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Current limitations of graph in Microsoft Fabric

Graph in Microsoft Fabric has certain functional and performance limitations. This article highlights some key limitations but isn't an exhaustive list. Check back regularly for updates.

For help with common problems, see Troubleshooting graph.

Creating graph models

Data sources

  • OneLake parquet and CSV files are the only data sources currently supported.
  • Support for Power BI semantic models as data sources is under development.
  • Support for column- and row-level OneLake security is under development.

Data types

Graph currently supports the following data types:

  • Boolean (values are true and false)
  • Double (values are 64-bit floating point numbers)
  • Integer (values are 64-bit signed integers)
  • String (values are Unicode character strings)
  • Zoned DateTime (values are timestamps together with a time shift for the time zone)
  • Duration (values are ISO 8601 duration intervals)

The following OneLake types are supported:

  • IntegerType
  • LongType
  • StringType
  • DoubleType
  • BooleanType
  • FloatType
  • ByteType
  • ArrayType
  • DateType
  • TimestampNtzType
  • TimestampType

Edge creation

During graph modeling, give different graph edge types different names.

For example, a social media data set might represent "user likes comment" and "user likes post." If your graph model uses separate node types for comment and post, then the user node type has two types of "likes" edges to comment and post. You might name these edges userLikesComment and userLikesPost.

Graph creation time

Up to once a week, a graph model might encounter a timeout if the graph creation or update takes longer than 20 minutes. The operation is marked as failed.

However, users can reinitiate graph creation or update.

Total number of graph instances

Each Fabric Workspace can have up to 10 graph instances.

Size of graph

Creating graphs with more than 1 billion nodes and edges might result in unstable performance.

Multitasking UI

The graph model might disappear or become empty when you switch between tabs or windows in the Fabric multitask UI. The product team is actively working to resolve this known problem.

Node property selection

When you add a node type to your graph model, all columns from the source table are added as properties by default. You can remove properties by selecting the trashcan icon. Edge types work differently - they start with no properties, and you add only the ones you need. Choosing a custom display label (for example, displaying a name instead of an ID) isn't yet supported.

Querying

Number of hops in multihop queries

Graph currently supports up to eight hops on variable length patterns.

Size of results

Aggregation performance can be unstable when results exceed 128 MB in size.

The system currently truncates responses that are larger than 64 MB.

Timeout

Queries time out if they take more than 20 minutes.

Data export and visualization

  • Exporting graph query results or graph structures isn't currently supported.
  • Connecting Power BI directly to a graph for visualization scenarios isn't currently supported.

GQL conformance

For a detailed mapping of supported GQL features against the ISO/IEC 39075:2024 standard, including minimum conformance, optional features by group, and features not yet supported, see GQL standard conformance.

Conformance to GQL standards is still in progress for:

  • Correct GQL status codes
  • FOR statement with index
  • NEXT
  • UNION DISTINCT statement
  • Unbounded graph pattern quantifiers
  • ALL SHORTEST path search
  • ANY path search
  • ANY SHORTEST path search
  • Data conversion
  • Scalar subqueries
  • PROPERTIES function
  • RANGE function
  • Enhanced numeric functions
  • Logarithmic functions
  • Trigonometric functions
  • Path value concatenation
  • Label test predicate
  • Normalized predicate
  • Source/destination predicate
  • INT32 value type
  • FLOAT32 value type
  • Closed RECORD value type
  • UINT32 value type
  • ZONED TIME value type
  • DATE value type
  • Parameter passing
  • Undirected edges
  • GQL-preamble
  • Nonlocal pattern predicates
  • IS DIRECTED predicate
  • REGEXP_CONTAINS predicate
  • Dynamic parameter specification
  • Session user
  • BYTES value type
  • DECIMAL value type
  • LOCAL DATETIME value type
  • LOCAL TIME value type
  • CALL named procedure statement
  • ORDER BY with explicit NULL ordering
  • Tabular FOR statement
  • EXCEPT ALL statement
  • EXCEPT DISTINCT statement
  • INTERSECT ALL statement
  • INTERSECT DISTINCT statement
  • OTHERWISE statement
  • Wildcards
  • Relaxed topological consistency
  • PERCENTILE_CONT aggregate function
  • PERCENTILE_DISC aggregate function
  • PRODUCT aggregate function
  • STDDEV_POP aggregate function
  • STDDEV_SAMP aggregate function
  • Byte string concatenation
  • Byte string TRIM function
  • Simple TRIM function with TRIM specification
  • Multicharacter TRIM function
  • Byte string length function
  • CARDINALITY
  • ALL_DIFFERENT predicate
  • IS DISTINCT predicate
  • SAME predicate

Catalog 

Note

Graph names and constraint names are automatically generated in GraphBackend and can't be specified in the UI or in the JSON schema.

