Skip to main content

Share Graphs as URL

Gephi Lite can open any Gexf, GraphMl or Gephi-Lite JSON file which is hosted on the web.

To automatically load a graph, add the query parameter file followed by the URL of your graph file.

Format: https://lite.gephi.org/?file=URL_TO_YOUR_GRAPH

Here’s a sample link that opens the classic Les Misérables dataset:

https://lite.gephi.org/?file=https://raw.githubusercontent.com/gephi/gephi-lite/refs/heads/main/packages/gephi-lite/public/samples/Les%20Miserables.gexf

Click the link and you’ll see the graph load automatically.

Your URL_TO_YOUR_FILE can point to any supported file formats:

  • a GEXF file, in which case your filename must end with.gexf extension
  • a GraphML file, in which case your filename must end with.graphml extension
  • a Gephi Lite JSON file format, in which case your filename must end with .json extension

Here are a few more examples of Gephi Lite graph urls:

A GEXF file: https://lite.gephi.org/?file=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ouestware.com%2Ftalks%2FGephiLite%40FOSDEM2024%2Fgephi-lite.gexf

A GraphML file: https://lite.gephi.org/?file=https://raw.githubusercontent.com/gephi/gephi-lite/refs/heads/main/packages/gephi-lite/public/samples/airlines.graphml

warning

To use this feature you must host your graph file on a server which authorizes Cross-origin resource sharing (CORS).

In short, this means that the server publishing your network file must either allow any domains (Access-Control-Allow-Origin: *) or lite.gephi.org domain (Access-Control-Allow-Origin: lite.gephi.org) to access the file.

Remember to set the HTTP Access-Control-Allow-Origin header on your own server if you want to share graph files in Gephi Lite.

To our knowledge the only free hosting services which have an open CORS policy are provided by GitHub:

  • Github repository: any graph file in a public github repository can be loaded into Gephi Lite using the raw link
  • Gist: graph files hosted as Github Gist are also accessible (it's what Gephi Lite uses for the Github Integration feature)

Find the right URL from Github repository​

In the Gephi Lite Github repository you'll find the Les Miserables.gexf file in the samples directory: https://github.com/gephi/gephi-lite/blob/main/packages/gephi-lite/public/samples/Les%20Miserables.gexf

Github screenshot of Les Miserables.gexf file

On this Github page spot the Raw button on the top right corner of the file content panel. This button is a link to the raw URL of the file, i.e. an URL to the content of the file and not to the Github page showing you the file.

This the URL you have to use to share your network with others using Gephi Lite.

Content of Les Miserables.gexf file hosted on Github

Either use your web browser copy link feature (right-click on the button) or click on it and then copy the URL of the content.

This how you can retrieve the raw URL from Github. For this Les miserables.gexf file the right link to open it directly in Gephi Lite is:

https://lite.gpehi.org/?file=https://raw.githubusercontent.com/gephi/gephi-lite/refs/heads/main/packages/gephi-lite/public/samples/Les%20Miserables.gexf

Find the right URL from Github Gist​

info

The easiest way to use Github Gist with Gephi Lite is to use the integrated Github integration feature.

If you want to share a Github Gist, you have to make sure that:

  1. the gist filename contains the right extension : .gexf, .graphml or .json
  2. the Github Gist is public

To learn how to create a public gist, see Official Fist documentation,

To make a private Gist public open the Gist Edit page and spot the Make public button on th right side of the page header:

a private Gist Edit page screenshot