diff --git a/lightrag/api/routers/graph_routes.py b/lightrag/api/routers/graph_routes.py
index 881e4742..0c1710fc 100644
--- a/lightrag/api/routers/graph_routes.py
+++ b/lightrag/api/routers/graph_routes.py
@@ -61,16 +61,7 @@ def create_graph_routes(rag, api_key: Optional[str] = None):
             List[str]: List of popular labels sorted by degree (highest first)
         """
         try:
-            # Check if the storage has the get_popular_labels method
-            if hasattr(rag.chunk_entity_relation_graph, "get_popular_labels"):
-                return await rag.chunk_entity_relation_graph.get_popular_labels(limit)
-            else:
-                # Fallback to get_graph_labels for compatibility
-                logger.warning(
-                    "Storage doesn't support get_popular_labels, falling back to get_graph_labels"
-                )
-                all_labels = await rag.get_graph_labels()
-                return all_labels[:limit]
+            return await rag.chunk_entity_relation_graph.get_popular_labels(limit)
         except Exception as e:
             logger.error(f"Error getting popular labels: {str(e)}")
             logger.error(traceback.format_exc())
@@ -96,27 +87,7 @@ def create_graph_routes(rag, api_key: Optional[str] = None):
             List[str]: List of matching labels sorted by relevance
         """
         try:
-            # Check if the storage has the search_labels method
-            if hasattr(rag.chunk_entity_relation_graph, "search_labels"):
-                return await rag.chunk_entity_relation_graph.search_labels(q, limit)
-            else:
-                # Fallback to client-side filtering for compatibility
-                logger.warning(
-                    "Storage doesn't support search_labels, falling back to client-side filtering"
-                )
-                all_labels = await rag.get_graph_labels()
-                query_lower = q.lower().strip()
-
-                if not query_lower:
-                    return []
-
-                # Simple client-side filtering
-                matches = []
-                for label in all_labels:
-                    if query_lower in label.lower():
-                        matches.append(label)
-
-                return matches[:limit]
+            return await rag.chunk_entity_relation_graph.search_labels(q, limit)
         except Exception as e:
             logger.error(f"Error searching labels with query '{q}': {str(e)}")
             logger.error(traceback.format_exc())
diff --git a/lightrag/base.py b/lightrag/base.py
index c5518d23..b6266d2e 100644
--- a/lightrag/base.py
+++ b/lightrag/base.py
@@ -671,6 +671,29 @@ class BaseGraphStorage(StorageNameSpace, ABC):
             A list of all edges, where each edge is a dictionary of its properties
         """
 
+    @abstractmethod
+    async def get_popular_labels(self, limit: int = 300) -> list[str]:
+        """Get popular labels by node degree (most connected entities)
+
+        Args:
+            limit: Maximum number of labels to return
+
+        Returns:
+            List of labels sorted by degree (highest first)
+        """
+
+    @abstractmethod
+    async def search_labels(self, query: str, limit: int = 50) -> list[str]:
+        """Search labels with fuzzy matching
+
+        Args:
+            query: Search query string
+            limit: Maximum number of results to return
+
+        Returns:
+            List of matching labels sorted by relevance
+        """
+
 
 class DocStatus(str, Enum):
     """Document processing status"""