Directus MCP Presets Extension

A Directus extension that adds a presets tool to the MCP (Model Context Protocol) interface, allowing AI agents to create, read, update, and delete presets for collections.

Features

• Create user-specific, role-specific, or global presets
• Read presets with filtering by collection, role, or user
• Update existing preset configurations
• Delete presets
• Full integration with Directus permissions and accountability
• Support for bookmarks, layout options, filters, and more

Prerequisites

This extension requires the directus-extension-mcp-customization extension to be installed and enabled.

Installation

Install via npm:

npm install directus-extension-mcp-presets

Or manually:

1. Install dependencies:

npm install

2. Build the extension:

npm run build

3. The extension will be automatically loaded by Directus when the server starts.

Usage

The presets tool supports four operations:

Create a Preset

Create a personal bookmark for draft articles:

{
  "action": "create",
  "collection": "articles",
  "bookmark": "My Drafts",
  "layout": "tabular",
  "filter": {
    "status": { "_eq": "draft" },
    "user_created": { "_eq": "$CURRENT_USER" }
  },
  "icon": "bookmark",
  "color": "#6366F1"
}

Create a role-specific default layout:

{
  "action": "create",
  "collection": "articles",
  "role": "role-uuid-here",
  "layout": "cards",
  "layout_options": {
    "size": "large"
  }
}

Read Presets

Read all presets for a collection:

{
  "action": "read",
  "collection": "articles",
  "limit": 20
}

Filter by user-specific presets:

{
  "action": "read",
  "collection": "articles",
  "user": "user-uuid-here"
}

Update a Preset

{
  "action": "update",
  "id": 123,
  "bookmark": "Updated Name",
  "filter": {
    "status": { "_eq": "published" }
  }
}

Delete a Preset

{
  "action": "delete",
  "id": 123
}

What are Presets?

Presets in Directus define the layout and filtering options for collections. They can be:

• User presets: Personal to a specific user
• Role presets: Shared across all users with a specific role
• Global presets: Available to all users (requires admin permissions)

Presets can include:

• Bookmarks (appear in sidebar navigation)
• Layout configurations (tabular, cards, calendar, etc.)
• Filter rules
• Search queries
• Custom icons and colors

Preset Scope

The role and user fields control preset scope:

• Both null: Global preset (requires admin permissions)
• User set: Personal preset for that specific user
• Role set: Shared preset for all users with that role

Technical Details

Architecture

This extension uses the Directus hook system to:

1. Register the presets tool in the MCP tools list via the mcp.tools.list filter
2. Handle tool execution via the presets.mcp.tools.call filter event
3. Receive user accountability from the meta parameter passed by the customization extension
4. Use PresetsService with proper accountability for permission-aware operations

Filter Event Handler

emitter.onFilter("presets.mcp.tools.call", async (toolCall, meta) => {
  // Extract accountability from meta parameter
  const { accountability } = meta;

  // Get input arguments from toolCall
  const input = presetInputSchema.parse(toolCall.arguments);

  // Create service with accountability for proper permissions
  const presetsService = new PresetsService({
    schema: await getSchema(),
    accountability,  // Ensures user context and permissions
  });

  // Perform operations with permission enforcement
  // ...
});

Development

Watch mode for development:

npm run dev

Validate the extension:

npm run validate

Related Extensions

• directus-extension-mcp-customization - Core framework for custom MCP tools (required)
• directus-extension-mcp-comments - Adds a tool for managing comments to Directus MCP
• directus-extension-mcp-hello-world - Example custom MCP tool

License

MIT