Directus on Edge: any database, instant API

Deploy

Directus on Edge in five steps

Two VMs on a private network, one bucket and the CDN. Attach both VMs to the same private network from the Networking tab.

/srv/directus — bash

$ edge compute create --name directus \

--size s-2vcpu-4gb --script nodejs \

--image ubuntu-24 --region london

$ npm install directus

$ npx directus bootstrap

✓ Database migrated · admin user created

$ sudo systemctl enable --now directus

✓ directus.service active · :8055

$ edge cdn domains add cdn-a1b2c3 \

--domain cms.acme.io \

Forced schema changesNone

cms.acme.ioRunning

Directussystemd · Node 22

DatabasePostgres 16 · 10.0.0.3

1. 01

   Create the database and app VMs

   The postgresql script installs PostgreSQL 16 with remote access. A security group keeps port 5432 on the private range.

   shellCopy

   $ edge compute create --name directus-db --size s-2vcpu-4gb \
       --image ubuntu-24 --region london --script postgresql \
       --script-param db_name=directus
   $ edge compute groups create --name pg-private
   $ edge compute groups add-rule grp-abc123 --port 5432 \
       --protocol tcp --source 10.0.0.0/8
   
   $ edge compute create --name directus --size s-2vcpu-4gb \
       --image ubuntu-24 --region london --script nodejs
   $ edge storage create directus-files

2. 02

   Configure the database and storage

   Directus reads everything from the environment. The s3 driver takes a custom endpoint and path-style addressing.

   .envCopy

   PUBLIC_URL="https://cms.acme.io"
   SECRET="..."
   
   DB_CLIENT="pg"
   DB_HOST="10.0.0.3"
   DB_PORT="5432"
   DB_DATABASE="directus"
   DB_USER="postgres"
   DB_PASSWORD="..."
   
   STORAGE_LOCATIONS="edge"
   STORAGE_EDGE_DRIVER="s3"
   STORAGE_EDGE_KEY="..."
   STORAGE_EDGE_SECRET="..."
   STORAGE_EDGE_BUCKET="directus-files"
   STORAGE_EDGE_REGION="us-east-1"
   STORAGE_EDGE_ENDPOINT="https://storage.edge.network"
   STORAGE_EDGE_FORCE_PATH_STYLE="true"

3. 03

   Install and run it as a service

   bootstrap migrates the database and creates the first admin. systemd keeps it running and restarts it after upgrades.

   shellCopy

   $ cd /srv/directus && npm install directus
   $ npx directus bootstrap
   $ sudo tee /etc/systemd/system/directus.service <<'EOF'
   [Service]
   WorkingDirectory=/srv/directus
   ExecStart=/usr/bin/npx directus start
   Restart=always
   
   [Install]
   WantedBy=multi-user.target
   EOF
   $ sudo systemctl enable --now directus

4. 04

   Put the CDN in front

   Cache public reads with a short TTL. Writes and authenticated requests pass through to the VM.

   shellCopy

   $ edge cdn create --name acme-cms
   $ edge cdn domains add cdn-a1b2c3 --domain cms.acme.io \
       --origin https://<vm-ip> --cache-ttl 60

5. 05

   Query it from your front end

   Directus's own asset transforms use width, quality and format too, so the URLs read the same either way.

   lib/directus.tsCopy

   import { createDirectus, rest, readItems } from '@directus/sdk'
   
   const directus = createDirectus('https://cms.acme.io').with(rest())
   
   export const articles = await directus.request(
     readItems('articles', { fields: ['id', 'title', 'cover'] }),
   )
   // <img src={`https://cms.acme.io/assets/${a.cover}?width=800`} />

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