Catalog area Current limit / behavior Enforcement status Recommendation
Catalog ID basis Catalog element IDs are signed int32 wrappers where 0 is invalid, so each ID family has at most std::numeric_limits<int32_t>::max() - 1 positive nonzero IDs (2 billion). Implementation ceiling, not a recommended GA quota
Graph schemas One graph type per catalog; catalog ID comments assume the catalog contains only one graph type. Design assumption; not exposed as a multi-schema quota
Graph definition serialized size No explicit byte-size cap on GraphProto; it contains repeated node types, edge types, labels, property names, and constraints. Not enforced below protobuf/gRPC/memory; catalog object-count checks apply after graph construction
Graph name Must be nonempty; no explicit max byte length or character allowed list. Only nonempty is enforced 128 characters
Node types Max 2 billion node types. Enforced by CatalogGraphType::Validate via positive nonzero int32 ID space 64k
Edge types Max 2 billion edge types. Enforced by CatalogGraphType::Validate via positive nonzero int32 ID space 64k
Unique node labels across all node types Max 2 billion unique node labels. Enforced by CatalogGraphType::Validate; duplicate labels within one type are rejected Derived
Unique edge labels across all edge types Max 2 billion unique edge labels. Enforced by CatalogGraphType::Validate; duplicate labels within one type are rejected Derived
Unique property names across all node and edge types Max 2 billion unique property names. Enforced by CatalogGraphType::Validate; property names can't be empty and duplicates within one type are rejected 64k * 10
Node constraint definitions Max 2 billion node key constraint definitions. Enforced by CatalogGraphType::Validate via positive nonzero int32 ID space <= node types
Edge constraint definitions Max 2 billion edge key constraint definitions, but edge key constraints are disabled by default unless allow_edge_key_constraints is true. Count enforced if present; feature gate rejects edge constraints by default <= edge types
Property name characters / length Not explicitly enforced beyond nonempty property names and parser grammar; no catalog max byte length or character allowed list. 128 chars
Label characters / length Not explicitly enforced beyond parser grammar and nonempty labels in constraints; no catalog max byte length or character allowed list. 128 chars
Constraint name characters / length Constraint names must be nonempty; no explicit max byte length or character allowed list. Duplicate/matching constraint validation is separate 128 chars
Properties per node type No explicit maximum number of properties on a node type; duplicate property names are rejected. Correctness validation only 256
Properties per edge type No explicit maximum number of properties on an edge type; duplicate property names are rejected. Correctness validation only 256
Labels per node type No explicit maximum number of labels on a node type; duplicate labels are rejected. Correctness validation only 64
Labels per edge type No explicit maximum number of labels on an edge type; duplicate labels are rejected; edge added labels are rejected. Correctness validation only 64
Key properties per constraint No explicit maximum number of key properties in node or edge key constraints; individual property names can't be empty. Correctness validation only 16

Runtime values 

Runtime value type Backing representation / range Explicit Value-level cap? Recommended
BOOL bool; values true/false Yes, fixed domain
INT64 signed 64-bit integer Yes, fixed-width
UINT64 unsigned 64-bit integer Yes, fixed-width
DOUBLE C++/protobuf double / Arrow DoubleScalar (IEEE-754 binary64); non-finite values aren't rejected by Value::FromProto No finite-only check
DECIMAL128 Arrow Decimal128Scalar; runtime validation allows precision 1..38 and scale 0..precision; up to 38 decimal digits Yes for checked construction/from proto
STRING std::string; ValueProto.string_value No Value cap  4 MB
BYTES std::string used as byte container; ValueProto.bytes_value No Value cap String limit
VERTEX_ID uint64 wrapped by VertexId; generated IDs use 48-bit shard-local ID and reserve 0 as invalid Raw proto accepts any uint64; generated IDs are constrained
EDGE_ID uint64 wrapped by EdgeId; generated IDs use 48-bit shard-local ID and reserve 0 as invalid Raw proto accepts any uint64; generated IDs are constrained
ZONED_DATE_TIME absl::Time plus timezone; serialized as int64 milliseconds since Unix epoch plus int32 UTC offset seconds. Millisecond range is [-9,223,372,036,854,775,808, 9,223,372,036,854,775,807], documented as UTC instants from -292275055-05-16T16:47:04.192+00:00 to 292278994-08-17T07:12:55.807+00:00. Time range documented; offset is an int32 and isn't range-checked in Value::FromProto
DURATION absl::Duration; serialized as int64 milliseconds. Serialized min/max are -9,223,372,036,854,775,808 ms to 9,223,372,036,854,775,807 ms (about +/-292,277,024.6 years). ISO parser is stricter: +/-9,223,372,035 seconds (about +/-292.277 years). Proto path accepts the full int64 millisecond field; parser has a narrower explicit cap
NULL / typed null  std::monostate or typed-null wrapper
Typed lists std::vector<std::optional<T>>; LIST_NULL stores a size_t; LIST_ANY stores std::vector<Value> No default Value cap
Nested lists General nested lists aren't supported in the proto contract; runtime has special nested LIST_INT64 handling No default depth/length quota
PATH Alternating vertex/edge/vertex uint64 IDs in a vector; valid path shape has odd element count No path-length quota
RECORD absl::flat_hash_map<std::string, Value> / protobuf map No field-count, key-length, or nesting-depth quota
ANY Value::DataType() isn't expected to return TYPE_ANY; dynamic values are carried as concrete Values, especially inside LIST_ANY or Arrow Any extension storage No size/depth quota

Other limits

  • Identifiers can't start with underscore.
  • Integers literals are treated as signed integers by default.
  • Returning ANY and Record types aren't supported. Temporary solution is to jsonize them via TO_JSON_STRING.
  • Max String property length is 65535. Data past 64 KiB is unreachable to the deserializer; the full buffer is still written to RocksDB.
  • Max number of elements in List<T> property is 65535. A 70,000-element INT64 LIST deserializes as 4,464 elements.
  • Max query response size in bytes is 64 MB.

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