Summary: We consider a nonlinear Schrödinger equation (NLS) posed on a graph (or network) composed of a generic compact part to which a finite number of half-lines are attached. We call this structure a starlike graph. At the vertices of the graph interactions of \(\delta\)-type can be present and an overall external potential is admitted. Under general assumptions on the potential, we prove that the NLS is globally well-posed in the energy domain. We are interested in minimizing the energy of the system on the manifold of constant mass (\(L^2\)-norm). When existing, the minimizer is called ground state and it is the profile of an orbitally stable standing wave for the NLS evolution. We prove that a ground state exists for sufficiently small masses whenever the quadratic part of the energy admits a simple isolated eigenvalue at the bottom of the spectrum (the linear ground state). This is a wide generalization of a result previously obtained for a star-graph with a single vertex. The main part of the proof is devoted to prove the concentration compactness principle for starlike structures; this is non trivial due to the lack of translation invariance of the domain. Then we show that a minimizing, bounded, \(H^1\) sequence for the constrained NLS energy with external linear potentials is in fact convergent if its mass is small enough. Moreover we show that the ground state bifurcates from the vanishing solution at the bottom of the linear spectrum. Examples are provided with a discussion of the hypotheses on the linear part.