Quickstart Guide ​

If you're looking for the fastest way to get up-and-running with Directus, this guide will walk you through getting things installed, configured, and modeled.

Requirements ​

• Docker
• Docker Compose (often included with newer Docker installations)

1. Installation ​

You can use the following configuration to get started using Docker Compose. Make sure to change all sensitive values like KEY, SECRET, ADMIN_PASSWORD, etc.

version: '3'
services:
  directus:
    image: directus/directus:latest
    ports:
      - 8055:8055
    volumes:
      - ./uploads:/directus/uploads
      - ./database:/directus/database
    environment:
      KEY: '255d861b-5ea1-5996-9aa3-922530ec40b1'
      SECRET: '6116487b-cda1-52c2-b5b5-c8022c45e263'

      DB_CLIENT: 'sqlite3'
      DB_FILENAME: './database/data.db'

      ADMIN_EMAIL: 'admin@example.com'
      ADMIN_PASSWORD: 'd1r3ctu5'

Save this in your project as a file named docker-compose.yml and run:

docker-compose up -d

2. Login to App ​

With the server running, you're now able to login to your new Directus project and start using it.

Our start command stated that the server started at port 8055, which means we can navigate to http://localhost:8055 to open Directus in the browser.

Login using the admin credentials you configured during the installation in Step 1.

3. Create a Collection ​

Once logged in, you're greeted with the option to create your first Collection:

Follow the prompts and create a Collection. For the sake of this demo, we'll be calling ours articles, but feel free to make it your own!

4. Create a Field ​

With the Collection created, it's time to start adding some Fields. Click the "Create Field" button, and select "Input":

We'll be calling our Field title. While Directus offers a range of powerful field customization options, we'll be sticking to the defaults for now. These defaults use the "String" datatype.

5. Create an Item ​

Now that we have a Collection with a Field configured, it's time to start adding some content. Navigate to the Content Module (top left), and click add in the top-right to get started. This will take you to the Create/Edit Item page:

Once you're happy with your creation, click check in the top-right to save your Item to the database.

6. Set Role/Public Permissions ​

By default, all content entered into Directus is considered private. This means that no data will be returned by the API, unless requested by an authenticated user that has the correct permissions. In order to have the API return our items, we'll have to setup some permissions. Navigate to Settings Module chevron_right Roles & Permissions.

Directus ships with a special "Public" role that controls what data is returned to non-authenticated users. Select the Public Role, find your Collection, and click the icon under the visibility icon (read/view permission) to allow the Public Role to read the Items in your Collection.

7. Connect to the API ​

Now that your project has some content in it, it's time to start using this content externally. Data can be accessed in a number of ways, including the REST API, GraphQL, the CLI, or even straight from the database. In this case, we'll use the /items/ REST API endpoint to retrieve the item we just created.

Use your browser or an API tool like Postman or Paw to open http://localhost:8055/items/articles.

And there it is! The Article Item you just created is being served in beautiful JSON, ready to be used anywhere and everywhere!

{
	"data": [
		{
			"id": 1,
			"title": "Hello World!"
		}
	]
}