CipherStash Stack - DynamoDB Integration

Guide for integrating CipherStash field-level encryption with Amazon DynamoDB using @cipherstash/stack/dynamodb. The helper encrypts items before writing to DynamoDB and decrypts them after reading - it does not wrap the AWS SDK, so you keep full control of your DynamoDB operations.

When to Use This Skill

• Adding field-level encryption to DynamoDB items
• Encrypting sensitive attributes before PutItem/BatchWrite
• Decrypting attributes after GetItem/BatchGet/Query/Scan
• Querying DynamoDB using encrypted partition or sort keys
• Building applications where PII or sensitive data is stored in DynamoDB
• Implementing audit logging for DynamoDB encryption operations

Installation

npm install @cipherstash/stack @aws-sdk/client-dynamodb @aws-sdk/lib-dynamodb

How It Works

CipherStash encrypts each attribute into two DynamoDB attributes:

Non-encrypted attributes pass through unchanged. On decryption, the __source and __hmac attributes are recombined back into the original attribute name with the plaintext value.

Setup

1. Define Encrypted Schema

import { encryptedTable, encryptedColumn, encryptedField } from "@cipherstash/stack/schema"

const users = encryptedTable("users", {
  email: encryptedColumn("email").equality(),   // searchable via HMAC
  name: encryptedColumn("name"),                // encrypt-only, no search
  phone: encryptedColumn("phone"),              // encrypt-only
  metadata: encryptedColumn("metadata").dataType("json"), // encrypt-only JSON (use .searchableJson() for queryable JSON)
})

Note: encryptedColumn also supports .orderAndRange(), .freeTextSearch(), and .searchableJson() index methods, but only .equality() produces HMAC values usable for DynamoDB key condition queries.

Nested objects are supported with encryptedField:

const users = encryptedTable("users", {
  email: encryptedColumn("email").equality(),
  profile: {
    ssn: encryptedField("profile.ssn"),
    address: {
      street: encryptedField("profile.address.street"),
    },
  },
})

2. Initialize Clients

import { DynamoDBClient } from "@aws-sdk/client-dynamodb"
import { DynamoDBDocumentClient } from "@aws-sdk/lib-dynamodb"
import { Encryption } from "@cipherstash/stack"
import { encryptedDynamoDB } from "@cipherstash/stack/dynamodb"

const dynamoClient = new DynamoDBClient({ region: "us-east-1" })
const docClient = DynamoDBDocumentClient.from(dynamoClient)

const encryptionClient = await Encryption({ schemas: [users] })
const dynamo = encryptedDynamoDB({ encryptionClient })

Optional: Logger and Error Handler

const dynamo = encryptedDynamoDB({
  encryptionClient,
  options: {
    logger: {
      error: (message, error) => console.error(`[DynamoDB] ${message}`, error),
    },
    errorHandler: (error) => {
      // Send to monitoring, etc.
      console.error(`[${error.code}] ${error.message}`)
    },
  },
})

Encrypt and Write

Single Item

import { PutCommand } from "@aws-sdk/lib-dynamodb"

const user = {
  pk: "user#1",
  email: "alice@example.com",  // will be encrypted
  name: "Alice Smith",         // will be encrypted
  role: "admin",               // not in schema, passes through
}

const result = await dynamo.encryptModel(user, users)

if (result.failure) {
  console.error("Encryption failed:", result.failure.message)
} else {
  await docClient.send(new PutCommand({
    TableName: "Users",
    Item: result.data,
    // result.data looks like:
    // {
    //   pk: "user#1",
    //   email__source: "<ciphertext>",
    //   email__hmac: "<hmac>",
    //   name__source: "<ciphertext>",
    //   role: "admin",
    // }
  }))
}

Bulk Items

import { BatchWriteCommand } from "@aws-sdk/lib-dynamodb"

const items = [
  { pk: "user#1", email: "alice@example.com", name: "Alice" },
  { pk: "user#2", email: "bob@example.com", name: "Bob" },
]

const result = await dynamo.bulkEncryptModels(items, users)

if (!result.failure) {
  await docClient.send(new BatchWriteCommand({
    RequestItems: {
      Users: result.data.map(item => ({
        PutRequest: { Item: item },
      })),
    },
  }))
}

Read and Decrypt

Single Item

import { GetCommand } from "@aws-sdk/lib-dynamodb"

const getResult = await docClient.send(new GetCommand({
  TableName: "Users",
  Key: { pk: "user#1" },
}))

const result = await dynamo.decryptModel(getResult.Item, users)

if (!result.failure) {
  console.log(result.data)
  // { pk: "user#1", email: "alice@example.com", name: "Alice Smith", role: "admin" }
}

Bulk Items

import { BatchGetCommand } from "@aws-sdk/lib-dynamodb"

const batchResult = await docClient.send(new BatchGetCommand({
  RequestItems: {
    Users: {
      Keys: [{ pk: "user#1" }, { pk: "user#2" }],
    },
  },
}))

const result = await dynamo.bulkDecryptModels(
  batchResult.Responses?.Users ?? [],
  users,
)

if (!result.failure) {
  for (const user of result.data) {
    console.log(user.email) // plaintext
  }
}

Querying with Encrypted Keys

DynamoDB queries use key conditions, so you need to encrypt the search value into its HMAC form. Use encryptionClient.encryptQuery() to get the HMAC, then use it in your key condition.

