Directus Docs

Legacy Version

These are the docs for Directus 8, a legacy version of the platform. If you're looking for the current Directus 9 documentation, go here: https://docs.directus.io

Users

Directus Users are the individual accounts that let you authenticate into the API and App. Each belongs to a Role which defines its data permissions.

System vs. Custom

The directus_users table is required by the platform for authentication and other system logic, but often times developers want to use/extend it to also use it for their own purposes. As of now, you can only add additional fields to this table directly in the database (not officially supported), but we'll be adding this functionality to the App soon.

Creating Users

Administrators can create new users by clicking on the "+" button in the top right of the User Directory or by clicking "Add New" within the Users field of Settings > Roles & Permissions > [Role]. Each user has the following options:

  • Status — determines the current state of the user
    • Draft — Still being created. Can not authenticate.
    • Invited — Has been invited to the system, but hasn't yet accepted.
    • Active — This is the normal state of a user.
    • Suspended — Inactive state set by admins or when users reach the Login Attempts Allowed
    • Deleted — For accountability reasons (activity relationships), users are only "soft" deleted.
  • First Name — The user's given name
  • Last Name — The user's surname
  • Email — Part of the user's unique credentials for authenticating
  • Email Notifications — Whether or not a user should receive important notifications over email
  • Password — Credentials for authenticating, validated against the Password Policy
  • Role — Users must belong to one (and only one) role, which defines their access and permissions
  • Company — An optional field to track the user's office, location, or organization
  • Title — An optional field to track the user's company title or position
  • Timezone — Used to determine relative datetimes
  • Locale — Used to display any available translations in the App
  • Avatar — A 200x200 image used throughout the App to more easily identify users
  • Theme — Sets the App's theme. Options include: Light, Dark, and Auto (based on user's system)
  • Enable 2FA — Turns on Two-Factor Authentication. May be required by the role's Enforce 2FA
  • Token — (Hidden) This is not editable from within the App. See the note below:

Creating and Editing Static Tokens

Since static tokens don't change/rotate, they are inherently less secure than authenticating with user credentials and JWT. Therefore we do not expose them directly through the Directus App. For now, to set/change a user's static token, you must do so directly in the database at directus_users.token (plaintext). Learn more about Static Tokens

Deleting Users

To delete a user, click the Delete button in the header of the User's Detail page.

Soft Deleting

For accountability reasons (eg: activity relationships), users are not actually deleted from the database, they are soft-deleted using the status field. That means that if a user with the same email address is added later, they will inherit any previously saved details/activity.

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