.12.1-enterprise

Here, we describe the important sections of this AppBinding.

spec.type

spec.type identifies the app type represented by this AppBinding.

Format: <group>/<kind>.

For Neo4j managed by KubeDB, it is typically:

• kubedb.com/Neo4j

spec.appRef

spec.appRef points back to the source database object that owns this binding.

For Neo4j, this includes:

• apiGroup: kubedb.com
• kind: Neo4j
• name: <neo4j-name>
• namespace: <namespace>

spec.secret

spec.secret references the Secret that stores credentials required to connect to the database. The Secret must be in the same namespace.

For Neo4j, KubeDB-generated auth secret typically contains:

spec.clientConfig

spec.clientConfig defines how clients should connect to the target database.

For in-cluster Neo4j deployments, KubeDB sets spec.clientConfig.service.

spec.clientConfig.service

• name: Kubernetes Service name for the database.
• port: Service port used for client connection (Neo4j Bolt is commonly 7687).
• scheme: Connection scheme (for example, neo4j).

Verify AppBinding

You can inspect the generated AppBinding with:

$ kubectl get appbinding -n demo neo4j-test -o yaml

Next Steps

• Read the Neo4j CRD concept.
• Learn Neo4j operations from Neo4j OpsRequest.
• Run the Neo4j quickstart.