diff --git a/python/Cargo.lock b/python/Cargo.lock
index 2f5408e..73bb5e0 100644
--- a/python/Cargo.lock
+++ b/python/Cargo.lock
@@ -3435,7 +3435,6 @@ dependencies = [
  "arrow",
  "arrow-array",
  "arrow-schema",
- "async-trait",
  "datafusion",
  "datafusion-common",
  "datafusion-expr",
@@ -3443,6 +3442,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "datafusion-sql",
  "futures",
  "lance",
+ "lance-graph-catalog",
  "lance-linalg",
  "lance-namespace",
  "nom 7.1.3",
@@ -3451,6 +3451,17 @@ dependencies = [
  "snafu",
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "lance-graph-catalog"
+version = "0.5.2"
+dependencies = [
+ "arrow-schema",
+ "async-trait",
+ "datafusion",
+ "lance-namespace",
+ "snafu",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "lance-graph-python"
 version = "0.5.2"
diff --git a/python/python/tests/test_gil_release.py b/python/python/tests/test_gil_release.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..940c1ab
--- /dev/null
+++ b/python/python/tests/test_gil_release.py
@@ -0,0 +1,300 @@
+# Copyright 2024 Lance Developers.
+#
+# Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+# you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+# You may obtain a copy of the License at
+#
+#     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+#
+# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+# distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+# WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+# See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+# limitations under the License.
+
+"""Tests to verify GIL release during graph operations.
+
+This module ensures that lance-graph properly releases the Python Global
+Interpreter Lock (GIL) during blocking I/O and compute-intensive operations,
+allowing other Python threads to run concurrently.
+"""
+
+import threading
+import time
+from typing import Dict
+
+import pyarrow as pa
+import pytest
+
+from lance_graph import CypherQuery, GraphConfig
+
+
+def create_test_datasets() -> Dict[str, pa.RecordBatch]:
+    """Create simple test datasets for query execution."""
+    # Create a Person node dataset
+    person_data = {
+        "id": [1, 2, 3, 4, 5],
+        "name": ["Alice", "Bob", "Charlie", "Diana", "Eve"],
+        "age": [30, 25, 35, 28, 32],
+    }
+    person_batch = pa.RecordBatch.from_pydict(person_data)
+
+    # Create a KNOWS relationship dataset
+    knows_data = {
+        "src_person_id": [1, 1, 2, 3, 4],
+        "dst_person_id": [2, 3, 3, 4, 5],
+    }
+    knows_batch = pa.RecordBatch.from_pydict(knows_data)
+
+    return {"Person": person_batch, "KNOWS": knows_batch}
+
+
+def test_gil_release_during_query_execution():
+    """Verify that GIL is released during query execution.
+
+    This test runs a Cypher query in the main thread while a background
+    thread increments a counter. If the GIL is properly released, the
+    background thread should be able to make progress while the query
+    executes.
+    """
+    # Setup
+    config = (
+        GraphConfig.builder()
+        .with_node_label("Person", "id")
+        .with_relationship("KNOWS", "src_person_id", "dst_person_id")
+        .build()
+    )
+
+    datasets = create_test_datasets()
+    query = CypherQuery("MATCH (p:Person) WHERE p.age > 25 RETURN p.name").with_config(
+        config
+    )
+
+    # Background thread state
+    heartbeats = [0]  # Use list for mutable capture
+    stop_event = threading.Event()
+
+    def heartbeat():
+        """Background thread that increments a counter."""
+        while not stop_event.is_set():
+            heartbeats[0] += 1
+            time.sleep(0.001)  # 1ms sleep
+
+    # Start background thread
+    t = threading.Thread(target=heartbeat, daemon=True)
+    t.start()
+
+    try:
+        # Execute query (this should release GIL)
+        result = query.execute(datasets)
+
+        # Verify query succeeded
+        assert result is not None
+        table = result.to_pydict()
+        assert "p.name" in table
+        assert len(table["p.name"]) > 0
+
+        # Verify background thread made progress
+        # If GIL was held, heartbeats would be 0 or very small
+        assert heartbeats[0] >= 5, (
+            f"Background thread was starved! GIL was not released. "
+            f"Only {heartbeats[0]} heartbeats occurred."
+        )
+
+    finally:
+        stop_event.set()
+        t.join(timeout=1.0)
+
+
+def test_gil_release_during_to_sql():
+    """Verify that GIL is released during SQL translation."""
+    config = (
+        GraphConfig.builder()
+        .with_node_label("Person", "id")
+        .with_relationship("KNOWS", "src_person_id", "dst_person_id")
+        .build()
+    )
+
+    datasets = create_test_datasets()
+    query = CypherQuery(
+        "MATCH (p:Person)-[:KNOWS]->(f:Person) RETURN p.name, f.name"
+    ).with_config(config)
+
+    heartbeats = [0]
+    stop_event = threading.Event()
+
+    def heartbeat():
+        while not stop_event.is_set():
+            heartbeats[0] += 1
+            time.sleep(0.001)
+
+    t = threading.Thread(target=heartbeat, daemon=True)
+    t.start()
+
+    try:
+        # to_sql is typically fast, but should still release GIL
+        sql = query.to_sql(datasets)
+        assert sql is not None
+        assert len(sql) > 0
+
+        # With GIL released, background thread should make some progress
+        assert heartbeats[0] > 0, "Background thread was starved during to_sql"
+
+    finally:
+        stop_event.set()
+        t.join(timeout=1.0)
+
+
+def test_gil_release_during_explain():
+    """Verify that GIL is released during query explanation."""
