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Items, not rows

Two items in one table can have completely different attributes.

Why

A DynamoDB item is a bag of typed attributes, not a row in a fixed set of columns. The only attribute every item must have is the primary key.

Read the book, then the lamp. They live in the same table and share nothing but their id. Each attribute carries its type with it: S for a string, N for a number, BOOL for a boolean, SS for a string set.

Only the key is fixed. Every other attribute is decided item by item.

Try it. Then change it.

Predict what each request will do. Run it, inspect the response, then change a value in the workbench and try again.

A book: it has a title, pages, and a set of tags.
A lamp, from the same table: different attributes entirely, and a boolean.

Explore an access patternSelect to load & run

A book: it has a title, pages, and a set of tags.

Request

Operation

Key

{
  "id": {
    "S": "BOOK#dune"
  }
}

Execute against the local Dynoxide engine

id(pk)

kind

title

pages

tags

name

watts

inStock

lengthCm

when

soldOut

admin

species

waterDays

material

subject

priority

country

population

serves

vegetarian

body

done

percentOff

active

BOOK#dune

bookS

DuneS

412N

sci-fi, classicSS

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

BOOK#1984

bookS

1984S

328N

dystopiaSS

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

LAMP#9w

gadgetS

—

—

—

Desk lampS

9N

trueBOOL

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

CABLE#usbc

gadgetS

—

—

—

USB-C cableS

—

trueBOOL

100N

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

EVENT#launch

eventS

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

2026-06-03S

falseBOOL

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

EVENT#party

eventS

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

2026-07-01S

trueBOOL

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

USER#ada

userS

—

—

—

AdaS

—

—

—

—

—

trueBOOL

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

USER#linus

userS

—

—

—

LinusS

—

—

—

—

—

falseBOOL

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

PLANT#fern

plantS

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

Boston fernS

3N

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

GEAR#v60

gearS

—

—

—

V60 dripperS

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

ceramicS

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

TICKET#1042

ticketS

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

Login failsS

highS

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

PLACE#paris

placeS

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

FRS

2140000N

—

—

—

—

—

—

RECIPE#ragu

recipeS

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

4N

falseBOOL

—

—

—

—

NOTE#todo

noteS

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

buy milkS

falseBOOL

—

—

COUPON#welcome

couponS

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

20N

trueBOOL

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