How to override or control @ (mention) email redirection in Directus comments for frontend-only

Help
1

Hi Directus team :waving_hand:,

I’m using Directus as a Backend-as-a-Service with Next.js as the frontend.

In my application, I have a Support / Ticket system where users raise issues or bugs. For discussions on a ticket, I am using Directus’ default directus_comments collection, since the functionality matches my use case well.

The problem

When a user mentions another user in a comment, Directus sends the default email notification like:

“XYZ has mentioned you in a comment”
Click here to view.

The “Click here” link redirects to the Directus Admin App (backend).

This is not desired behavior for us:

  • End users should never land in the Directus backend

  • They should be redirected to the specific ticket page in the frontend (Next.js) where they were mentioned

What we already know

Directus allows overriding some email templates:

  • password-reset.liquid

  • user-invitation.liquid

  • user-registration.liquid

However, there is no template available for mention comment notifications, so we currently have no way to customize:

  • The email content

  • The redirection URL

  • Or inject a frontend URL with item context (collection + item ID)

Workaround consideration (not ideal)

One option is to:

  • Create a new custom collection (e.g., activity or support_comments)

  • Rebuild comment logic, mentions, and notifications manually

But this feels like duplicating existing core functionality, which is:

  • Inefficient

  • Error-prone

  • Against the purpose of using Directus’ built-in comments system

My questions

  1. Is there a recommended way to override or customize mention email notifications in Directus?

  2. Is there any plan to expose a comment-mention email template similar to other templates?

  3. Is using a separate custom collection really the expected approach for frontend-only comment systems, or is there a cleaner solution?

I’d appreciate guidance on the correct architectural approach here, because the current behavior makes the default comments system hard to use for real end-user applications.

2

Hi @ronil !

Comments are currently an internal structure in Directus, so the mention notification emails will always redirect back to the Directus admin app. There’s no way to customize or override that redirect at the moment.

For a frontend-facing ticket system, I’d recommend building your own comments collection with a custom hook or flow that handles the email notifications. That way you have full control over the email template and where links point to. It’s a bit more work upfront, but it gives you exactly what you need for an end-user-facing setup :slightly_smiling_face: