directus/docs/extensions/creating-extensions.md

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description	readTime	contributors
A guide on how to scaffold your Directus Extension.	5 min read	Rijk Van Zanten, Esther Agbaje

Creating Extensions

To create an extension, use the create-directus-extension utility:

npx create-directus-extension@latest

After specifying the name of the extension, the type of the extension and the programming language you want to use, the utility will create a folder with the recommended file structure to create an extension.

If you want to combine and share dependencies between one or more extensions, use the bundle extension type.

Building Your Extension

Before your extension can be used by Directus, it has to be built. If you used the create-directus-extension utility to scaffold your extension, building your extension is as easy as running:

npm run build

The generated package.json contains a script that calls the directus-extension CLI which is part of @directus/extensions-sdk:

{
	"scripts": {
		"build": "directus-extension build"
	}
}

If you prefer to scaffold your extension manually, you can use the directus-extension CLI binary directly. The --help flag provides useful information regarding the available options and flags.

Internally, the CLI uses Rollup to bundle your extension to a single entrypoint.

::: tip Watch

The CLI supports rebuilding extensions whenever a file has changed by using the --watch flag.

:::

Configuring the CLI

Most of the time, it should be sufficient to use the CLI as is. But, in some cases it might be necessary to customize it to your specific needs. This can be done by creating a extension.config.js file at the root of your extension package with the following content:

export default {
	plugins: [],
};

Supported Options

• plugins — An array of Rollup plugins that will be used when building extensions in addition to the built-in ones.

::: tip CommonJS or ESM

By using the type field inside your package.json file or using the appropriate file extension (.mjs or .cjs), the config file can be loaded as a CommonJS or ESM file.

:::

::: tip Component Library

Directus comes shipped with it's own Vue Component Library and Storybook that you can use to enrich your extensions. These components can be used in any of the "app extensions", including Interfaces, Displays, Modules, Layouts, and Panels.

:::

Extension Folder Structure

The folder created by the utility is in fact an npm package. It comes with a few pre-installed packages depending on the extension type and the programming language you chose. The most important one is @directus/extensions-sdk. This package includes a CLI, which allows you to build your extension and to scaffold additional extensions, Typescript helpers, and other utilities.

Inside the created folder there is a src/ folder. This folder contains the entrypoint of your extension. If you write additional source files, they should go into this folder.

::: tip Entrypoint

The entrypoint is either called index.js or index.ts, depending on which programming language you chose.

:::

The generated package.json file contains an additional directus:extension field with the following sub-fields:

• type — The type of the extension
• path — The path to the built extension
• source — The path to the source entrypoint
• host — A semver string that indicates with which versions of the Directus host, the extension is compatible with

The CLI will use those fields by default to determine the input and output file paths and how the extension should be built.

Developing Your Extension

To learn more about how to develop extensions of a specific type, refer to the individual guides:

App Extensions

• Interfaces
• Layouts
• Displays
• Panels
• Modules
• Themes

API Extensions

• Endpoints
• Hooks

Hybrid Extensions

• Operations
• Bundles