Join us for a Live Demo & Q&A Session

Create a CMS using Directus and Astro

Learn how to create a CMS using Directus and Astro.
Generated Image

Create a CMS using Directus and Astro

Directus provides a headless CMS, which when combined with Astro will streamline content management. This post covers how to connect them to create a flexible, modern content management system.

Before You Start

You will need:

  • A new Directus project with admin access. you can use Directus Cloud or run it yourself.
  • Optional but recommended: Familiarity with data modeling in Directus.
  • Basic knowledge of Astro and JavaScript.

Set Up Your Directus Project

Configure Directus with the necessary collections and permissions.

Apply the CMS Template

Use the Directus Template CLI to apply the CMS template for your project.

First, generate a static token for the admin user by going to the Users Directory. Choose the Administrative User, and scroll down to the Token field and generate a static token. Copy the token and save it. Do not forget to save the user, or you will encounter an "Invalid token" error.

Token generation in Directus

In the directory where you have your docker-compose.yml or where you have Directus configured, open your terminal, run the following command:

npx directus-template-cli@latest apply

When prompted, choose Community templates, and select the CMS template. Fill in your Directus URL, and select Directus Access Token as the authentication method, filling in the token created earlier.

This will create the necessary collections and fields in your Directus project. You can check the collections created by going to the Data Model page in your Directus project.

CMS Template in Directus

Set Up Your Astro Project

It is now time to build the front end of the project. Astro is a static site generator that allows you to create fast, modern websites. Using the data from Directus, you can create a dynamic site that pulls in content from the CMS at build time and render the page as a static HTML file.

Initialize Your Project

Create a new Astro project by running the command:

npx create-astro@latest astro-cms

When prompted, select the following configurations:

How would you like to start your new project? A basic, minimal starter (recommended)
Install dependencies? (recommended) Yes
Initialize a new git repository? (optional) No

Navigate into the project directory and install the Directus SDK by running the command:

npm install @directus/sdk

Next, run the command npm run dev to start the development server and you should have the Astro project running on http://localhost:4321/ in your browser.

Open the astro-cms directory in an text editor of your choice to start building with Astro.

Configure the Directus SDK

First, create a .env file in the root of your project and add the following environment variables:

DIRECTUS_URL=https://your-directus-project-url.com

In the src directory, create a lib directory and inside of it, create a directus.ts file to set up your Directus client instance:

/// <reference types="vite/client" />
import { createDirectus, readItems, rest } from "@directus/sdk";


const DIRECTUS_URL = import.meta.env.DIRECTUS_URL;
const client = createDirectus(DIRECTUS_URL).with(rest());

export default client;

This will create a Directus client instance with the REST API. You can also use GraphQL if you prefer.

Now that you have the client set up, you can start fetching data from your Directus project and creating components to render for the pages.

Create the Home Page

Before moving further with creating any pages, head over to Directus to have a look at the data structure and content that was created by the starter template.

In your Dashboard, you'll find pages structure and content already created such as, the Homepage, Contact Us, About, Blog etc.

In this tutorial, we will focus only on the home page. The home page is a great place to start as it contains most of the components that you will be using throughout your project.

This is how the home page looks like from the Directus Dashboard, notice the different sections that are already created for you: Home Page in Directus

In the home page, you will find the following sections:

  • Hero Section
  • Rich Text Section
  • Gallery Section
  • Pricing Section
  • Form Section
  • SEO, Header and Footer

You will create a component for each of these sections and then fetch the date of the home page from Directus to render the sections based on the data fetched.

Before you start creating the components, first fetch the data from Directus.

