How to export an existing dynamo table schema to json?

Question

I'd like to replicate some dynamodb tables, schema only, into my local environment for testing purposes. First I've tried:

aws dynamodb describe-table --table-name Foo > FooTable.json

But it's obvious that the output schema is not compliant to the input schema from the create-table command:

aws dynamodb create-table --cli-input-json file://FooTable.json --endpoint=http://localhost:8000

What I'm trying to avoid is to generate dozens of skeletons with aws dynamodb create-table --generate-cli-skeleton and fill them manually :/

Is there a way to get the table schema in a format that is "useful" for recreation? I find it unbelievable that there are no straightforward way of doing it through the web graphic interface or the standard aws command line - after hearing how "good" was their service.

Answer 1

I just managed to do a complete dump and "restore" using bchew/dynamodump:

git clone [email protected]:bchew/dynamodump.git 

Notice the --schemaOnly option in the documentation https://github.com/bchew/dynamodump. Command was:

./dynamodump.py -m backup --schemaOnly --region foo-region --host localhost --srcTable '*' --port 8000 --accessKey fooKey --secretKey barKey 

Then you can use the -m restore mode to put the data or schema back into a local dynamodb or wherever desired :)

With that said, I still find it unbelievable how bad is the amazon dynamodb tool-chain. Come on guys.