DynoTable in five minutes

DynoTable is a desktop workbench for AWS DynamoDB — built for engineers who view and edit Dynamo data every day. It's fast, keyboard-first, and local: your credentials and the index that powers autocomplete never leave your machine.

The DynoTable window: sidebar of tabs, a table tab in Visual mode, and the active profile pinned at the bottom.

The shape of the app

DynoTable is a single window with three regions. There are no floating panels and no modal-on-modal stacks — everything has one place to live.

Sidebar — your open tabs and saved folders, with the active Profile pinned at the bottom.
Tab content — one open Table per tab, in either Visual or PartiQL mode.
Tabs — open tables browser-style; reopen the last closed one with ⌘⇧T.

Core concepts

— a named AWS credential set. One profile, many regions, many tables.
— one open table view. Filters, selection and view mode are per-tab.
— the index you're querying: PRIMARY, or a named GSI/LSI.
Operation — a cheap query when a hash-key filter is set, otherwise a scan.

The feature map

DynoTable groups its features the way this manual is organized.

Getting Started

Install & activate — Download, install, and activate DynoTable on macOS, Windows or Linux — the deeplink activation flow, your 2-machine licence, and background token refresh.
Connect an AWS account — Connect DynoTable to AWS — profiles, regions, IAM Identity Center (SSO), MFA-protected assume-role, and the profile switcher. Credentials stay on your machine.

Working with Data

Tables & tabs — Browse DynamoDB in DynoTable — multi-tab workspaces, Visual and PartiQL tab modes, the virtualized table grid, page size, column visibility, and per-row Quick View.
Editing items — Edit DynamoDB items in DynoTable — the JSON item editor, Plain vs DynamoDB-JSON modes, the read-only Flow graph view, schema validation, and saving via staging.
Staging & commit — The DynoTable staging area — review every DynamoDB write as a per-attribute diff before it ships, commit in safe transactional batches, and resolve write conflicts with optimistic locking.
Export — Export DynamoDB data from DynoTable — CSV, JSON, and NDJSON formats, scopes from the current page to the full match, renamed-column aliases, and background exports that survive tab close and reload.

Querying

Filters & query patterns — Filters and query patterns in DynoTable — how each tab's filter state maps to a DynamoDB query vs scan, which index to read through, and how the visual filter pills build key and scan conditions.
PartiQL — The PartiQL editor in DynoTable — write SQL-style queries and writes against a single DynamoDB table, with templates, inline diagnostics, quick-fixes, and streamed results.
SQL Workbench — The SQL Workbench in DynoTable — run real JOIN, GROUP BY, and aggregate queries across DynamoDB tables, with a compiler that keeps every query inside DynamoDB's access-pattern rules.
Smart Tables — Smart Tables in DynoTable — saved multi-table joined views built on a visual ER canvas, with Configure and Data modes, relationship editing, and per-column renaming.

AI

AI chat — The DynoTable AI chat — an agentic assistant that reads your DynamoDB schema, writes PartiQL and Workbench SQL, and stages edits for you to review. Runs on your own AWS Bedrock credentials; covers the chat sidebar, promote-to-tab, and AI setup (providers, models, knowledge, permissions, privacy).
AI tools — What the DynoTable AI assistant can do and how each capability is gated — reading your schema and data, computing exact aggregates over a whole table, opening views, staging writes through review, and exporting — plus which actions run silently and which ask your permission first.
MCP server — Expose DynoTable's tools to external AI agents like Claude Code and Codex through a local MCP server — enabling it, connecting a client, the per-connection consent and scopes, and the security model. Off by default; every connection needs your approval and your AWS credentials never leave your machine.

Account & Licensing

Activate DynoTable — Activate DynoTable — the one-click dynotable://activate deeplink, the paste-token fallback, and the licensing states (Trialing, Active, Read-only) with what each one allows.
Devices — DynoTable's two-machine limit — how the Device ID works, when the oldest machine is freed automatically, and how to deactivate a machine from your account's Devices page.

Reference

Keyboard shortcuts — Every DynoTable keyboard shortcut, grouped by what it does — navigation, tabs, querying, the item editor, selection, and row navigation. macOS keys shown; on Windows and Linux ⌘ becomes Ctrl.
Settings — A map of DynoTable's settings — the global Account, Appearance, Privacy, and About sections, plus the per-profile rail (Connection, Personalization, AI binding, Models, Permissions, Knowledge, Activity, Danger zone) and what each one controls.
Troubleshooting — Fixes for common DynoTable snags — credentials and SSO, empty tables and stale results, read-only writes, AI not configured — plus how the app updates itself on macOS, Windows, and Linux.
Glossary — Plain-English definitions of the DynamoDB and DynoTable terms used throughout the documentation — partition key, sort key, GSI, scan, PartiQL, staging area, and more.