How to build custom endpoints in dev env without re-building an extension each time

[darkylmnx]

Reading the docs, I found out that all custom endpoints must be built as an extension,
even when it's for local user.

The issue is, when I'm in dev environment, I'd like to not be forced to re-build the extension each time.
It's really creating an unpleasant DX for me.

So I have 2 questions :

• Is there a way to not have to create an extension for custom endpoints and just register them locally directly?
• If there isn't, is there a way to not have to rebuild the extension each time I do a modification?

Thanks!

[JonathanSchndr]

The reason for this is so that your extension is converted from ESM to Node, which Directus can interpret and also includes all dependencies automatically. You can simply append a --watch, then your extension will be recompiled with every change.

[darkylmnx]

Sorry for the ping. The main reason was that what you just explained isn't explained anywhere in the docs.

Even the link you just gave doesn't add contexte, because the docs says:

To install an extension locally, you have to move the output from the dist/ folder into your project's ./extensions/// folder. has to be replaced by the extension type in plural form (e.g. interfaces). should be replaced with the name of your extension.

Which in no way one could guess that having a file directly into the extension would work.

One would also assume that Directus has global/internal way to bundle things on the fly during development.

In any case, thanks for the answer.

[paescuj]

Sorry for the ping. The main reason was that what you just explained isn't explained anywhere in the docs.

No problem!

Which in no way one could guess that having a file directly into the extension would work.

This is not something which is usually requested nor the official / recommended way to build an extension so that's why it's not mentioned explicitly in the docs.

In any case, thanks for the answer.

You're welcome!

[claytongulick]

We implement all of our endpoint extensions this way, just with a direct index.js file and normal commonjs node code. No build step. We have a ton of endpoint extensions implemented like this, running in production.

FWIW, because I'm also allergic to transpilation, and really didn't like the DX of the UI extensions or being limited to Vue, we actually at one point were operating on a forked version that added a /app path that would allow us to directly include arbitrary js without a build into the extensions - so we had vanilla web components loading and running as interfaces and all sorts of stuff. Worked great.

We don't do that anymore because we've since developed app UIs for a more robust experience, but it got us off the ground quickly.

[darkylmnx]

Thanks for your feedback on that!

[martin-braun]

I stumbled upon this thread. I remember doing things the old fashioned way and simply putting index.js into /extensions/endpoints/abc/ and it would be available under /custom/abc/<subroute>. Picking up a new version, it doesn't work anymore and the docs only instruct to build an extension. But what if the extension I want to build is tied to my project so tightly that I don't want to move my endpoints off the project? Also the whole "move contents of dist to extensions" part annoys me.

After a lot of trial and error I figured that you can do what I want to do, simply cd extensions and then create your extension using npx create-directus-extension@latest. I name the extension how I want the route to be and since I just have a few custom endpoints in my project, I can just name the extension api and start from there.

Directus seem to search for the dist folder in your extension/<my-extension> folder and loads it properly. So, to put things together, my top package.json needs to cascade down to ensure that my custom endpoints build. I don't care if this is recommend or not, I need something simple to start, so I modified my package.json like so:

  "scripts": {
    "start": "directus database migrate:latest && directus start",
    "build:api": "( cd extensions/api && directus-extension build )",
    "build": "run-p build:api",
    "dev:api": "( cd extensions/api && directus-extension build -w --no-minify )",
    "dev": "run-p dev:api start"
  },

run-p comes from npm i npm-run-all -D. It works pretty much.