+    config = (
+        GraphConfig.builder()
+        .with_node_label("Person", "id")
+        .with_relationship("KNOWS", "src_person_id", "dst_person_id")
+        .build()
+    )
+
+    datasets = create_test_datasets()
+    query = CypherQuery("MATCH (p:Person) RETURN p.name").with_config(config)
+
+    heartbeats = [0]
+    stop_event = threading.Event()
+
+    def heartbeat():
+        while not stop_event.is_set():
+            heartbeats[0] += 1
+            time.sleep(0.001)
+
+    t = threading.Thread(target=heartbeat, daemon=True)
+    t.start()
+
+    try:
+        explanation = query.explain(datasets)
+        assert explanation is not None
+
+        assert heartbeats[0] > 0, "Background thread was starved during explain"
+
+    finally:
+        stop_event.set()
+        t.join(timeout=1.0)
+
+
+def test_concurrent_query_execution():
+    """Verify that multiple queries can execute concurrently.
+
+    This test runs multiple queries in parallel threads to ensure that
+    GIL release allows true concurrent execution.
+    """
+    config = (
+        GraphConfig.builder()
+        .with_node_label("Person", "id")
+        .with_relationship("KNOWS", "src_person_id", "dst_person_id")
+        .build()
+    )
+
+    datasets = create_test_datasets()
+
+    queries = [
+        "MATCH (p:Person) WHERE p.age > 25 RETURN p.name",
+        "MATCH (p:Person) WHERE p.age < 30 RETURN p.name",
+        "MATCH (p:Person)-[:KNOWS]->(f:Person) RETURN p.name, f.name",
+    ]
+
+    results = [None] * len(queries)
+    errors = [None] * len(queries)
+
+    def run_query(idx, query_str):
+        try:
+            query = CypherQuery(query_str).with_config(config)
+            results[idx] = query.execute(datasets)
+        except Exception as e:
+            errors[idx] = e
+
+    # Run queries in parallel
+    threads = []
+    for i, q in enumerate(queries):
+        t = threading.Thread(target=run_query, args=(i, q))
+        threads.append(t)
+        t.start()
+
+    # Wait for all threads
+    for t in threads:
+        t.join(timeout=5.0)
+
+    # Verify all queries succeeded
+    for i, error in enumerate(errors):
+        assert error is None, f"Query {i} failed: {error}"
+
+    for i, result in enumerate(results):
+        assert result is not None, f"Query {i} returned None"
+
+
+@pytest.mark.slow
+def test_gil_release_with_heavy_query():
+    """Test GIL release with a heavier query that takes measurable time.
+
+    This test creates a larger dataset and runs a more complex query
+    to ensure GIL release works correctly with longer-running operations.
+    """
+    # Create larger dataset
+    num_nodes = 1000
+    person_data = {
+        "id": list(range(num_nodes)),
+        "name": [f"Person{i}" for i in range(num_nodes)],
+        "age": [(20 + i % 50) for i in range(num_nodes)],
+    }
+    person_batch = pa.RecordBatch.from_pydict(person_data)
+
+    # Create many relationships
+    num_edges = 5000
+    knows_data = {
+        "src_person_id": [i % num_nodes for i in range(num_edges)],
+        "dst_person_id": [(i + 1) % num_nodes for i in range(num_edges)],
+    }
+    knows_batch = pa.RecordBatch.from_pydict(knows_data)
+
+    datasets = {"Person": person_batch, "KNOWS": knows_batch}
+
+    config = (
+        GraphConfig.builder()
+        .with_node_label("Person", "id")
+        .with_relationship("KNOWS", "src_person_id", "dst_person_id")
+        .build()
+    )
+
+    query = CypherQuery(
+        "MATCH (p:Person)-[:KNOWS]->(f:Person) WHERE p.age > 30 AND f.age < 40 RETURN p.name, f.name"
+    ).with_config(config)
+
+    heartbeats = [0]
+    stop_event = threading.Event()
+    start_time = [None]
+
+    def heartbeat():
+        start_time[0] = time.time()
+        while not stop_event.is_set():
+            heartbeats[0] += 1
+            time.sleep(0.001)
+
+    t = threading.Thread(target=heartbeat, daemon=True)
+    t.start()
+
+    try:
+        result = query.execute(datasets)
+        assert result is not None
+
+        elapsed = time.time() - start_time[0]
+
+        # With a larger query taking measurable time, we should see
+        # many heartbeats (roughly elapsed_seconds * 1000)
+        # Allow for some variance, but expect at least 50% of theoretical max
+        expected_min_heartbeats = int(elapsed * 1000 * 0.5)
+        assert heartbeats[0] > expected_min_heartbeats, (
+            f"Background thread severely starved. "
+            f"Expected ~{int(elapsed * 1000)} heartbeats in {elapsed:.3f}s, "
+            f"got {heartbeats[0]}. GIL may not be properly released."
+        )
+
+    finally:
+        stop_event.set()
+        t.join(timeout=1.0)
diff --git a/python/uv.lock b/python/uv.lock
index aea6c35..a535bd3 100644
--- a/python/uv.lock
+++ b/python/uv.lock
@@ -1241,7 +1241,7 @@ wheels = [
 
 [[package]]
 name = "lance-graph"
-version = "0.5.0"
+version = "0.5.2"
 source = { editable = "." }
 dependencies = [
     { name = "fastapi" },