Encrypted Partition Key

When an encrypted attribute is the partition key (e.g., email__hmac):

import { QueryCommand } from "@aws-sdk/lib-dynamodb"

// 1. Encrypt the search value to get the HMAC
const queryResult = await encryptionClient.encryptQuery([{
  value: "alice@example.com",
  column: users.email,
  table: users,
  queryType: "equality",
}])

if (queryResult.failure) {
  throw new Error(`Query encryption failed: ${queryResult.failure.message}`)
}

const emailHmac = queryResult.data[0]?.hm

// 2. Use the HMAC in a DynamoDB query
const result = await docClient.send(new QueryCommand({
  TableName: "Users",
  KeyConditionExpression: "email__hmac = :email",
  ExpressionAttributeValues: {
    ":email": emailHmac,
  },
}))

// 3. Decrypt the results
const decrypted = await dynamo.bulkDecryptModels(result.Items ?? [], users)

Encrypted Sort Key

When an encrypted attribute is the sort key:

const result = await docClient.send(new GetCommand({
  TableName: "Users",
  Key: {
    pk: "org#1",              // partition key (plain)
    email__hmac: emailHmac,   // sort key (encrypted HMAC)
  },
}))

const decrypted = await dynamo.decryptModel(result.Item, users)

Encrypted Attribute in GSI

When querying a Global Secondary Index where the GSI key is an encrypted HMAC:

const result = await docClient.send(new QueryCommand({
  TableName: "Users",
  IndexName: "EmailIndex",
  KeyConditionExpression: "email__hmac = :email",
  ExpressionAttributeValues: {
    ":email": emailHmac,
  },
  Limit: 1,
}))

if (result.Items?.length) {
  const decrypted = await dynamo.decryptModel(result.Items[0], users)
}

Audit Logging

All operations support .audit() chaining for audit metadata:

const result = await dynamo
  .encryptModel(user, users)
  .audit({
    metadata: {
      sub: "user-id-123",
      action: "user_registration",
      timestamp: new Date().toISOString(),
    },
  })

DynamoDB Table Design Considerations

Attribute Naming

For each encrypted field with an equality index, two attributes are stored:

• {field}__source - The encrypted ciphertext (binary/string)
• {field}__hmac - Deterministic HMAC for equality lookups

Fields without .equality() only get __source (no HMAC, so they can't be queried).

Key Schema Design

What You CAN Query

• Equality on __hmac attributes (exact match only)
• attribute_exists(email__source) / attribute_not_exists(email__source) in condition expressions

What You CANNOT Query

• Range/comparison on encrypted attributes (no BETWEEN, <, > on __source)
• Substring matching on encrypted attributes (no begins_with, contains on __source)
• __source values are encrypted binary - only equality via __hmac is supported

Error Handling

All operations return Result<T, EncryptedDynamoDBError> with either data or failure:

const result = await dynamo.encryptModel(user, users)

if (result.failure) {
  console.error(result.failure.message)
  console.error(result.failure.code)
  // code: ProtectErrorCode | "DYNAMODB_ENCRYPTION_ERROR"
  console.error(result.failure.details)
}

Complete API Reference

encryptedDynamoDB(config)

import { encryptedDynamoDB } from "@cipherstash/stack/dynamodb"

const dynamo = encryptedDynamoDB({
  encryptionClient,  // EncryptionClient instance
  options: {         // optional
    logger: { error: (message, error) => void },
    errorHandler: (error) => void,
  }
})

Instance Methods

All operations are thenable (awaitable) and support .audit({ metadata }) chaining.

Querying Encrypted Attributes

Use the encryption client directly (not the DynamoDB helper):

// Single value form (recommended for DynamoDB lookups):
const result = await encryptionClient.encryptQuery(
  "search-value",
  { column: schema.fieldName, table: schema, queryType: "equality" }
)
const hmac = result.data?.hm

// Batch array form:
const batchResult = await encryptionClient.encryptQuery([{
  value: "search-value",
  column: schema.fieldName,
  table: schema,
  queryType: "equality",
}])
const hmac = batchResult.data[0]?.hm  // Use this in DynamoDB key conditions

Complete Example

import { DynamoDBClient } from "@aws-sdk/client-dynamodb"
import { DynamoDBDocumentClient, PutCommand, GetCommand, QueryCommand } from "@aws-sdk/lib-dynamodb"
import { Encryption } from "@cipherstash/stack"
import { encryptedDynamoDB } from "@cipherstash/stack/dynamodb"
import { encryptedTable, encryptedColumn } from "@cipherstash/stack/schema"

// Schema
const users = encryptedTable("users", {
  email: encryptedColumn("email").equality(),
  name: encryptedColumn("name"),
})

// Clients
const dynamoClient = new DynamoDBClient({ region: "us-east-1" })
const docClient = DynamoDBDocumentClient.from(dynamoClient)
const encryptionClient = await Encryption({ schemas: [users] })
const dynamo = encryptedDynamoDB({ encryptionClient })

// Write
const user = { pk: "user#1", email: "alice@example.com", name: "Alice" }
const encResult = await dynamo.encryptModel(user, users)
if (!encResult.failure) {
  await docClient.send(new PutCommand({ TableName: "Users", Item: encResult.data }))
}

// Read by primary key
const getResult = await docClient.send(new GetCommand({
  TableName: "Users",
  Key: { pk: "user#1" },
}))
const decResult = await dynamo.decryptModel(getResult.Item, users)
if (!decResult.failure) {
  console.log(decResult.data.email) // "alice@example.com"
}

// Query by encrypted email (via HMAC)
const queryEnc = await encryptionClient.encryptQuery([{
  value: "alice@example.com",
  column: users.email,
  table: users,
  queryType: "equality",
}])
const hmac = queryEnc.data[0]?.hm

const queryResult = await docClient.send(new QueryCommand({
  TableName: "Users",
  IndexName: "EmailIndex",
  KeyConditionExpression: "email__hmac = :e",
  ExpressionAttributeValues: { ":e": hmac },
}))

const decrypted = await dynamo.bulkDecryptModels(queryResult.Items ?? [], users)