Flows have outgrown a settings page. In v12.4 they get their own module in the module bar, with folders, search and filtering, duplication, and import and export. The release also adds a native Mailtrap email transport and tightens how inactive collections and update and delete by query behave.

Before we dive in, I want to highlight a few potential breaking changes you should be aware of:

Breaking Changes

🟡 Inactive collections now reject API reads and writes: Requests against an inactive collection now fail with a COLLECTION_INACTIVE error if you have permission, if you don’t, you get a forbidden error. If you have integrations or extensions that touch collections you’ve deactivated, reactivate them or update the integration.

🟡 Update and delete by query now enforce read permissions: updateByQuery and deleteByQuery now resolve the affected items with read permissions applied. This has three consequences: Read access to the collection’s primary key field is now required, the affected items are scoped to what the role can read, regardless of update rights and nested O2M saves require read access on the child collection.

🟡 Flow folders are stored in directus_folders: Flow folders now live in directus_folders and use a new type field. If you query that table directly, filter on type accordingly.

You can see the full list of breaking changes in the changelog.

Flows UX improvements

In Directus 12.4, Flows move out of settings and into the module bar, along with new tools for teams running more than a handful of automations. Group Flows into folders by team, project or purpose, and search and filter to find the right one fast. Got a Flow that works? Duplicate it as the starting point for the next one, or export it and import it elsewhere so you're not rebuilding from scratch.

Native Mailtrap Email Transport

Directus now ships with a native Mailtrap email transport. That covers live sending, sandbox testing inboxes, and bulk, all from one transport.

Clearer Handling of Inactive Collections

Inactive collections are now disabled in the Data Studio. They stay visible, but they can’t be selected or used until you reactivate them. The API behaves the same way: reads and writes are rejected with COLLECTION_INACTIVE instead of quietly succeeding, so the Studio and API now treat inactive collections the same way.

Update and Delete by Query Respect Read Permissions

updateByQuery and deleteByQuery previously resolved their target items without enforcing read permissions. They now scope the affected items to what the acting role can read, whether or not that role has update rights. If you rely on these operations for roles with narrow read access, check the breaking changes above, since a role now needs read access to the collection’s primary key field.

Other Improvements

• Relational edits: Fixed relational edits made in quick succession saving duplicate create or update entries for the same row, which let the stale entry win and dropped block editor changes inside translations.

• File uploads: FilesService.uploadOne no longer lets client payloads overwrite system fields such as uploaded_by and created_on, and uploaded_on is now set for TUS uploads.

• Relations: Fixed foreign key constraints being dropped when updating a relation with a partial payload.

• Date picker: The calendar now shows weekday names in the user’s language and starts the week on the right day, instead of using English and Sunday.

• MCP and AI Assistant: The Flows and Operations tools now automatically fix incorrect X/Y positions for flow operations.

Check out the full release notes on GitHub for the complete changelog.

Directus v12.4 is Available Now

Update your instances to organize, search, duplicate, and move Flows between projects from a dedicated module, with safer defaults for inactive collections and update/delete by query, and everything else in this release.

As always, back up your database before upgrading.