Nuxt 3 / Directus Starter

Opinionated starter template for Nuxt 3 using Directus 9 as a backend. Develop internal or client applications faster with this batteries-included starter.

View The Demo Site

Features

• Built-in Directus 9 support to use as your backend, API, headless CMS - whatever your use case
• Tailwind CSS with all plugins, HeadlessUI, and Heroicons (Now Using V2) icon support
• Authentication and user store already configured for you
• Ready to use common components like modals, dropdowns, and file upload input
• Common utilities like relative time and currency formatting so you don't need to include yet another package
• ESLint and Prettier already configured
• Dark mode support

Stack

Nuxt 3

The leading Vue framework that handles routing, server side rendering, and more.

Be sure to keep your eye on their roadmap for the latest information.

---

Directus 9 support via the Directus SDK

If you're not familiar - Directus is an open data platform backed by a SQL database that allows you to quickly created a ready-to-use backend / API to power your application without writing any code.

For a smooth experience, the Directus SDK is already integrated for you and availably globally as a Nuxt plugin.

<script setup>
// Get the $directus plugin from Nuxt App composable
const { $directus } = useNuxtApp()

// Fetch content from Directus
const { data } = await $directus.items('your_collection_name').readByQuery({
      filter: {
        status: { _eq: 'published' },
      },
      limit: 5,
    })
</script>

There is also an included composable for getting the asset urls for your Directus files. Nuxt 3 auto-imports all your composables within the /composables directory so calling this helper is super simple.

<template>
<img :src="https://github.com/bryantgillespie/nuxt3-directus-starter/raw/main/fileUrl(file.id)" />
</template>
<script setup>
const { fileUrl } = useFiles()

const file = {
    id: 'lkerwfdafaddfgglk3242'
}
</script>

There are ready to go examples for:

• Authentication
• Fetching content from your Directus instance
• Protecting content with Nuxt Middleware
• Uploading files

---

Tailwind CSS

Primary Color

All the base components included in the starter use a primary class like class="text-primary-600 bg-primary-500" for colors to make it simple to change your preferred base color.

Just adjust it within your tailwind.config.js

// tailwind.config.js
...
theme: {
    extend: {
      colors: {
        primary: colors.violet, // Change this to your preferred Tailwind shade ie colors.yourShade
        gray: colors.slate,
      },
    },
  },
...

Dark Mode

Dark mode is already enabled in the tailwind.config.js and all the base components included have full support.

Dark mode toggling is provided by VueUse useDark composable. And there is an example toggle component you can use.

If you don't wish to use dark mode, you can simply remove the composable and the dark: classes from the components.

Tailwind Plugins

All the official Tailwind Plugins are installed and ready to use as well.

• Typography
• Forms
• Aspect Ratio
• Line Clamp

---

Headless UI

Headless UI makes it so simple to implement custom components like dropdowns, modals, and select boxes.

And there's two include examples that you can use right away.

Modals

<template>
  <VButton @click="isModalOpen = true" class="mt-2" variant="primary">
    Open Modal
  </VButton>
  <VModal
    title="Sample Modal"
    :is-open="isModalOpen"
    @close="isModalOpen = false"
  >
    <div class="prose dark:prose-invert">
      <p>{{ modalContent }}</p>
    </div>
  </VModal>
</template>
<script setup>
const isModalOpen = ref(false)
</script>

Dropdowns

<template>
  <VDropdown
    button-label="Dropdown Menu"
    variant="primary"
    :menu-items="dropdownItems"
  />
</template>
<script setup>
const dropdownItems = [
  {
    label: 'Console Log',
    action: () => {
      console.log('Dropdown button clicked!')
    },
  },
  {
    label: 'Visit Protected Page',
    action: () => {
      router.push('/protected-page')
    },
  },
]
</script>

---

Heroicons

Icon support is provided by Heroicons. The @heroicons/vue package is installed and configured to work correctly with Vite.

Just import the icon you want in your <script setup> and then call the Icon in your template.

<template>
<CloudArrowUpIcon class="w-5 h-5 text-primary"
</template>

<script setup>
import { CloudArrowUpIcon } from '@heroicons/vue/24/outline'
// use '@heroicons/vue/24/solid' for the solid versions
</script>

---

Pinia

The template uses Pinia for stores instead of Vuex. It's much easier to use and less verbose.

The auth store is all setup and ready to go. Using it is also super easy.

<template>
  <p>The logged-in user is: {{ auth.user }}</p>
</template>
<script setup>
  import { useAuth } from '~~/store/auth'
  const auth = useAuth()
</script>

If you like destructuring, make sure you use the storeToRefs helper from Pinia.

<script setup>
  import {storeToRefs} from 'pinia' import {useAuth} from '~~/store/auth' const
  auth = useAuth() const {(isLoggedIn, user)} = storeToRefs(auth)
</script>

---

VueUse

VueUse is already installed and configured so you can just import any of the composables in their library straight away.

---

Common Utilities

I always end up using these in most of my projects so I've chosen to include them in this starter.

Time

/utils/time.js

getRelativeTime(date) Takes a date string and returns the relative time ie 3 days ago or 5 minutes ago

Defaults to time from now, but you can pass in a second date getRelativeTime(date, date2) if you want to get the relative difference between the two.

getFriendlyDate(date) Takes a date string and returns a nice readable format like: Sat April 2nd, 2022

greetUser() Returns Good Morning , Good Afternoon, or Good Evening based on the time of day

Currency

/utils/currency.js

formatCurrency(number, {hideZeros: false}) Takes a number and outputs a string with the currency symbol and rounded to two decimals. If you want to round to the whole number just pass hideZeros: true in the options.

centsToDollars(cents) dollarsToCents(dollars)

These two are helpful when you are working with third party ecommerce or billing APIs like Stripe.

Math

/utils/math.js

formatPercent(number)

percentChange(num1, num2)

roundToDecimal(value, decimals)

Strings

/utils/strings.js

stripHTML(string)

truncateString(string)

Development

Directus - Backend

1 - Register for a free Directus Cloud account

https://directus.cloud/register

If you're prefer the self-hosted version, you can find install instructions here.

2 - Create a new project

Directus has a free Community Cloud tier that's perfect for tinkering or their Standard version has a bit more power if you're ready to start a live project.

ℹ Note: If you want to re-create the pages functionality from the demo site, follow the next 2 steps. If you're ready get cracking on your own thing, just skip the next two steps and start building out your own collections in Directus.

3 - Create pages collection

With the following fields:

• title
• slug
• content
• image

4 - Set public read permissions for the following collections

• Files
• Pages

---

Nuxt - Frontend

1 - Clone the repo

Use This Template

Or from the terminal

git clone https://github.com/bryantgillespie/nuxt3-directus-starter.git your-project

2 - Fix your .env file

• Change the filename env.example to .env
• Add the url to your Directus instance

If you're using Directus Cloud, it should look something like this.

DIRECTUS_URL="https://youruniquedomain.directus.app"

3 - Install your dependencies

yarn install

4 - Start the development server**

http://localhost:3000

yarn dev

5 - Remove all the example content

When you're ready to tackle your own project instead of the example, just delete the following directories

• /examples
• /components/Examples
• /public/logos

6 - Build for production when you're ready

yarn build

Deployment

Be sure to check out the Nuxt 3 official deployment documentation.

Netlify

Vercel

Other Resources

Directus Doc Search

If you're using a Mac and you have Alfred check out my Directus Docs Search workflow for it so that you can quickly and easily search their documentation.

Directus Discord

Nuxt Discord