Update the directus.ts file, to include a getPageData function that will fetch the data for any page based on the slug. This function will be used to fetch the data for the home page:

export async function getPageData(slug: string) {
  try {
    const pages = await client.request(
      readItems("pages", {
        fields: ["*",
        "blocks.*",
        "blocks.item.*.*.*.*",],
        filter: {
          permalink: {
            _eq: slug,
          },
        },
        limit: 1, // Fetch only one page
      })
    );

    if (pages.length === 0) {
      throw new Error(`Page with slug "${slug}" not found.`);
    }

    return {
      data: pages[0], // Return the first (and only) page
      error: null,
    };
  } catch (error) {
    console.error(`Failed to fetch page with slug "${slug}":`, error);
    return {
      data: null,
      error: `Failed to fetch page with slug "${slug}". Please try again later.`,
    };
  }
}

The function above will fetch the page data based on the slug passed to it. Since there are multiple blocks in the page, you can use the blocks field to fetch all the blocks in the page.

The blocks.item field will fetch the data for each block and the blocks.item.*.*.* field will fetch the data nested deep for each item in the block. This will allow you to fetch all the data for the page in one request.

Now that you have the data fetching function set up, you can create the components for each section of the home page.

Create a BlocksToComponents Component

Before creating the components for each section, you need a component that will map each of the blocks coming from the getPageData request and render the appropriate component based on the block collection type.

To do this, create a new file in the src/components directory called BlocksToComponents.astro and add the following code:

---
import Hero from "./Hero.astro";
import RichText from "./RichText.astro";
import Pricing from "./Pricing.astro";
import Form from "./Form.astro";
import Gallery from "./Gallery.astro";

const { blocks } = Astro.props;
---

{
  blocks.map((block: any) => {
    const View =
      block.collection === "block_hero"
        ? Hero
        : block.collection === "block_richtext"
          ? RichText
          : block.collection === "block_pricing"
            ? Pricing
            : block.collection === "block_form"
              ? Form
              : block.collection === "block_gallery"
                ? Gallery
                : () => null;
    return View && <View {...block} />;
  })
}

The code above:

  • Imports the components for each block type.
  • Maps through the blocks and checks the collection field to determine which component to render.
  • Renders the appropriate component and passes the block data as props.
  • If the block type is not found, it returns null.
  • The View variable is a function that returns the component to be rendered.
  • The blocks prop is passed to the component from the parent component.

To use this component, you will need to import it in the home page component and pass the blocks data to it.

Update the src/pages/index.astro file to include the following code:

---
import Layout from "../layouts/Layout.astro";
import { getPageData } from "../lib/directus";
import BlocksToComponents from "../components/BlocksToComponents.astro";

const { data, error } = await getPageData("/");

if (error) {
  console.error("Error fetching page data:", error);
  throw new Error("Failed to fetch page data");
}
---

<Layout>
   <BlocksToComponents blocks={data?.blocks} />
</Layout>

The code above fetches the data for the home page using the getPageData function and passes the blocks data to the BlocksToComponents component.

At the moment, if you open the home page in your browser, you will get an error because the components for each section are not created yet. You will create them in the next step.

To see the data being passed to the BlocksToComponents component, add a console log to the page:

console.log("Page data:" data)

This will log the blocks data to the console, and you can check if the data is being passed correctly.

Console log of blocks data

To also avoid the error of the components not being found, you can create an empty component for each section in the src/components directory. For example, Hero.astro, RichText.astro, Pricing.astro, Form.astro, and Gallery.astro.

You will now create the components for each section of the home page.

Hero Section

Create a new file in the src/components directory called Hero.astro and add the following code:

---
import { Image } from "astro:assets";

interface HeroProps {
  id: string;
  sort: number;
  collection: string;
  hide_block: boolean;
  background: string;
  item: {
    headline: string;
    id: string;
    description: string;
    tagline: string;
    layout: "image_right" | "image_left" | "image_center" | null;
    image?: {
      id: string;
      storage: string;
      filename_disk: string;
      width: number;
      height: number;
      title: string;
    };
    button_group?: {
      id: string;
      sort: number | null;
      buttons: Array<{
        id: string;
        label: string;
        url?: string;
        variant: string;
        page?: {
          permalink: string;
        };
        post?: {
          slug: string;
        };
      }>;
    };
  };
}

