Directus

Directus is an open-source data platform that wraps any SQL database with a beautiful, real-time REST and GraphQL API, an intuitive no-code admin app, and support for static file storage. Founded by Ben Haynes and Rijk van Zanten, Directus has over 28,000 stars as of 2026 and is used by thousands of organizations ranging from startups to Fortune 500 companies. Unlike traditional headless CMS platforms that impose their own data models, Directus operates as an introspective layer on top of existing SQL databases (PostgreSQL, MySQL, MariaDB, SQLite, MS SQL Server, OracleDB, and CockroachDB), automatically generating a complete API and admin interface based on the database schema, while preserving full direct database access. Key features include: automatic REST and GraphQL API generation with filtering, sorting, pagination, deep query nesting, and field-level access control, real-time updates via WebSockets, role-based access control (RBAC) with granular field-level permissions (create, read, update, delete per field per role), direct database access (tables and columns created in Directus are real SQL schema objects, no vendor lock-in), a no-code admin app for managing collections, items, files, and users, file storage and transformation (uploading, resizing, cropping, and serving images with support for S3, Google Cloud Storage, Azure Blob, and local storage), webhooks and flows (visual automation builder for triggering actions on data events without coding), dashboards for analytics and insights, translations and localization, multi-tenant architecture, audit logging, revisions history, comments and annotations on records, bookmarking and sharing collection views, bookmarkable dashboard layouts, and a modular extension system (custom endpoints, hooks, panels, modules, interfaces, and layouts via JavaScript or TypeScript extensions).