I made this property graph according to the documentation: class Component { public: typedef boost::shared_ptr<Component> ptr_t; }; class My_Graph { typedef boost::property< boost::vertex_name_t, Component::ptr_t > VertexProperty_t; typedef boost::adjacency_list // VertexProperties Graph_t; Graph_t m_graph; }; I cannot see from the MutablePropertyGraph page how I am suppose to add the VertexProperty_t to the vertex when its created. The documentation for the MutablePropertyGraph shows a use of "add_vertex" giving a vertex_propety_type with the graph. template <class G> struct MutablePropertyGraphConcept { typedef typename boost::graph_traits<G>::edge_descriptor edge_descriptor; void constraints() { function_requires< MutableGraphConcept<G> >(); v = add_vertex(vp, g); p = add_edge(u, v, ep, g); } G g; std::pair p; typename boost::graph_traits<G>::vertex_descriptor u, v; typename boost::graph_traits<G>::vertex_property_type vp; typename boost::graph_traits<G>::edge_property_type ep; }; My confusion lies in the fact that the add_vertex function requires a vertex_property_type the first parameter. So I am unsure how to create a vertex_property_type from a Component::ptr. Is a vertex_property_type equivalent to a Component::ptr? boost::graph_traits::vertex_property_type vertex_propert_obj = Component::ptr ( new Component() ); boost::graph_traits::vertex_descriptor new_vertex = add_vertex ( vertex_property_obj, m_graph ); Stephen