HOW TO: Using Laravel with Directus 9

If you need to use Directus with Laravel then this guide will take you through the steps needed to get connected in just a few minutes.

The general idea is to use a composer package to interact with Directus. We’ll register it in our AppServiceProvider which means we can call a pre-configured instance anywhere in our app using dependency-injection.

In Directus

• It’s advisable to create a new role for your Laravel Application. To make it easy to track I give it the name ‘laravel-app’
• Create a new user for your Laravel Application and assign it the new Role you just created
• On the Edit User screen, find the ‘Token’ field. Generate a token and make a note of it somewhere

In Laravel

• Now switch to your Laravel app. For this integration, I’m using a composer package from https://github.com/alantiller/directus-php-sdk
• Install the package:

composer require alantiller/directus-php-sdk

• In your .env file add the following:

DIRECTUS_URL=https://directus.example.com
DIRECTUS_TOKEN=-YOURTOKEN

• Replace the Url with your actual Directus URL
• Replace YOURTOKEN with the Token you generated for your Laravel user in Directus
• In config/services.php add the following:

'directus' => [
    'url'   => env('DIRECTUS_URL'),
    'token' => env('DIRECTUS_TOKEN'),
],

In app/providers/AppServiceProvider.php add the following to the register() method

$this->app->singleton(Directus::class, function ($app) {
    $directus = new Directus($app['config']['services']['directus']['url'],'');
    $directus->auth_token($app['config']['services']['directus']['token']);
    return $directus;
});

In your code you’ll be able to now use Directus with the standard dependency injection. You can find examples on how to use the alantiller/directus-php-sdk package on Github.

Example:

php artisan make:command DirectusTest

In the handle method of the generated command:

<?php

namespace App\Console\Commands;

use Illuminate\Console\Command;

class DirectusTest extends Command
{
    /**
     * The name and signature of the console command.
     *
     * @var string
     */
    protected $signature = 'directus:test';

    /**
     * The console command description.
     *
     * @var string
     */
    protected $description = 'Command description';

    /**
     * Execute the console command.
     *
     * @return int
     */
    public function handle(\Slations\DirectusSdk\Directus $directus)
    {
        dd($directus->users_me());
    }
}

Call the command:

php artisan directus:tset

The output should show you details of the Laravel App user you added on Directus. Once it’s working delete the command.

This is all it takes to have a fully working Directus integration with Laravel. The package does most of the work, but registering it in your AppServiceProvider means you’ll get a connected instance whenever you need to use it instead of having to instantiate it.

Note that this application uses an application token which is tied to a single user. If you need multi-user support then the package supports login so you can authenticate users and use their auth token.