Directus
Instant no-code app and dynamic API for any SQL database
4.9•18 reviews•1.2K followers
Instant no-code app and dynamic API for any SQL database
4.9•18 reviews•1.2K followers
The Modern Data Stack 🐰
Monospace is the governed API layer for every app, person, and agent.
Directus is an instant REST+GraphQL API and intuitive no-code data collaboration app for any SQL database.
This is the 5th launch from Directus. View more
Monospace from Directus
Launched this week
Monospace sits between enterprise data and everyone who builds on it. Connect any data source, and your developers, business teams, and AI agents get live, read-write access to it. All under the same granular permissions model, with no data copied or moved. Your oldest databases weren't built with AI or modern apps in mind. Monospace generates interfaces directly from them, as they are, introspecting the schema and queries in real time, so they don’t need to be rebuilt.
Free Options
Launch Team / Built With
Viktor.comAn AI coworker that actually does the work
Promoted
Is there native support for caching GraphQL queries at the API layer to reduce database strain?
@andrew_dale2 Full transparency ahead - We currently don't offer a GraphQL API (yet), just an equally powerful REST API and MCP tools that can do full resolution of relations, deep filters and pagination.
But yes, Monospace has a built-in query-level cache backed by Redis that is consulted before we reach out to any downstream databases or other systems to reduce the strain. It is fully permission aware and does field level caching with configurable TTLs. So requests automatically get served by an up-to-date cache, if available and only then hit databases downstream.
Downstream data sources can be GraphQL servers, btw our custom connector extensions.
Any reason you're specifically looking for a GraphQL API specifically? Mostly versatility, query type safety and selective reads?
ICYMI you can find the public roadmap here: https://monospace.productlane.com/request
hope it helps!
I'm thrilled that Monospace is finally out for the world to use it!
I've been contributing to its frontend for the past months and it's been hard keeping it internally because it simply rocks!
It's free, it's full of powerful features (extensions and custom connectors, SSO support, Partial Introspection, UI views and builders, Native AI support, ...)
PLEASE let us know if you find anything that still needs fine-tuning, or if you find it awesome!
@rebaar S/O for the launch!
What projects is Monospace best suited for?
@bengeekly Thanks for the question! Any application or internal tool development that might need to utilize data from more than 1 system. Alternatively, any agent governance use case where you want to permit controlled/scoped access to live data, without providing direct or source system access. Other projects we've seen are for sharing your first-party data with external partners in a controlled way, and consolidating backends across multiple teams in larger organizations.
@bengeekly in this context, would it suit @Mailwarm? anything else @Directus should build/improve/fix from your perspective??
We've used Directus internally at Directus for years now and have it powering many of our internal teams and systems. It's been amazing to dogfood our own product for so many years and learn, iterate and adapt with both our users and ourselves in mind.
However, these separate systems are just that, separated. I am excited to see Monospace can bring these together as we continue to iterate on both products and see how they work together.
Congrats to the whole team. 👏
#dogfooding
Feels like a pretty natural direction for Directus especially with more people building on top of existing data.
@haozhe_li Absolutely! The AI tooling space makes it easier than ever to take an idea to application, but it doesn't solve the problem of getting access to a companies valuable data. That's still stuck behind slow internal processes and often legacy databases nobody wants to touch.
framing this!
follow-up question: what should @Directus launch next from your point of view?
After 5+ years of building tools like Directus and testing many tools on the market, it takes a lot to truly blow me away.
But, Monospace completely did.
Not saying this just because I’m on the team but I’m saying it as a builder who knows the pain of fragmented data. Being able to manage data from multiple sources in a single place, wrapped in a sleek, intuitive UI? Game changer.
The developer experience is next-level and performance is next level speed.
@joselcvarela re: developer experience. what are the developer tools that have a great DX from your perspective? the products that inspired you while building Monospace and/or that you enjoy using as a developer?
Hi all, I'm Hannes, engineer and engineering manager at Monospace.
We've been building Monospace for some time now, and I'm absolutely excited that today it's public. Ben covered why we built it and James covered what it does, so I'll stick to the engineering side.
Every new way of accessing data tends to bring another implementation of roughly the same logic. You build an API with permissions, then internal tooling, then an MCP server for agents, and now several places have to agree on who can do what.
In Monospace those interfaces share one model. You define permissions once, and REST and the built-in MCP server all evaluate them at query time.
The part I most want to see tested is cross-source relations and custom connectors. You can relate a Postgres table to a MySQL table and query both in one request. The data stays where it is; we don't copy it anywhere first. With custom connectors (in Preview!) you can build a small adapter and make Monospace talk to any of proprietary system!
I'd love to hear from anyone trying this against the kind of systems that don’t look good in demos: messy schemas, internal APIs that need custom connectors, and permission models that have accumulated years of exceptions.
I'll be in the comments all day if you hit something odd or want to know how any of it works.
@hanneskuettner What an immense effort to get here! And only just the beginning - a pleasure to work with you and the talented team on this.
Really looking forward to your future launches!
@hanneskuettner We could have only done it with your dedication Hannes ❤️
@hanneskuettner @rebaar 🐐