const { background, item: { headline, description, tagline, layout, image, button_group } } = Astro.props as HeroProps;

const DIRECTUS_URL = import.meta.env.DIRECTUS_URL;
---

<section class={`hero ${background} ${layout}`}>
  <div class="hero-content">
    <span class="tagline">{tagline}</span>
    <h1>{headline}</h1>
    <p>{description}</p>
    {button_group?.buttons && (
      <div class="button-group">
        {button_group.buttons.map((button) => (
          <a
            href={button.url || button.page?.permalink || button.post?.slug || "#"}
            target={button.url ? "_blank" : "_self"}
            class="button"
          >
            {button.label}
          </a>
        ))}
      </div>
    )}
  </div>
  {image && (
    <div class="hero-image-container">
      <Image
        src={`${DIRECTUS_URL}/assets/${image.filename_disk}`}
        alt={image.title}
        width={image.width}
        height={image.height}
        class="hero-image"
      />
    </div>
  )}
</section>

<style>
  .hero {
    display: flex;
    flex-wrap: wrap;
    align-items: center;
    justify-content: center;
    padding: 4rem 2rem;
    gap: 2rem;
    background-color: #ffffff;
  }

  .hero.dark {
    background-color: #333333;
    color: #ffffff; 
  }

  .hero.image_center {
    flex-direction: column;
  }

  .hero.image_left {
    flex-direction: row-reverse;
  }

  .hero.image_right {
    flex-direction: row;
  }

  .hero-content {
    max-width: 600px;
    text-align: center;
  }

  .hero.image_left .hero-content,
  .hero.image_right .hero-content {
    text-align: left;
  }

  h1 {
    font-size: 2.5rem;
    margin-bottom: 1rem;
    color: #333333;
  }

  p {
    font-size: 1.125rem;
    margin-bottom: 1rem;
    color: #555555;
  }

  .tagline {
    font-size: 1rem;
    font-style: italic;
    color: #888888; 
    margin-bottom: 2rem;
  }

  .hero-image-container {
    flex-shrink: 0;
    max-width: 100%;
  }

  .hero-image {
    max-width: 100%;
    height: auto;
    border-radius: 8px;
  }

  .button-group {
    display: flex;
    gap: 1rem;
    flex-wrap: wrap;
  }

  .hero.image_center .button-group {
    justify-content: center;
  }

  .button {
    display: inline-block;
    padding: 0.75rem 1.5rem;
    font-size: 1rem;
    font-weight: bold;
    text-decoration: none;
    color: #ffffff;
    background-color: #007bff;
    border-radius: 4px;
    transition: background-color 0.3s ease;
  }

  .button:hover {
    background-color: #0056b3; 
  }

  .button:active {
    background-color: #003f7f; 
  }
</style>

The code above creates a hero section that displays the headline, description, tagline, and image. It also includes a button group that links to URL coming from the CMS.

Also based on the layout, it will render the image on the left or right side of the text.

Save the file and open the home page in your browser. You should see the hero section rendered with the data from Directus.

Hero Section

Nice! Now you have the hero section rendered with the data from the CMS.

Using this same approach, create the components for the other sections of the home page.

Rich Text Section

Create a new file in the src/components directory called RichText.astro and add the following code:

---
interface RichTextProps {
  id: string;
  sort: number;
  hide_block: boolean;
  background: string;
  item: {
    content: string;
    headline: string;
    id: string;
    alignment: "left" | "center";
    tagline: string;
  };
}

const { background, item: { content, headline, alignment, tagline } } = Astro.props as RichTextProps;
---

<section class={`richtext ${background}`} style={`text-align: ${alignment};`}>
  <div class="richtext-content">
    <span class="tagline">{tagline}</span>
    <h2>{headline}</h2>
    <div class="content" set:html={content}></div>
  </div>
</section>

