AWS CLI v2 — DynamoDB (NoSQL Database)
Overview
Complete reference for all aws dynamodb subcommands in AWS CLI v2. Covers table management, item CRUD operations, queries and scans, secondary indexes (GSI/LSI), DynamoDB Streams, on-demand and provisioned capacity, backups and restore, global tables, TTL, transactions, and batch operations.
Quick Reference — Common Workflows
Create a table
bash
aws dynamodb create-table --table-name my-table \ --attribute-definitions AttributeName=pk,AttributeType=S AttributeName=sk,AttributeType=S \ --key-schema AttributeName=pk,KeyType=HASH AttributeName=sk,KeyType=RANGE \ --billing-mode PAY_PER_REQUEST aws dynamodb wait table-exists --table-name my-table
Put and get an item
bash
aws dynamodb put-item --table-name my-table \
--item '{"pk":{"S":"user#123"},"sk":{"S":"profile"},"name":{"S":"Alice"}}'
aws dynamodb get-item --table-name my-table \
--key '{"pk":{"S":"user#123"},"sk":{"S":"profile"}}'
Query by partition key
bash
aws dynamodb query --table-name my-table \
--key-condition-expression "pk = :pk AND begins_with(sk, :prefix)" \
--expression-attribute-values '{":pk":{"S":"user#123"},":prefix":{"S":"order#"}}'
Batch write
bash
aws dynamodb batch-write-item --request-items file://batch.json
Enable TTL
bash
aws dynamodb update-time-to-live --table-name my-table \ --time-to-live-specification Enabled=true,AttributeName=ttl
Covered Command Groups
| Group | Commands | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Tables | create, delete, describe, list, update | Table lifecycle |
| Items | put, get, update, delete | Single-item CRUD |
| Query & Scan | query, scan | Read operations |
| Batch | batch-write-item, batch-get-item | Multi-item operations |
| Transactions | transact-write-items, transact-get-items | ACID transactions |
| Indexes | update-table (GSI changes), describe-table | Secondary indexes |
| Streams | describe-stream, get-records, get-shard-iterator, list-streams | Change data capture |
| Backups | create-backup, delete-backup, describe-backup, list-backups, restore-table-from-backup | Point-in-time |
| PITR | describe/update-continuous-backups, restore-table-to-point-in-time | Continuous backups |
| Global Tables | create, describe, list, update global-table | Multi-region |
| TTL | describe/update-time-to-live | Item expiration |
| Import/Export | import-table, describe-import, list-imports, export-table-to-point-in-time, describe-export, list-exports | S3 integration |
| Tags | tag-resource, untag-resource, list-tags-of-resource | Resource tagging |
Command Reference
See references/index.md for the quick reference table and global options.
| Group | File | Commands |
|---|---|---|
| Table Management | table-management.md | create-table, delete-table, describe-table, list-tables, update-table, describe-table-replica-auto-scaling, update-table-replica-auto-scaling |
| Item Operations | item-operations.md | put-item, get-item, update-item, delete-item |
| Query & Scan | query-scan.md | query, scan |
| Batch Operations | batch-operations.md | batch-get-item, batch-write-item |
| Transactions | transactions.md | transact-get-items, transact-write-items |
| PartiQL | partiql.md | execute-statement, batch-execute-statement, execute-transaction |
| DynamoDB Streams | dynamodb-streams.md | describe-stream, get-records, get-shard-iterator, list-streams |
| Backups | backups.md | create-backup, delete-backup, describe-backup, list-backups, restore-table-from-backup |
| Continuous Backups / PITR | continuous-backups-pitr.md | describe-continuous-backups, update-continuous-backups, restore-table-to-point-in-time |
| Global Tables | global-tables.md | create-global-table, describe-global-table, describe-global-table-settings, list-global-tables, update-global-table, update-global-table-settings |
| TTL | ttl.md | describe-time-to-live, update-time-to-live |
| Import / Export | import-export.md | import-table, describe-import, list-imports, export-table-to-point-in-time, describe-export, list-exports |
| Contributor Insights | contributor-insights.md | describe-contributor-insights, list-contributor-insights, update-contributor-insights |
| Kinesis Streaming Destination | kinesis-streaming-destination.md | describe-kinesis-streaming-destination, enable-kinesis-streaming-destination, disable-kinesis-streaming-destination, update-kinesis-streaming-destination |
| Resource Policies | resource-policies.md | get-resource-policy, put-resource-policy, delete-resource-policy |
| Endpoints & Limits | endpoints-limits.md | describe-endpoints, describe-limits |
| Tags | tags.md | tag-resource, untag-resource, list-tags-of-resource |
| Wait Commands | wait-commands.md | wait table-exists, wait table-not-exists |