AW
Amazon DynamoDB
Single-table design, indexing, and query optimization patterns
Details
Language / Topic
Amazon Web ServicesCategory
Architecture
Rules
balanced
- Prefer single-table design for applications with well-known access patterns.
- Avoid using `Scan` operations; always use `Query` with proper partition and sort keys.
- Map data into a single-table design using generic partition (`PK`) and sort (`SK`) key names (e.g., `USER#123`).
- Never use `Scan` in production code; exclusively use `Query` with carefully chosen partition keys.
- Use Global Secondary Indexes (GSIs) to enable query flexibility across highly normalized data access patterns.
- Implement pagination using `LastEvaluatedKey` instead of attempting to fetch massive limits.