<style>
  .richtext {
    padding: 4rem 2rem;
    background-color: #ffffff;
    color: #333333;
  }

  .richtext.dark {
    background-color: #333333;
    color: #ffffff;
  }

  .richtext-content {
    max-width: 800px;
    margin: 0 auto;
  }

  .tagline {
    display: block;
    font-size: 1rem;
    font-style: italic;
    color: #888888;
    margin-bottom: 1rem;
  }

  h2 {
    font-size: 2rem;
    margin-bottom: 1rem;
    color: #333333;
  }

  .content {
    font-size: 1.125rem;
    line-height: 1.6;
    color: #555555;
  }
</style>

This will create a rich text section that displays the content, headline, and tagline. The alignment of the text can be set to left or center based on the data from Directus.

Rich Text Section

Gallery Section

Create a new file in the src/components directory called Gallery.astro and add the following code:

---
import { Image } from "astro:assets";

interface GalleryItem {
  directus_file: {
    id: string;
    filename_disk: string;
    title: string;
    width: number;
    height: number;
  };
}

interface GalleryProps {
  id: string;
  sort: number;
  page: string;
  collection: string;
  hide_block: boolean;
  background: string;
  item: {
    headline: string;
    id: string;
    tagline: string;
    items: Array<GalleryItem>;
  };
}

const { background, item: { headline, tagline, items } } = Astro.props as GalleryProps;

const DIRECTUS_URL = import.meta.env.DIRECTUS_URL;
---

<section class={`gallery ${background}`}>
  <div class="gallery-header">
    <span class="tagline">{tagline}</span>
    <h2>{headline}</h2>
  </div>
  <div class="gallery-grid">
    {items.map((item) => (
      <div class="gallery-item">
        <Image
          src={`${DIRECTUS_URL}/assets/${item.directus_file.filename_disk}`}
          alt={item.directus_file.title}
          width={item.directus_file.width}
          height={item.directus_file.height}
          class="gallery-image"
        />
      </div>
    ))}
  </div>
</section>

<style>
  .gallery {
    padding: 4rem 2rem;
    background-color: #e2e8f0;
    color: #333333;
  }

  .gallery.light {
    background-color: #ffffff;
    color: #333333;
  }

  .gallery-header {
    text-align: center;
    margin-bottom: 2rem;
  }

  .tagline {
    display: block;
    font-size: 1rem;
    font-style: italic;
    color: #888888;
    margin-bottom: 1rem;
  }

  h2 {
    font-size: 2rem;
    margin-bottom: 1rem;
    color: #333333;
  }

  .gallery-grid {
    display: grid;
    grid-template-columns: repeat(auto-fit, minmax(400px, 1fr));
    gap: 2rem;
  }

  .gallery-item {
    background-color: #444444;
    border-radius: 8px;
    overflow: hidden;
    box-shadow: 0 4px 6px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1);
    transition: transform 0.3s ease, box-shadow 0.3s ease;
  }

  .gallery-item:hover {
    transform: translateY(-5px);
    box-shadow: 0 6px 10px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.15);
  }

  .gallery-image {
    width: 100%;
    height: auto;
    display: block;
  }

  .gallery-item-content {
    padding: 1rem;
  }

  .gallery-item-content h3 {
    font-size: 1.25rem;
    margin-bottom: 0.5rem;
    color: #ffffff;
  }

  .gallery-item-content p {
    font-size: 1rem;
    color: #cccccc;
  }
</style>

This will create a gallery section that displays the headline, tagline, and images. The images fetched from the CMS will be displayed in a grid layout.

