# # Accessing Items

> Items are individual pieces of data in your database. They can be anything, from articles, to IoT status checks. Learn more about Items.

- The Item Object
- Get Items
- Get Item by ID
- Create an Item
- Create Multiple Items
- Update an Item
- Update Multiple Items
- Delete an Item
- Delete Multiple Items

## # The Item Object

Items don't have a pre-defined schema. The format depends completely on how you configured your collections and fields in Directus. For the sake of documentation, we'll use a fictional articles collection with the following fields: `id`, `status`, `title`, `body`, `featured_image`, and `author`.

Relational Data

Please see Relational Data and Field Parameters to learn more.

    {
    	"id": 1,
    	"status": "published",
    	"title": "Hello, world!",
    	"body": "This is my first article",
    	"featured_image": "768eabec-3c54-4110-a6bb-64b548116661",
    	"author": "0bc7b36a-9ba9-4ce0-83f0-0a526f354e07"
    }

## # Get Items

List all items that exist in Directus.

### # Query Parameters

Supports all global query parameters.

Relational Data

The Field Parameter is required to return nested relational data.

### # Returns

An array of up to limit item objects. If no items are available, data will be an empty array.

#### # Singleton

If your collection is a singleton, this endpoint will return the item. If the item doesn't exist in the database, the default values will be returned.

### # REST API

    GET /items/:collection
    SEARCH /items/:collection

Learn more about SEARCH ->

##### # Example

    GET /items/articles

### # GraphQL

    POST /graphql

    type Query {
    	<collection>: [<collection>]
    }

##### # Example

    query {
    	articles {
    		id
    		title
    		author {
    			first_name
    		}
    	}
    }

## # Get Item by ID

Get an item that exists in Directus.

### # Query Parameters

Supports all global query parameters.

### # Returns

Returns an item object if a valid primary key was provided.

### # REST API

    GET /items/:collection/:id

##### # Example

    GET /items/articles/15

### # GraphQL

    POST /graphql

    type Query {
    	<collection>_by_id(id: ID!): <collection>
    }

##### # Example

    query {
    	articles_by_id(id: 15) {
    		id
    		title
    	}
    }

## # Create an Item

Create a new item in the given collection.

### # Query Parameters

Supports all global query parameters.

### # Request Body

An array of partial item objects.

Relational Data

Relational data needs to be correctly nested to add new items successfully. Check out the relational data section for more information.

### # Returns

Returns the item objects of the item that were created.

### # REST API

    POST /items/:collection

##### # Example

    POST /items/articles

    {
    	"title": "Hello world!",
    	"body": "This is our first article"
    }

### # GraphQL

    POST /graphql

    type Mutation {
    	create_<collection>_item(data: create_<collection>_input): <collection>
    }

##### # Example

    mutation {
    	create_articles_item(data: { title: "Hello world!", body: "This is our first article" }) {
    		id
    		title
    	}
    }

## # Create Multiple Items

Create new items in the given collection.

### # Query Parameters

Supports all global query parameters.

### # Request Body

An array of partial item objects.

### # Returns

Returns the item objects of the item that were created.

### # REST API

    POST /items/:collection

##### # Example

    POST /items/articles

    [
    	{
    		"title": "Hello world!",
    		"body": "This is our first article"
    	},
    	{
    		"title": "Hello again, world!",
    		"body": "This is our second article"
    	}
    ]

### # GraphQL

    POST /graphql

    type Mutation {
    	create_<collection>_items(data: [create_<collection>_input]): [<collection>]
    }

##### # Example

    mutation {
    	create_articles_items(
    		data: [
    			{ title: "Hello world!", body: "This is our first article" }
    			{ title: "Hello again, world!", body: "This is our second article" }
    		]
    	) {
    		id
    		title
    	}
    }

## # Update an Item

Update an existing item.

### # Query Parameters

Supports all global query parameters.

### # Request Body

A partial item object.

### # Returns

Returns the item object of the item that was updated.

### # REST API

    PATCH /items/:collection/:id

##### # Example

    PATCH /items/articles/15

    {
    	"title": "An updated title"
    }

### # GraphQL

    POST /graphql

    type Mutation {
    	update_<collection>_item(id: ID!, data: update_<collection>_input!): <collection>
    }

##### # Example

    mutation {
    	update_articles_item(id: 15, data: { title: "An updated title" }) {
    		id
    		title
    	}
    }

## # Update Multiple Items

Update multiple items at the same time.

### # Query Parameters

Supports all global query parameters.

### # Request Body

Object containing `data` for the values to set, and either `keys` or `query` to select what items to update.

### # Returns

Returns the item objects for the updated items.

#### # Singleton

If your collection is a singleton, this endpoint will act the same as the Update an Item endpoint.

### # REST API

    PATCH /items/:collection

##### # Example

    PATCH /items/articles

    {
    	"keys": [1, 2],
    	"data": {
    		"status": "published"
    	}
    }

### # GraphQL

    POST /graphql

    type Mutation {
    	update_<collection>_items(ids: [ID!]!, data: [update_<collection>_input]): [<collection>]
    }

##### # Example

    mutation {
    	update_articles_items(ids: [1, 2], data: { status: "published" }) {
    		id
    		status
    	}
    }

## # Delete an Item

Delete an existing item.

### # Returns

Empty body.

### # REST API

    DELETE /items/:collection/:id

##### # Example

    DELETE /items/articles/15

### # GraphQL

    POST /graphql

    type Mutation {
    	delete_<collection>_item(id: ID!): delete_one
    }

##### # Example

    mutation {
    	delete_articles_item(id: 15) {
    		id
    	}
    }

## # Delete Multiple Items

Delete multiple existing items.

### # Request Body

An array of item primary keys.

### # Returns

Empty body.

### # REST API

    DELETE /items/:collection

##### # Example

    DELETE /items/articles

    [15, 16, 21]

### # GraphQL

    POST /graphql

    type Mutation {
    	delete_<collection>_items(ids: [ID!]!): delete_many
    }

##### # Example

    mutation {
    	delete_articles_items(ids: [15, 16, 21]) {
    		ids
    	}
    }