Current industry practice to connect composite structural panels still relies on the extensive use of bolted joints. However, because of their anisotropic nature, composite bolted connections represent a significant design challenge and have thus been the subject of ongoing research. While particular focus has been given to the in-plane and out-of-plane performance of mechanically fastened joints, real-life applications (e.g. L-junctions and single-lap joints of thin laminates) involve a combination of both loading scenarios that must be evaluated simultaneously [1,2]. A numerical approach to characterize the three-dimensional failure envelope of a directional carbon fiber-reinforced composite joint is proposed for the first time. Eighteen high-fidelity tridimensional damage simulations that replicate the pure bearing, pure pull-through, and combined loading tests (developed in Ref. [3]) for several loading axes (longitudinal, transversal and off-axis) are run to obtain the first load drop of the joint. A failure envelope is then derived through the ellipsoidal fitting of the simulation results. The proposed failure envelope is subsequently applied in the estimation of the failure condition in bolted single-lap joints suitable for large-scale structural models. Five multi-bolt single-lap shear joints are simulated using two distinct approaches: a non-linear high-fidelity method with three-dimensional elements considering ply and inter-ply damage, and a linear-elastic low-fidelity method utilizing shell and connector elements. Results indicate that the methodology developed to numerically determine the bolt failure envelope, combined with the use of connector elements as fastener representatives, is appropriate to accurately simulate the joint stiffness and load ratios in the first failed bolt, and predict first-drop laminate-level failure in composite bolted connections while providing a substantial reduction in computation expenses, establishing their potential for future use in large-scale models.