Gallery Section

Pricing Section

Create a new file in the src/components directory called Pricing.astro and add the following code:

---
interface PricingCard {
  id: string;
  title: string;
  description: string;
  price: string;
  badge?: string | null;
  features: string[];
  is_highlighted: boolean;
  button: {
    label: string;
    url: string;
  };
}

interface PricingProps {
  id: string;
  sort: number;
  page: string;
  collection: string;
  hide_block: boolean;
  background: string;
  item: {
    id: string;
    headline: string;
    tagline: string;
    pricing_cards: Array<PricingCard>;
  };
}

const {
  background,
  item: { headline, tagline, pricing_cards },
} = Astro.props as PricingProps;
---

<section class={`pricing ${background}`}>
  <div class="container">
    <div class="pricing-header">
      <span class="tagline">{tagline}</span>
      <h2>{headline}</h2>
    </div>
    <div class="pricing-grid">
      {
        pricing_cards.map((card) => (
          <div
            class={`pricing-card ${card.is_highlighted ? "highlighted" : ""}`}
          >
            {card.badge && <span class="badge">{card.badge}</span>}
            <h3 class="card-title">{card.title}</h3>
            <p class="card-description">{card.description}</p>
            <p class="card-price">{card.price}</p>
            <ul class="card-features">
              {card.features.map((feature, index) => (
                <li>{feature}</li>
              ))}
            </ul>
            <a href={card.button.url} class="card-cta">
              {card.button.label}
            </a>
          </div>
        ))
      }
    </div>
  </div>
</section>

<style>
  .pricing {
    padding: 4rem 2rem;
    background-color: #fff;
    color: #333; 
  }

  .container {
    max-width: 900px;
    margin: 0 auto;
    padding: 0 2rem;
  }

  .pricing.dark {
    background-color: #333;
    color: #fff;
  }

  .pricing-header {
    text-align: center;
    margin-bottom: 2rem;
  }

  .tagline {
    display: block;
    font-size: 1rem;
    font-style: italic;
    color: #888;
    margin-bottom: 1rem;
  }

  h2 {
    font-size: 2rem;
    margin-bottom: 1rem;
    color: #333; 
  }

  .pricing-grid {
    display: grid;
    grid-template-columns: repeat(auto-fit, minmax(300px, 1fr));
    gap: 2rem;
    width: 100%;
  }

  .pricing-card {
    background-color: #fff;
    border-radius: 8px;
    padding: 2rem;
    box-shadow: 0 4px 6px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1);
    transition:
      transform 0.3s ease,
      box-shadow 0.3s ease;
    position: relative;
  }

  .pricing-card.highlighted {
    border: 2px solid #007bff;
    transform: scale(1.05);
    background-color: #f3f6f8;
  }

  .badge {
    position: absolute;
    top: 1rem;
    right: 1rem;
    background-color: #007bff;
    color: #fff;
    padding: 0.25rem 0.5rem;
    font-size: 0.875rem;
    font-weight: bold;
    border-radius: 4px;
  }

  .card-title {
    font-size: 1.5rem;
    margin-bottom: 0.5rem;
    color: #333;
  }

  .card-description {
    font-size: 1rem;
    margin-bottom: 1rem;
    color: #555; 
  }

  .card-price {
    font-size: 1.25rem;
    font-weight: bold;
    margin-bottom: 1rem;
    color: #007bff; 
  }

  .card-features {
    list-style: none;
    padding: 0;
    margin: 0 0 1rem;
  }
 .card-features li:before {
    content: "✓";
    color: #38a169;
    font-weight: bold;
    margin-right: 10px;
  }
  .card-features li {
    font-size: 1rem;
    margin-bottom: 0.5rem;
    color: #555; 
  }

  .card-cta {
    display: inline-block;
    padding: 0.75rem 1.5rem;
    font-size: 1rem;
    font-weight: bold;
    text-decoration: none;
    color: #fff; 
    background-color: #007bff;
    border-radius: 4px;
    transition: background-color 0.3s ease;
  }

  .card-cta:hover {
    background-color: #0056b3;
  }
</style>

The code above creates a pricing section that displays the headline, tagline, and pricing cards. Each card includes a title, description, price, features, and a button.

