Enable time to live (TTL) in DynamoDB

You can enable TTL with code, using the UpdateTimeToLive operation.

import boto3


def enable_ttl(table_name, ttl_attribute_name):
    """
    Enables TTL on DynamoDB table for a given attribute name
        on success, returns a status code of 200
        on error, throws an exception

    :param table_name: Name of the DynamoDB table
    :param ttl_attribute_name: The name of the TTL attribute being provided to the table.
    """
    try:
        dynamodb = boto3.client('dynamodb')

        # Enable TTL on an existing DynamoDB table
        response = dynamodb.update_time_to_live(
            TableName=table_name,
            TimeToLiveSpecification={
                'Enabled': True,
                'AttributeName': ttl_attribute_name
            }
        )

        # In the returned response, check for a successful status code.
        if response['ResponseMetadata']['HTTPStatusCode'] == 200:
            print("TTL has been enabled successfully.")
        else:
            print(f"Failed to enable TTL, status code {response['ResponseMetadata']['HTTPStatusCode']}")
    except Exception as ex:
        print("Couldn't enable TTL in table %s. Here's why: %s" % (table_name, ex))
        raise


# your values
enable_ttl('your-table-name', 'expirationDate')

You can confirm TTL is enabled by using the DescribeTimeToLive operation, which describes the TTL status on a table. The TimeToLive status is either ENABLED or DISABLED.

# create a DynamoDB client
dynamodb = boto3.client('dynamodb')

# set the table name
table_name = 'YourTable'

# describe TTL
response = dynamodb.describe_time_to_live(TableName=table_name)

You can enable TTL with code, using the UpdateTimeToLiveCommand operation.

import { DynamoDBClient, UpdateTimeToLiveCommand } from "@aws-sdk/client-dynamodb";

const enableTTL = async (tableName, ttlAttribute) => {

    const client = new DynamoDBClient({});

    const params = {
        TableName: tableName,
        TimeToLiveSpecification: {
            Enabled: true,
            AttributeName: ttlAttribute
        }
    };

    try {
        const response = await client.send(new UpdateTimeToLiveCommand(params));
        if (response.$metadata.httpStatusCode === 200) {
            console.log(`TTL enabled successfully for table ${tableName}, using attribute name ${ttlAttribute}.`);
        } else {
            console.log(`Failed to enable TTL for table ${tableName}, response object: ${response}`);
        }
        return response;
    } catch (e) {
        console.error(`Error enabling TTL: ${e}`);
        throw e;
    }
};

// call with your own values
enableTTL('ExampleTable', 'exampleTtlAttribute');