Airbyte | Directus Docs

Copy data from your Directus instance into a warehouse or database (BigQuery, Snowflake, Postgres, and more) using the Directus Airbyte source connector.

Quick Start

Import the connector: Add Airbyte.yaml as a new source in Airbyte
Configure the source: Enter your API key, base URL, and collection name
Test the connection: Airbyte hits the /files endpoint to verify credentials
Create a connection: Pick your destination and enable only the streams you need

Before You Start

You'll need:

A Directus project with the collections you want to sync
An API token with read access to those collections (go to Settings > Access Tokens)
An Airbyte account and access to add a new source connector

Stream	Endpoint	Typical use
`collection_items`	`/items/{collection}`	Posts, products, pages, custom collections
`files`	`/files`	File library assets
`users`	`/users`	User directory (contains PII - only enable if needed)
`activity`	`/activity`	Audit log
`collections_meta`	`/collections`	Collection schema metadata

Setup in Airbyte

Import the connector manifest (Airbyte.yaml) as a new source in Airbyte.
Enter the required settings (see below).
Click Test connection to verify your credentials.
Create a connection, choose a destination, and enable only the streams you need.
Set the sync mode per stream. Full refresh is typical for CMS snapshots. Airbyte incremental sync is separate from Directus filters.

Required Settings

Field	Example	Notes
API Key	`your-token`	Settings > Access Tokens. Needs read access on every stream you enable.
Base URL	`https://your-project.directus.app`	No trailing slash.
Collection Name	`posts`	Required even if you only sync `files`. Use any collection slug your token can read.

Collection Name feeds the collection_items stream. If you don't want to sync collection items, disable that stream on the Airbyte connection after setup.

Optional Query Controls

These map directly to Directus query parameters and apply to every stream. Use them to filter, sort, and limit what gets synced.

Field	Query param	Example
Fields	`fields`	`id,title,status` (or `*` for all fields, the default)
Filter	`filter`	`{"status":{"_eq":"published"}}`
Sort	`sort`	`-date_created` or `title,-date_updated`
Search	`search`	Free-text search string

Filter Examples

Published items only:

{"status":{"_eq":"published"}}

Activity creates only:

{"action":{"_eq":"create"}}

Items updated after a specific date:

{"date_updated":{"_gte":"2024-01-01T00:00:00.000Z"}}

Enter filter values as a JSON string in the source config.

Fields Example

id,title,status,date_updated

Relational fields use dot notation: id,title,author.name

Start Date

When set, the connector adds a filter[field][_gte] parameter to limit results to data after the given date.

Stream	Field filtered
`collection_items`	`date_updated`
`files`	`uploaded_on`
`activity`	`timestamp`

Use YYYY-MM-DD format (e.g. 2026-06-01) or a full ISO datetime. The connector normalizes date-only values to UTC midnight.

Start Date does not apply to users or collections_meta. Use Filter for those.

The Directus admin UI may display a different date field for files than what the API filters on. The API uses uploaded_on. To filter on a different field, use the Filter option instead: {"modified_on":{"_gte":"2026-06-01T00:00:00.000Z"}}.

Permissions

Each stream requires read access on the corresponding Directus resource.

Stream	Required permission
`collection_items`	Read on your collection
`files`	Read files
`users`	Read users
`activity`	Read activity (often requires admin)
`collections_meta`	Read collections

If a stream returns a 403 error, fix the token's role permissions or disable that stream on the connection.

Syncing Multiple Collections

The connector syncs one collection per source. To sync multiple collections, create one Airbyte source per collection with the same base URL and API key, but a different Collection Name.

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