Pricing Section

Form Section

Create a new file in the src/components directory called Form.astro and add the following code:

---
interface FormField {
  id: string;
  name: string;
  type: "text" | "email" | "textarea" | "checkbox" | "radio" | "select";
  label: string;
  placeholder?: string | null;
  required: boolean;
  choices?: Array<{ label: string; value: string }> | null; // For select, radio, or checkbox fields
}

interface FormProps {
  id: string;
  sort: number | null;
  page: string;
  hide_block: boolean;
  background: string;
  item: {
    id: string;
    headline: string;
    tagline: string;
    form: {
      id: string;
      title: string;
      is_active: boolean;
      submit_label: string;
      on_success: "message" | "redirect";
      success_message: string;
      success_redirect_url?: string | null;
      fields: Array<FormField>;
    };
  };
}

const {
  background,
  item: { headline, tagline, form },
} = Astro.props as FormProps;

let formData: Record<string, string> = {};
let message = '';
let error = false;

if (Astro.request.method === "POST") {
  try {
    const data = await Astro.request.formData();

    if (!error) {
      message = form.success_message;
    }
  } catch (error: any) {
    console.error('Error submitting the form', error);
    error = true;
    message = error.message || 'Failed to create post';
  }
}

---

<section class={`form-section ${background}`}>
  <div class="form-header">
    <span class="tagline">{tagline}</span>
    <h2>{headline}</h2>
  </div>
  <form class="newsletter-form" method="post">
    {form.fields.map((field) => (
      <div class="form-field" >
        <label for={field.name}>
          {field.label}
          {field.required && <span class="required">*</span>}
        </label>
        {field.type === "text" || field.type === "email" ? (
          <input
            type={field.type}
            id={field.name}
            name={field.name}
            placeholder={field.placeholder || ""}
            required={field.required}
          />
        ) : field.type === "textarea" ? (
          <textarea
            id={field.name}
            name={field.name}
            placeholder={field.placeholder || ""}
            required={field.required}
          ></textarea>
        ) : field.type === "select" && field.choices ? (
          <select id={field.name} name={field.name} required={field.required}>
            {field.choices.map((choice) => (
              <option value={choice.value}>
                {choice.label}
              </option>
            ))}
          </select>
        ) : null}
      </div>
    ))}
    <button type="submit" class="submit-button">{form.submit_label}</button>
  </form>
  <div id="form-success-message" class="success-message hidden">
    {form.success_message}
  </div>
</section>


<style>
  .form-section {
    padding: 4rem 2rem;
    background-color: #ffffff;
    color: #333;
  }

  .form-section.dark {
    background-color: #333;
    color: #fff;
  }

  .form-header {
    text-align: center;
    margin-bottom: 2rem;
  }

  .tagline {
    display: block;
    font-size: 1rem;
    font-style: italic;
    color: #888;
    margin-bottom: 1rem;
  }

  h2 {
    font-size: 2rem;
    margin-bottom: 1rem;
  }

  .newsletter-form {
    max-width: 600px;
    margin: 0 auto;
  }

  .form-field {
    margin-bottom: 1.5rem;
  }

  .form-field label {
    display: block;
    font-size: 1rem;
    margin-bottom: 0.5rem;
  }

  .form-field .required {
    color: red;
    margin-left: 0.25rem;
  }

  .form-field input,
  .form-field textarea,
  .form-field select {
    width: 100%;
    padding: 0.75rem;
    font-size: 1rem;
    border: 1px solid #ccc;
    border-radius: 4px;
  }

  .form-field textarea {
    resize: vertical;
  }

  .submit-button {
    display: inline-block;
    padding: 0.75rem 1.5rem;
    font-size: 1rem;
    font-weight: bold;
    color: #fff;
    background-color: #007bff;
    border: none;
    border-radius: 4px;
    cursor: pointer;
    transition: background-color 0.3s ease;
  }

  .submit-button:hover {
    background-color: #0056b3;
  }

  .success-message {
    margin-top: 2rem;
    text-align: center;
    font-size: 1.25rem;
    color: #28a745;
  }

  .success-message.hidden {
    display: none;
  }
</style>

This will create a form section that displays the headline, tagline, and a form with fields coming from the CMS.

