Directus Airbyte Connector

Declarative Airbyte source for Directus. Sync CMS content, files, users, activity, and collection metadata from your Directus instance into any Airbyte destination (BigQuery, Snowflake, Postgres, S3, and more).

Built with the Airbyte Connector Builder — no custom Python connector required. The manifest lives in Airbyte.yaml.

Streams

Stream	API	Description
collection_items	GET /items/{collection}	Records from one collection (posts, products, pages, etc.)
files	GET /files	File library assets
users	GET /users	User accounts (PII — enable only if needed)
activity	GET /activity	Audit log
collections_meta	GET /collections	Collection schema metadata

Connection test uses the files stream.

Prerequisites

• A Directus project (Cloud or self-hosted)
• A static API token with read access to the data you plan to sync (Settings → Access Tokens)
• An Airbyte workspace (Cloud or self-hosted) with Connector Builder access

Quick start

1. Clone this repository (or copy Airbyte.yaml).

2. In Airbyte, open Connector Builder → create or import a custom source.

3. Paste the contents of Airbyte.yaml into the manifest editor (or import from your fork).

4. Configure the source:

   Field	Required	Example
   API Key	Yes	Your static token
   Base URL	Yes	https://your-project.directus.app
   Collection Name	Yes	posts

5. Test connection, then create a connection to your destination.

6. Enable only the streams you need (files, collection_items, etc.).

Multiple collections

Use one Airbyte source per collection (same URL and token, different Collection Name).

Files-only sync

You still need Collection Name in the form (any slug your token can read). Disable the collection_items stream on the connection.

Optional configuration

These map to Directus query parameters on every enabled stream.

Field	Example	Purpose
Start Date	2026-06-01	Records on or after this date (YYYY-MM-DD or full ISO)
Fields	id,title,status,date_updated	Limit returned columns
Filter	{"status":{"_eq":"published"}}	Directus JSON filter
Sort	-date_updated	Sort order (- = descending)
Search	hero	Text search

Start Date applies per stream:

• files → uploaded_on
• collection_items → date_updated
• activity → timestamp

Not applied to users or collections_meta. Date-only values (e.g. 2026-06-01) are normalized to UTC midnight before the API call.

Repository layout

File	Purpose
Airbyte.yaml	Connector manifest — import this into Airbyte
docs.md	End-user setup guide (for your docs site or internal use)
test.md	Example values and QA test scenarios
publish.md	Connector & contribution descriptions for publishing

Permissions

Your token’s role needs read access for each stream you enable:

Stream	Access
collection_items	Read on the target collection
files	Read files
users	Read users
activity	Read activity (often requires elevated permissions)
collections_meta	Read collections

A 403 on a stream usually means adjusting the role or disabling that stream.

Troubleshooting

Issue	Check
Connection test fails	Base URL has no trailing slash; token is valid; token can read files
collection_items 404	Collection slug is exact (case-sensitive)
Start Date seems ignored	Confirm the record’s uploaded_on / date_updated / timestamp in the API response
Old files still appear	Files filter uses uploaded_on, not UI labels; verify with GET /files?filter[uploaded_on][_gte]=...

Learn more

• Directus API
• Directus filters
• Airbyte Connector Builder

Contributing

Issues and pull requests are welcome. When changing the manifest, re-test in Connector Builder (files connection test and any streams you modified). Update docs.md and test.md if configuration behavior changes.

License

License TBD — add a LICENSE file when you publish the repository.