Global Query Parameters ​

Most Directus API Endpoint operations can be manipulated with the following parameters. It is important to understand them to get the most out of the platform.

Fields ​

Choose the fields that are returned in the current dataset. This parameter supports dot notation to request nested relational fields. You can also use a wildcard (*) to include all fields at a specific depth.

Examples ​

Get all top-level fields
*

Get all top-level fields and all second-level relational fields
*.*

Get all top-level fields and second-level relational fields within images
*,images.*

Get only the first_name and last_name fields
first_name,last_name

Get all top-level and second-level relational fields, and third-level fields within images.thumbnails
*.*,images.thumbnails.*

Many-To-Any (Union Types) ​

Seeing that Many-to-Any (M2A) fields have nested data from multiple collections, it's not always safe / wanted to fetch the same field from every related collection. In M2A fields, you can use the following syntax to specify what fields to fetch from which related nested collection type:
?fields=<m2a-field>:<collection-scope>.<field>.

Lets say we have a collection pages with a many-to-any field called sections that points to headings, paragraphs, and videos. We only want to fetch title and level from headings, body from paragraphs and source from videos. We can achieve that by using:

sections.item:headings.title
sections.item:headings.level
sections.item:paragraphs.body
sections.item:videos.source

sections.item:headings.title
sections.item:headings.level
sections.item:paragraphs.body
sections.item:videos.source

In GraphQL, this can be achieved using Union Types.

Filter ​

Used to search items in a collection that matches the filter's conditions. The filter param follows the Filter Rules spec, which includes additional information on logical operators (AND/OR), nested relational filtering, and dynamic variables.

Examples ​

Retrieve all items where first_name equals "Rijk"

{
	"first_name": {
		"_eq": "Rijk"
	}
}

{
	"first_name": {
		"_eq": "Rijk"
	}
}

Retrieve all items in one of the following categories: "vegetables", "fruit"

{
	"categories": {
		"_in": ["vegetables", "fruit"]
	}
}

{
	"categories": {
		"_in": ["vegetables", "fruit"]
	}
}

Retrieve all items that are published between two dates

{
	"date_published": {
		"_between": ["2021-01-24", "2021-02-23"]
	}
}

{
	"date_published": {
		"_between": ["2021-01-24", "2021-02-23"]
	}
}

Retrieve all items where the author's "vip" flag is true

{
	"author": {
		"vip": {
			"_eq": true
		}
	}
}

{
	"author": {
		"vip": {
			"_eq": true
		}
	}
}

query {
	articles(
		filter: {
			sections: {
				item__headings: {
					# Instead of: item:headings
					title: { _eq: "Section 1" }
				}
			}
		}
	) {
		id
	}
}

query {
	articles(
		filter: {
			sections: {
				item__headings: {
					# Instead of: item:headings
					title: { _eq: "Section 1" }
				}
			}
		}
	) {
		id
	}
}

Search ​

The search parameter allows you to perform a search on textual and numeric type fields within a collection. It's an easy way to search for an item without creating complex field filters – though it is far less optimized. It only searches the root item's fields, related item fields are not included.

Example ​

Find all items that mention Directus
Directus

Sort ​

What field(s) to sort by. Sorting defaults to ascending, but a minus sign (-) can be used to reverse this to descending order. Fields are prioritized by the order in the parameter. The dot-notation has to be used when sorting with values of nested fields.

Examples ​

Sort by creation date descending
-date_created

Sort by a "sort" field, followed by publish date descending
sort,-publish_date

Sort by a "sort" field, followed by a nested author's name
sort,-author.name

Limit ​

Set the maximum number of items that will be returned. The default limit is set to 100.

Examples ​

Get the first 200 items
200

Get the maximum allowed number of items
-1

Offset ​

Skip the first n items in the response. Can be used for pagination.

Examples ​

Get items 101—200
100

Page ​

An alternative to offset. Page is a way to set offset under the hood by calculating limit * page. Page is 1-indexed.

Examples ​

Get items 1-100
1

Get items 101-200
2

Aggregation & Grouping ​

Aggregate functions allow you to perform calculations on a set of values, returning a single result.

The following aggregation functions are available in Directus:

Grouping ​

By default, the above aggregation functions run on the whole dataset. To allow for more flexible reporting, you can combine the above aggregation with grouping. Grouping allows for running the aggregation functions based on a shared value. This allows for things like "Average rating per month" or "Total sales of items in the jeans category".

The groupBy query allows for grouping on multiple fields simultaneously. Combined with the Functions, this allows for aggregate reporting per year-month-date.

Deep ​

Deep allows you to set any of the other query parameters on a nested relational dataset.

Examples ​

Limit the nested related articles to 3

{
	"related_articles": {
		"_limit": 3
	}
}

{
	"related_articles": {
		"_limit": 3
	}
}

Only get 3 related articles, with only the top rated comment nested

{
	"related_articles": {
		"_limit": 3,
		"comments": {
			"_sort": "rating",
			"_limit": 1
		}
	}
}

{
	"related_articles": {
		"_limit": 3,
		"comments": {
			"_sort": "rating",
			"_limit": 1
		}
	}
}

Aliases ​

Aliases allow you rename fields on the fly, and request the same nested data set multiple times using different filters.

Export ​

Save the current API response to a file.

Saves the API response to a file. Accepts one of csv, json, xml, yaml.

Functions ​

Functions allow for "live" modification of values stored in a field. Functions can be used in any query parameter you'd normally supply a field key, including fields, aggregation, and filter.

Functions can be used by wrapping the field key in a JavaScript like syntax, for example:

timestamp -> year(timestamp)

DateTime Functions ​

Array Functions ​

Metadata ​

Metadata allows you to retrieve some additional information about the items in the collection you're fetching. * can be used as a wildcard to retrieve all metadata.

Total Count ​

Returns the total item count of the collection you're querying.

Filter Count ​

Returns the item count of the collection you're querying, taking the current filter/search parameters into account.