Form Section

SEO, Header and Footer

The data coming from the CMS also includes SEO, header and footer data. You can use the Layout component to render the header and footer.

The Layout component is already created for you in the src/layouts directory. You can use the Layout component to render the header and footer.

Each page coming from the CMS has its own SEO data. You can use the seo field to set the title, description, and keywords for each page.

To do this, update rendering of the Layout component in the src/pages/index.astro file to include the SEO data:

<Layout seo={data?.seo}>
   <BlocksToComponents blocks={data?.blocks} />
</Layout>

Next, update the src/layouts/Layout.astro file to include the SEO data:

---

const { seo } = Astro.props;
const { title, description } = seo || { title: "Default Title", description: "Default Description" };
---

<!doctype html>
<html lang="en">
  <head>
    <meta charset="UTF-8" />
    <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width" />
    <link rel="icon" type="image/svg+xml" href="/favicon.svg" />
    <meta name="description" content={description} />
    <title>{title}</title>
  </head>
  <body>

    <slot />
  </body>
</html>

The code above will set the title and description for each page based on the data coming from the CMS. If the SEO data is not available, it will use the default title and description.

The CMS also has a navigation collection that has a header and footer data. You can use the header and footer fields to set the header and footer in the Layout component so it is reuseable for all pages.

To do this, you first need the header and footer data from the CMS.

In the src/lib/directus.ts file, create a new function called getNavigation that will fetch the header and footer data from the CMS:

interface NavigationItem {
  id: string;
  sort: number;
  title: string;
  type: "page" | "url" | "group";
  url?: string | null;
  page?: {
    id: string;
    sort: number;
    title: string;
    permalink: string;
  } | null;
  children?: Array<NavigationItem>;
}

interface NavigationResponse {
  id: string;
  title: string;
  is_active: boolean;
  items: Array<NavigationItem>;
}

interface NavigationData {
  data: Array<NavigationResponse>;
  error?: string;
}
export async function getNavigation(): Promise<NavigationData> {
  try {
    const navigation = await client.request(
      readItems("navigation", {
        fields: ["*.*.*"],
      })
    );

    return {
      data: navigation as Array<NavigationResponse>,
    };
  } catch (error) {
    console.error("Failed to fetch navigation:", error);
    return {
      data: [],
      error: "Failed to fetch navigation. Please try again later.",
    };
  }
}

The function above will fetch the header and footer data from the CMS. The using the *.*.* query will fetch all the items in the navigation collection.

To use the getNavigation function, you need to import it in the src/layouts/Layout.astro file and call it to get the header and footer data.

---
import { getNavigation } from "../lib/directus";


const { seo } = Astro.props;
const { title, description } = seo || { title: "Default Title", description: "Default Description" };

const navigation = await getNavigation();
const { data, error } = navigation;

if (error) {
  console.error("Error fetching navigation:", error);
}

const mainNav = data?.find((item) => item.id === "main");
const mainNavItems = mainNav?.items ?? [];

const footerNav = data?.find((item) => item.id === "footer");
const footerNavItems = footerNav?.items ?? [];
---

