Directus MCP Server

A Node.js server implementing Model Context Protocol (MCP) for Directus CMS. Enable AI Clients to interact with the Directus API through the Model Context Protocol (MCP).

ℹ Prerequisites

• Node.js
• NPM
• A Directus Instance

▶️ Quick start

1. Get your Directus API credentials

   • Go to your Directus instance
   • Create a static access token or get your email and password
   • Keep these credentials secure

2. Add to your AI editor

   {
     "mcpServers": {
       "directus": {
         "command": "npx",
         "args": ["-y", "@pixelsock/directus-mcp@latest"],
         "env": {
           "DIRECTUS_URL": "https://your-directus-instance.com",
           "DIRECTUS_ACCESS_TOKEN": "YOUR_ACCESS_TOKEN"
         }
       }
     }
   }

   Alternatively, you can use email/password authentication:

   {
     "mcpServers": {
       "directus": {
         "command": "npx",
         "args": ["-y", "@pixelsock/directus-mcp@latest"],
         "env": {
           "DIRECTUS_URL": "https://your-directus-instance.com",
           "DIRECTUS_EMAIL": "your-email@example.com",
           "DIRECTUS_PASSWORD": "your-password"
         }
       }
     }
   }

   For Cursor:

   1. Go to Settings → Cursor Settings → MCP
   2. Click + Add New Global MCP Server
   3. Paste configuration
   4. Replace placeholder values with your Directus credentials
   5. Save and restart Cursor

   For Claude Desktop:

   1. Open Settings → Developer
   2. Click Edit Config
   3. Open claude_desktop_config.json in a code editor and paste configuration
   4. Replace placeholder values with your Directus credentials
   5. Save and restart Claude

❓ Troubleshooting

If you are having issues starting the server in your MCP client e.g. Cursor or Claude Desktop, please try the following.

Ensure you have valid Directus credentials

1. Verify that your Directus URL is correct and accessible
2. Check that your access token or email/password credentials are valid
3. Replace the credentials in your MCP client configuration
4. Save and restart your MCP client

Ensure you have Node and NPM installed

• Node.js
• NPM

Run the following commands to confirm you have Node and NPM installed:

node -v
npm -v

Clear your NPM cache

Sometimes clearing your NPM cache can resolve issues with npx.

npm cache clean --force

🛠️ Available tools

Collections and Items

getItems                // Get items from a collection
getItem                 // Get a single item from a collection by ID
createItem              // Create a new item in a collection
updateItem              // Update an existing item in a collection
deleteItem              // Delete an item from a collection
getCollections          // Get all collection schemas
getFields               // Get fields for a collection
getRelations            // Get relations for a collection

Files

getFiles                // Get files from Directus
uploadFile              // Upload a file to Directus

Users and Permissions

login                   // Login to Directus and get an access token
getUsers                // Get users from Directus
getCurrentUser          // Get the current user info
getRoles                // Get roles from Directus
getPermissions          // Get permissions from Directus

System

getSystemInfo           // Get system information from Directus
getActivity             // Get activity logs from Directus
getConfig               // Get current configuration information

🚧 Development mode

If you want to run the server in development mode:

1. Clone and install:

   git clone https://github.com/pixelsock/directus-mcp.git
   cd directus-mcp
   npm install

2. Add your credentials to .env:

   # .env
   DIRECTUS_URL=https://your-directus-instance.com
   DIRECTUS_ACCESS_TOKEN=your_token_here
   # Or use email/password
   DIRECTUS_EMAIL=your-email@example.com
   DIRECTUS_PASSWORD=your-password

3. Start development server:

   npm run dev

🌐 HTTP transport (multi-user / remote deployments)

By default the server uses the stdio transport, which is ideal for single-user local AI editors (Cursor, Claude Desktop, etc.).

For multi-user or remote environments you can switch to the Streamable HTTP transport by setting the MCP_TRANSPORT environment variable.

Configuration

Environment variable	Default	Description
MCP_TRANSPORT	stdio	Transport mode: stdio or http / streamable-http
MCP_PORT	3000	TCP port the HTTP server listens on
MCP_HOST	127.0.0.1	Host/interface to bind. Use 0.0.0.0 to bind all interfaces

You can also pass --transport=http as a CLI argument instead of setting the environment variable.

Running the HTTP server

# Via environment variable
MCP_TRANSPORT=http MCP_PORT=3000 MCP_HOST=0.0.0.0 node dist/index.js

# Via CLI argument
node dist/index.js --transport=http

Docker example

docker run -p 3000:3000 \
  -e DIRECTUS_URL=https://your-directus-instance.com \
  -e DIRECTUS_ACCESS_TOKEN=your_token_here \
  -e MCP_TRANSPORT=http \
  -e MCP_HOST=0.0.0.0 \
  ghcr.io/pixelsock/directus-mcp

Connecting an MCP client to the HTTP server

Once the server is running, configure your MCP client to connect to:

http://<host>:<port>/mcp

For example with a client that supports the Streamable HTTP transport:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "directus": {
      "url": "http://localhost:3000/mcp"
    }
  }
}

📄 Directus Developer resources

• Directus API Documentation
• Directus API Endpoints
• Directus JavaScript SDK