Directus Development Agency & Services

Connecting Directus to an existing database

• Introspection — Directus reads your tables, columns and foreign keys and exposes them as collections and relations.
• Non-destructive — your tables stay as they are; Directus adds its own directus_* system tables alongside them.
• Prerequisites — every table needs a primary key, and relations need proper foreign keys — we fix gaps before connecting.
• Coexistence — legacy apps, reports and scripts keep reading the same database while Directus provides the new interface and API.
• Supported engines — PostgreSQL, MySQL, MariaDB, SQL Server, SQLite and others — PostgreSQL is our default for new builds.

Directus as a back office

• Layouts — table, Kanban, calendar, map and card views over the same data, set per role.
• Insights — dashboards and panels for counts, trends and queues, built without a separate BI tool.
• Bulk operations — imports, exports, batch edits and revision history for every item.
• Where it stops — complex multi-step customer-facing workflows are better as a custom app, with Directus as the data layer behind it.

Extension types we build

• Hooks — run code on events such as items.create or items.update — validation, enrichment, syncing to other systems.
• Endpoints — custom API routes for logic that doesn't fit CRUD, such as quotes, search or file processing.
• Interfaces & displays — custom Vue components for editing and showing fields, e.g. a map picker or a pricing matrix.
• Layouts, modules & panels — new ways to browse data, whole custom screens and dashboard widgets.
• Operations — custom steps that can be dropped into Flows alongside the built-in ones.

Flows and access control

• Flow triggers — events, schedules, incoming webhooks, manual buttons in the admin, or another Flow.
• Typical Flows — approval notifications, scheduled clean-ups, deduplication, publishing to a front end, syncing to a CRM.
• When to use code instead — long, branching or high-volume logic is clearer and easier to test as a hook or an external service.
• Roles & policies — permissions per collection, per field and per item, with filters such as “only records from my region”.
• Public API safety — a locked-down public role and static tokens for front ends and services.

Directus vs Strapi

• Existing SQL database — Directus — it wraps what you have; Strapi expects to own its schema.
• New content-led website — either works; Strapi is often simpler for page-building editors.
• Internal tools & data apps — Directus, thanks to layouts, Insights and fine-grained permissions.
• Custom back-end logic in TypeScript — Strapi gives a more conventional Node.js application structure.
• Licensing — Strapi Community Edition is MIT; Directus uses a Business Source Licence that is free below a revenue threshold — we check current terms against your organisation.

Working with UK teams remotely

We don't have a UK office — we work remotely with UK-based product, marketing and IT teams, whether they are in London, Leeds or Sheffield:

• Business-hours overlap — India is 4.5–5.5 hours ahead of the UK, so our working day covers the UK morning and early afternoon for calls, reviews and releases.
• UK data residency — self-hosted Directus can run in a UK or EU cloud region, keeping personal data where your UK GDPR policies need it.
• Security & paperwork — NDA from day one and ISO 27001-certified information security processes.
• Clear pricing — fixed quotes for defined projects, or dedicated developers billed monthly.

What moves the price

• Data readiness — missing primary keys, absent foreign keys or duplicated data in an existing database.
• Roles & permissions — how many user groups need different item-level and field-level access.
• Extensions & Flows — custom interfaces, endpoints, hooks and automations beyond the built-in app.
• Front ends & integrations — Next.js or Nuxt sites, CRM and ERP syncs, payments and search.

Get a number for your project

Use the web application cost calculator for a ballpark, read how teams use Directus for internal tools, or request a fixed quote.