DynamoDB: Delete All Items With Partition Key (Guide w/ Code Examples)

Query every page for a partition-key value, then delete each full key. This removes an item collection, not the physical DynamoDB partition.

Install @aws-sdk/client-dynamodb and @aws-sdk/lib-dynamodb, use an ES module on a supported Node.js runtime, and configure an AWS Region and credentials. The examples use an existing Orders table with String keys pk and sk unless an index or timestamp key is described.

import { DynamoDBClient } from "@aws-sdk/client-dynamodb";
import { DynamoDBDocumentClient, QueryCommand, DeleteCommand } from "@aws-sdk/lib-dynamodb";

const ddb = DynamoDBDocumentClient.from(new DynamoDBClient({}));

let lastKey;
do {
  const page = await ddb.send(new QueryCommand({
    TableName: "Orders",
    KeyConditionExpression: "#pk = :pk",
    ExpressionAttributeNames: { "#pk": "pk" },
    ExpressionAttributeValues: { ":pk": "CUSTOMER#123" },
    ExclusiveStartKey: lastKey,
  }));
  for (const item of page.Items ?? []) {
    await ddb.send(new DeleteCommand({
      TableName: "Orders", Key: { pk: item.pk, sk: item.sk },
    }));
  }
  lastKey = page.LastEvaluatedKey;
} while (lastKey && Object.keys(lastKey).length > 0);

Use this destructive example only for a controlled purge. Concurrent writes can escape deletion or change items between reading and deleting; stop writers or design conditional deletes.

Reference: AWS DeleteItem API. For related access patterns, see DynamoDB query examples.