<!doctype html>
<html lang="en">
  <head>
    <meta charset="UTF-8" />
    <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width" />
    <link rel="icon" type="image/svg+xml" href="/favicon.svg" />
    <meta name="description" content={description} />
    <title>{title}</title>
  </head>
  <body>
    <nav>
      <ul>
        <li><a href="/">Home</a></li>
        {mainNavItems.map((navItem) => (
          <li >
            {navItem.type === "page" && navItem.page ? (
              <a href={navItem.page.permalink}>{navItem.title}</a>
            ) : navItem.type === "group" && (navItem.children ?? []).length > 0 ? (
              <div class="dropdown">
                <span class="dropdown-title">{navItem.title}</span>
                <ul class="dropdown-menu">
                  {navItem.children?.map((child) => (
                    <li >
                      {child.type === "page" && child.page ? (
                        <a href={child.page.permalink}>{child.title}</a>
                      ) : child.type === "url" && child.url ? (
                        <a href={child.url}>{child.title}</a>
                      ) : null}
                    </li>
                  ))}
                </ul>
              </div>
            ) : navItem.type === "url" && navItem.url ? (
              <a href={navItem.url}>{navItem.title}</a>
            ) : null}
          </li>
        ))}
      </ul>
    </nav>

    <slot />

    <footer>
      <ul>
        {footerNavItems.map((navItem) => (
          <li>
            {navItem.type === "page" && navItem.page ? (
              <a href={navItem.page.permalink}>{navItem.title}</a>
            ) : navItem.type === "url" && navItem.url ? (
              <a href={navItem.url}>{navItem.title}</a>
            ) : null}
          </li>
        ))}
      </ul>
    </footer>
  </body>
</html>

<style>
  html,
  body {
    margin: 0;
    width: 100%;
    height: 100%;
    font-family: Arial, sans-serif;
  }

  nav {
    background-color: #f8f9fa;
    padding: 1rem;
  }

  nav ul {
    list-style: none;
    margin: 0;
    padding: 0;
    display: flex;
    gap: 2rem;
    justify-content: center;
  }

  nav a {
    text-decoration: none;
    color: #333;
    font-weight: 500;
    transition: color 0.3s ease;
  }

  nav a:hover {
    color: #666;
  }

  .dropdown {
    position: relative;
  }

  .dropdown-title {
    cursor: pointer;
    font-weight: 500;
    color: #333;
    transition: color 0.3s ease;
  }

  .dropdown-title:hover {
    color: #666;
  }

  .dropdown ul.dropdown-menu {
    display: none;
    position: absolute;
    top: 100%;
    left: 0;
    background-color: #fff;
    box-shadow: 0 4px 6px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1);
    list-style: none;
    padding: 0.5rem 0;
    margin: 0;
    width: 200px;
    border-radius: 4px;
    z-index: 1000; 
  }

  .dropdown:hover .dropdown-menu {
    display: block; 
  }

  .dropdown-menu li {
    padding: 0.5rem 1rem;
  }

  .dropdown-menu li a {
    color: #333;
    text-decoration: none;
    display: block;
    cursor: pointer;
  }

  .dropdown-menu li a:hover {
    color: #007bff;
  }

  footer {
    background-color: #333;
    color: #fff;
    padding: 1rem;
    text-align: center;
  }

  footer ul {
    list-style: none;
    margin: 0;
    padding: 0;
    display: flex;
    gap: 1rem;
    justify-content: center;
  }

  footer a {
    text-decoration: none;
    color: #fff;
    font-weight: 500;
    transition: color 0.3s ease;
  }

  footer a:hover {
    color: #007bff;
  }
</style>

The code above:

  • Fetches the header and footer data from the CMS using the getNavigation function.
  • Renders the header and footer in the Layout component.
  • Styles the header and footer with CSS to match the design of the home page.

Some of the links for header are nested in a children field. The code above will render the header with a dropdown for the links that have children. The dropdown will show the child links when hovered over: Header with dropdown

The footer will also render links based on the data coming from the CMS like this: Footer

Conclusion

In this tutorial, you learned how to create a CMS-driven home page using Directus and Astro. You created components for each section of the home page and used the BlocksToComponents component to render the blocks dynamically based on the data coming from the CMS. You also covered fetching data for the Layout components such as the header, footer, and SEO for each pages.

Using this same approach, you can create other pages in your application such as the About page, Contact page, Privacy policy etc and also customize the components to match your design and add more features as needed.