How To Use AWS DynamoDB in React

Let’s try to access DynamoDB from a React application

Photo by Tanner Boriack on Unsplash.

Having some cloud knowledge is getting more important by the day. If you are primarily a frontend developer, then having AWS knowledge can keep you ahead of the competition.

Today, we will learn how to use AWS DynamoDB from a React application. This is one of the most popular services of AWS and definitely worth learning.

To follow along, you should have:

• An AWS account
• Basic knowledge of React

Let’s get started!

1. Create a DynamoDB Table

Head over to the AWS management console and search for DynamoDB. Then hit the “Create new table” button and you will be presented with this screen.

• Give a table name of your choice.
• Add a primary key. This is the field that you intend to use as your unique identifier.

Creating a DynamoDB table

Hit “Create” and you are done. As DynamoDB stores JSON data, you don’t need to provide any other schema.

Head over to the table and add some data manually so that when we fetch, we get something back.

2. Get User Details

Now in order to access DynamoDB from the frontend or server, we need to be authorized. AWS manages this using the concept of IAM roles.

• Go to the IAM Console and create a new user.
• Provide them with full permissions for AWS DynamoDB access.
• Then get the secret access key and access key ID.
• Store them somewhere safe and never share them with anyone else or via source control!

3. Install Dependencies

I imagine you already have a React project up and running. If not, then go to your terminal and scaffold a new…