Get All Items from DynamoDB in Node.js (AWS SDK v3)

There is no "select all" in DynamoDB — reading a whole table means a Scan you paginate to the end. Each response carries at most 1 MB; you loop, feeding LastEvaluatedKey back as ExclusiveStartKey, until no key comes back.

Code

import {DynamoDBClient, ScanCommand} from '@aws-sdk/client-dynamodb';

const client = new DynamoDBClient({region: 'us-east-1'});

const items = [];
let lastEvaluatedKey;

do {
  const response = await client.send(
    new ScanCommand({
      TableName: 'Music',
      ExclusiveStartKey: lastEvaluatedKey
    })
  );

  items.push(...(response.Items ?? []));
  lastEvaluatedKey = response.LastEvaluatedKey;
} while (lastEvaluatedKey);

console.log(`Table holds ${items.length} items`);

Explanation

• The loop is the point — a single Scan call does NOT return the table; it returns up to 1 MB. Stopping after the first response is the classic "my scan is missing items" bug. Only an absent LastEvaluatedKey means you've read everything.
• Memory — items holds the entire table. For big tables, process each page inside the loop (write to a file, stream, aggregate) instead of accumulating.
• Faster on big tables: parallel scan — split the work with Segment / TotalSegments: run N workers, each scanning its own segment with its own pagination loop. Same total cost, much lower wall-clock time.
• Cost — a full scan reads (and bills) every byte of every item, every time you run it. Trim the response with ProjectionExpression (fewer attributes returned — the read cost stays the same), and don't put a scan on a hot path; that's what Query and access-pattern design are for.
• Filtering while you're at it? A FilterExpression drops items after they're read (and billed) — see Scan with a filter.

Do it visually

Eyeballing a table doesn't need a script: download DynoTable to browse any table in a paginated grid — it pages through scans for you, no loop to get wrong. And before you scan-and-pay, the DynamoDB pricing calculator shows what a full read of your table actually costs.

Related examples

• Get all items in Python — the same full read with boto3's paginator.
• Get all items with the AWS CLI — the CLI pages for you.
• DynamoDB Scan in Node.js — scanning with a FilterExpression.
• Parallel scans — Segment/TotalSegments, worker counts, and when to bother.
• Why is my DynamoDB Scan slow and expensive? — the cost model and how to avoid it.
• DynamoDB ProvisionedThroughputExceededException — reading the whole table is the classic way to hit it.
• "The provided starting key is invalid" — a mangled resume key in the pagination loop.

References

• Scan — Amazon DynamoDB API Reference
• Scanning tables in DynamoDB — Amazon DynamoDB Developer Guide
• DynamoDB read and write operations (capacity unit consumption) — Amazon DynamoDB Developer Guide

Last verified 2026-07-13 against the official AWS documentation linked above.