Content Management

Manage your content efficiently with Directus’s powerful content management features including versioning, revisions, and multi-user collaboration.

Directus provides enterprise-grade content management capabilities on top of your SQL database, enabling teams to create, edit, and publish content with full control and transparency.

Items Management

Items are individual records within your collections. Directus provides full CRUD operations with advanced filtering, sorting, and querying.

Creating Items

import { createDirectus, rest, createItem } from '@directus/sdk';

const client = createDirectus('https://your-project.directus.app').with(rest());

// Create a single item
const article = await client.request(
  createItem('articles', {
    title: 'Getting Started with Directus',
    content: 'Directus is a real-time API and App dashboard...',
    status: 'published',
    author: '2a8b9c1d-e5f3-4321-b987-1234567890ab'
  })
);

// Create multiple items
const articles = await client.request(
  createItems('articles', [
    { title: 'Article 1', status: 'draft' },
    { title: 'Article 2', status: 'draft' }
  ])
);

Reading Items

Query items with powerful filtering and field selection:

// Get items with filters
const publishedArticles = await client.request(
  readItems('articles', {
    filter: {
      status: { _eq: 'published' },
      date_created: { _gte: '$NOW(-7 days)' }
    },
    fields: ['id', 'title', 'author.first_name', 'author.last_name'],
    sort: ['-date_created'],
    limit: 10
  })
);

Updating Items

// Update a single item
await client.request(
  updateItem('articles', 'article-id', {
    status: 'published',
    date_published: new Date().toISOString()
  })
);

// Bulk update with filter
await client.request(
  updateItems('articles', {
    filter: { status: { _eq: 'draft' } },
    data: { status: 'archived' }
  })
);

Deleting Items

// Delete single item
await client.request(deleteItem('articles', 'article-id'));

// Delete multiple items
await client.request(
  deleteItems('articles', ['id-1', 'id-2', 'id-3'])
);

Activity Tracking

Every action in Directus is automatically logged in the directus_activity collection, providing a complete audit trail.

Activity Log Features

• Action Types - Create, update, delete, login, comment, upload
• User Attribution - Track who performed each action
• Timestamps - When actions occurred
• IP Tracking - Origin of requests
• User Agent - Client information

Querying Activity

const recentActivity = await client.request(
  readItems('directus_activity', {
    filter: {
      collection: { _eq: 'articles' },
      action: { _in: ['create', 'update', 'delete'] }
    },
    sort: ['-timestamp'],
    limit: 50
  })
);

Revisions

Directus automatically tracks changes to your content, creating revision snapshots for every update.

Revision Features

• Delta Tracking - Store only what changed
• Full History - Complete change timeline
• Point-in-Time Recovery - Restore to any previous state
• Diff Comparison - Compare versions side-by-side

Working with Revisions

// Get all revisions for an item
const revisions = await client.request(
  readItems('directus_revisions', {
    filter: {
      collection: { _eq: 'articles' },
      item: { _eq: 'article-id' }
    },
    sort: ['-id']
  })
);

// Revert to a previous revision
await client.request(
  revertRevision('articles', 'article-id', 'revision-id')
);

Content Versioning

Manage draft and published states with Content Versions (requires setup):

// Create content version
await client.request(
  createContentVersion('articles', 'article-id', {
    name: 'Summer 2026 Update',
    key: 'summer-2026'
  })
);

// Promote version to main
await client.request(
  promoteContentVersion('articles', 'article-id', 'summer-2026')
);

File Management

Manage assets and files with full metadata support.

Uploading Files

const formData = new FormData();
formData.append('file', fileBlob);
formData.append('folder', 'folder-uuid');
formData.append('title', 'Product Photo');

const file = await client.request(
  uploadFiles(formData)
);

File Metadata

Files include rich metadata:

• Storage Location - Which storage adapter
• Folder - Organizational hierarchy
• Title & Description - Searchable metadata
• Tags - Categorization
• Dimensions - Width/height for images
• Duration - Length for video/audio
• Filesize - Bytes
• EXIF Data - Camera and location info

Image Transformations

Transform images on-the-fly:

https://your-project.directus.app/assets/file-id?width=800&height=600&fit=cover&quality=80

Comments & Collaboration

Collaborate on content with built-in commenting:

// Add comment to an item
await client.request(
  createComment({
    collection: 'articles',
    item: 'article-id',
    comment: 'Please review the introduction section'
  })
);

// Subscribe to comments
await client.request(
  subscribeToComments('articles', 'article-id')
);

Batch Operations

Perform operations on multiple items efficiently:

// Batch create with relationships
await client.request(
  createItems('articles', [
    {
      title: 'Article 1',
      categories: {
        create: [{ categories_id: { name: 'Tech' } }],
        update: [],
        delete: []
      }
    }
  ])
);

Archiving

Implement soft-delete patterns:

// Archive instead of delete
await client.request(
  updateItem('articles', 'article-id', {
    status: 'archived',
    archived_on: new Date().toISOString()
  })
);

// Filter out archived items
const activeArticles = await client.request(
  readItems('articles', {
    filter: {
      status: { _neq: 'archived' }
    }
  })
);

Search & Filter

Powerful querying with operators:

const results = await client.request(
  readItems('articles', {
    filter: {
      _and: [
        {
          _or: [
            { title: { _contains: 'Directus' } },
            { content: { _contains: 'Directus' } }
          ]
        },
        { status: { _eq: 'published' } },
        { date_created: { _gte: '$NOW(-30 days)' } }
      ]
    },
    search: 'headless CMS'
  })
);

Available Operators

• _eq / _neq - Equal / Not equal
• _gt / _gte / _lt / _lte - Comparisons
• _in / _nin - In array / Not in array
• _contains / _ncontains - String contains
• _starts_with / _ends_with - String patterns
• _null / _nnull - Null checks
• _between / _nbetween - Range queries
• _and / _or - Logical operators

Best Practices

Use Filters Instead of Loading Everything

Always filter data at the API level rather than fetching everything and filtering client-side.

Select Only Required Fields

Use the fields parameter to request only the data you need, reducing payload size and improving performance.

Leverage Revisions for Critical Content

Revisions provide a safety net - review changes before publishing and revert if needed.

Organize Files with Folders

Create a logical folder structure for your assets to keep them organized as your library grows.